Travel Tip: Ask For a Better Deal

When people go on vacation, they tend to believe they are getting their best deal, when they have shopped different hotels and different venues and found the best advertised price. If you think this way, let me tell you now - in no uncertain terms - you are spending more money than you should have to spend.

Three Questions Designed To Save You Money

1. What is the best price you can give me on this room, or whatever?

2. Is that the best you can do?

3. If the answer is No, repeat questions one and two.

Hotels Need To Fill Rooms

More so in a time of recession, like we are in right now, hotels are desperate to fill rooms. If you are at a hotel with a nearly-packed parking lot, the chances of getting a reduced rate on your hotel room is low. However, if the parking lot at the hotel is less than half full, hotel proprietors are more inclined to jump through hoops to get your business.

Be prepared for the hotel proprietor who is willing to call your bluff. If you tell the person behind the desk that you "will go elsewhere" if they do not cut the price, be prepared to walk out the door if the answer is "No." More often than not, if your request is met with a "No" at a hotel with few cars in the parking lot, and you start moving towards the door to leave, the hotel proprietor will call you back to the desk, before you reach the front door.

If the parking lot is full, chances are good that the hotel proprietor will not give you a better deal, even if you ask and threaten to leave.

The truth is that you don't even need to threaten to leave, in order to secure a better deal. All you need to do is to simply ask. What is the best price you can give me on that room? And, is that the best you can do?

Is that the best you can do, is a very important question. This is the question that determines what the lowest price really is. The worst that can happen is that you don't get a discount price... That is why you should never threaten to leave, unless you have every intention of carrying out that threat.

Better Deals Do Not Always Mean Lower Prices

Suppose your hotel proprietor is willing to give you a free breakfast, if you pay the full price on the room. Breakfast for five at McDonald's generally costs me $15-$20. So a free breakfast meal for staying at one particular hotel still adds up to money saved, so sometimes, full price for a hotel room will save me money.

One of the best lines in my book of tricks is to wait until the transaction is done, then ask for my "breakfast ticket". Almost universally, the hotel clerk will ask me "what breakfast ticket?" When I respond, I tell the clerk that I always get tickets for a free breakfast when I stay at other hotels. Nine times out of ten, the desk clerk will say "Oh, okay," and pull a breakfast ticket from under their desk. Free breakfast is good enough for me.

If you are on vacation, as opposed to a business trip, your hotel may have discount coupons available for local attractions. If you are looking to visit a specific attraction, don't be afraid to ask if your hotel has discount tickets available for that attraction. You might be surprised what you hotel might be able to offer to you.

God Gave You The Ability To Speak And Ask Questions - Don't Be Afraid To Ask

On March 4, 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States was inaugurated into office. He entered the presidency during the midst of a banking panic. In his inaugural speech, he spoke the words he is most famous for today, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

FDR's words of wisdom are as relevant today, as they were when they were spoken in 1933. The only thing you have to fear from asking questions of hotel proprietors or other attraction venue operators is fear itself. So long as you don't make the mistake of trying to strengthen your question with a threat, you have nothing to fear and money to gain, simply by asking three really easy and simple questions.

I cannot reiterate this point enough... Don't be afraid to ask for a better price or a better deal. As Ben Franklin was so fond of saying, "A penny saved is a penny earned."