If you’ve been tasked with booking hotel accommodations for a group, then you may be trying to figure out the best place to start.
Maybe you’re booking for a professional conference for your workplace.
Maybe you’re a travel manager and you need to book a block of rooms for your remote team.
Or maybe you’ve been tasked with booking your extended family’s vacation for the summer, and you need to land everyone in the same hotel so that they can swim together in the pool without needing to drive 30 minutes across the city.
In any case, rest assured that you can absolutely get great deals and group bookings.
In fact, you can often get much better deals than you realize by utilizing a few simple steps.
In this article, you’re going to learn 5 of our favorite, proven methods for getting the best deals and group accommodations at hotels.
So settle in and get your notepad ready—because we’re about to drop some serious money-saving tips on you.
1. Negotiate
Did you know that hotels are often willing to negotiate better prices for group bookings?
It’s true.
This is especially true if you are booking for a company and also need a conference room or a meeting room to go along with those hotel rooms.
The best way to facilitate this is to contact hotel staff and ask for the sales team. Tell them you have a group booking you’d like to negotiate a deal for.
You might be surprised at how much money you can save.
In some cases, you can save up to 60% on group bookings by taking the initiative to negotiate and let them know that you’re shopping around for the best price.
2. Book Smaller Rooms
When you’re booking an entire block of rooms, an extra bed and extra amenities sometimes make a big difference.
If you don’t need super luxurious accommodations, you may want to opt for the cheapest type of room available.
Not only will this give the hotel the ability to offer you the best prices possible, but it will also help you to save money across the board when you’re booking entire blocks of rooms.
3. Book Early
Sometimes, the very best way to save money on bookings is to book as early as possible.
Now, the math on this can get tricky.
Booking a year in advance generally isn’t going to save you the maximum amount of money—plus, then you run the risk of the details changing before you even get to that part of the year.
Therefore, booking two to four months in advance is generally considered the best length of time for booking early.
Note that if you’re trying to book during peak travel season, you may need to go even earlier—just to avoid running out of available rooms.
But booking early can sometimes help you to lock in fantastic deals.
4. Shop Around
It is always in your best interest to get quotes from all available hotels, and to negotiate those quotes before making your decision.
You might be surprised at how hotels will compete against each other for your business when they know that you’re serious about spending money on a block of rooms, especially if there’s a conference room or a meeting room in the mix.
So don’t be afraid to let the sales teams at each hotel know that you’re shopping around and give them the opportunity to give you the best deal.
5. Establish Relationships With Hotel Salespeople
If you’re a travel manager who regularly books blocks of rooms, it can definitely be in your best interest to get on a first-name basis with the salespeople at your favorite hotel establishments.
The reason for this is because these people have the ability to give you incredible deals.
So if they know you personally, and you’re on a first-name basis with them, they’re more likely to crack open those big-time savings and give you those deals that they rarely (if ever) give out to anyone else.
Remember, it’s not about what you know, it’s who you know. Another way to put it is this… your network is your net worth.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this post has given you some amazing ideas on how to get amazing deals on group accommodations for your next group hotel booking.
Just remember, a little bit of effort goes a long way.
Don’t just click and book the first thing you find.
Negotiate those deals, talk to the salespeople, and shop around to find the best prices.
This will save you so much money, and give you a lot more budget wiggle room to spend on other stuff that’ll be fun and help to make your trip even better.
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