For hotel prices, it’s all in the timing
May 16th, 2006 Posted in Travel bargains, Vacation dealsIf you’re staying at guesthouses and hostels as you travel, you don’t see a whole lot of fluctuation in prices except seasonal ones. Beach places get more expensive when crowds and temperatures rise, for instance, if there’s a defined high season, or if there’s a festival going on. With hotels at the mid and upper ranges though, people with math degrees are seemingly setting prices, getting every possible dollar out when they can, then dropping the rate quickly when times are slow. It literally changes every day.
Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than in Las Vegas, where weekends are not much of a deal, but weekdays are a screaming bargain. The other night, on a Sunday, I stayed at the Las Vegas Hilton for only $55, and that included a $25 chip to gamble with. (My wife won the hand, but who walks away after one hand of blackjack? Of course she gave it back to them soon after.)
Now I’m passing back through Vegas on Friday night. Prime time in Sin City. If I wanted that same room, it would be over three times as much. Instead I’m staying at the Tropicana, for $125 plus tax. Ouch, but they have a really cool swimming pool with swim-up blackjack tables. You don’t get that just anywhere! That $125 room goes for $175 the next night, then drops down to $90 on Sunday night, only $45 on Wednesday night. Somehow, I don’t think I’ll be getting any more for my money than the person in my room the following Wednesday night. The disparity in some of the others is even worse: from $79 to $400 at Aladdin, for instance.
The lesson here? For hotels, especially in the U.S. and Europe, when you have control of the timing, you have control of the price. Going to Vegas mid-week results in a fantastic deal. On the weekend, not so much. But book a downtown city hotel in a normal city on a weekend and they will likely give you a bunch of extras or a drastically reduced room rate. The business travelers are not there, so the properties need to do something to book occupancy.
Or use one of the last-minute deal sources and you’ll do even better.
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One Response to “For hotel prices, it’s all in the timing”
By Sheila Scarborough on May 16, 2006
Thanks for this, Tim. Had no idea that Vegas prices swing quite so widely.
We’ve gotten some good deals on family trips staying at well-located “business hotels” on weekends; the kids don’t care as long as there’s a pool, and if we can get some sort of breakfast, all the better.
Sheila