Same hotel room. Same dates. How to save £700.

Booking a hotel room the right way could save you over £700. That’s the same hotel room, same dates. No compromises. Here’s how we did it with our New York hotel.

We love to travel and never spend money without a discount or offer. We spend the time getting the best deal. Half an hour of searching saved us over £700 on this one.

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Choose your New York hotel and room

It doesn’t have to be New York by the way you can do this with any destination.

Choosing a hotel in New York can take ages, there’s so much choice. There are over 670 Hotels in New York City with over 120,000 hotel rooms. We chose a King Suite at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Metropolitan New York City.

We have been to New York many times. Stayed in over a dozen hotels, each one carefully chosen for our needs. We have a rule with New York – Always stay in a different hotel. We have our 3 must haves and go from there. So why did we choose this hotel?

• Must have 1 Separate living area. This won’t be high on many people’s must have lists I know. A few year’s a go we stayed at The Trypp Hotel and our room had a separate area with sofa, TV etc. What a difference it made to our stay. I have a bad back and sitting in restaurants for hours is difficult. Having this extra space meant we could get takeaways from the Deli’s and enjoy them in comfort. It also meant we have space to work.
• Must have 2 Balcony or terrace. It doesn’t matter what time of year it is, starting the day with a coffee on the balcony overlooking New York is an absolute #SmallJoy. Unmissable.
• Must have 3 Location. New York is so easy to get around either walking or on the Subway that location is not a huge factor. Last time we picked the Trypp because it was near Penn Station and we knew we would be catching a (very) early train to Washington DC for a day trip. This time we fancied Lexington Avenue, an easy walk to Central Park and Greenacre Park – far enough away from Times Square.

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Check prices for your hotel room

Check the prices in this order, add any of the sites you normally use too. Always go for the free cancellation / fully refundable option when you are booking flights and hotels separately. This is how the prices compared.

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Next step cashback sites

Cashback is generally paid (eventually) after your stay so it’s not an instant discount but definitely worth bearing in mind. There are sign up offers and often flash, limited time offers. Remember though any discount codes used mean you won’t get cashback.

So far we have the cheapest price at £1,276 from Expedia, £1,357 from Hotels.com and £1,410 from booking.com.

First stop is CashbackAngel. This is a really quick way to see the cashback rates offered on the different sites. Also bear in mind the cashback is on the before taxes price. So 11% not 11% on the whole amount. Also look at the rates carefully eg Expedia is ‘Up to 10.5%’ for hotels it’s 6.3%.

Let’s look at the prices now after cashback

What a difference. So next thing do do is book it quick. £1,237.

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Save even more with a Cashback credit card

Choosing the right card to pay on is really important. A credit card gives you S75 protection in the event of a dispute. We used this to get a refund for our cancelled Virgin flight, rather than wait over 100 days.

Credit and charge cards are also a fantastic way to rack up the AirMiles. Usually we would pay for this on our Amex Gold and receive double points (as it’s a travel related spend). But we are swimming in AirMiles with all the cancelled trips this year.

So we have paid for this on The Amex Cashback credit card offering 5% cashback on your first 6 months spend (up to a maximum of £125) plus a £25 bonus on your first spend.

I already had this card so referred Taz. I got £30 for referring him and he got a £25 bonus. Plus 5% cashback on this booking of £1,357 before Topcashbacks cashback).

That’s a total of £123 credit card cashback.

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So how much have we saved on this booking?

So what is our final cost for the 6 nights in a King Suite (with balcony) at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Metropolitan New York City.

• Cheapest £1,357 Hotels.com
• Less £ 120 Cashback from TopCashback
• Less £ 123 Amex cashback card, bonuses and 5%
• Actual cost £1,114

Compare this to the most expensive which is Kaligo £1,815 (though you do get Avios – that’s a very expensive way of buying them though)

That’s a difference of £700 for the same hotel, same room, same dates

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So what next?

This is the best price for this room for these dates TODAY. As we have booked free cancellation, we will keep an eye on the offers, deals and prices and if we can get it cheaper then we will cancel and rebook. Easy. I will keep you updated.

Subscribe to our email list to keep your eye on the price differences over time. You will be AMAZED.

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Is this always the cheapest way to book?

Following the steps will always get you to the cheapest price and best deal.

Just because Hotels.com and TopCashback came out best for this one definitely doesn’t mean it will always be the case.

We have booked with Kaligo and all of the sites listed for various stays, and used Quidco and TopCashback and MyMoneyPocket as well as booking through portals earning us AirMiles when the price has been not much different.

Always follow the steps to Maximise Value and Maximise Joy.

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Have a look at our guides How to Spend Smarter , How to Travel Smarter and How to Live Smarter for more easy ways, tips and tricks.

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Let us know your hotel booking tips.

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