The holy grail: A free hotel upgrade. A hotel room at almost half off the regular price. Champagne on the house.
People all over the internet love to talk about landing free upgrades and special hotel deals, but sometimes it seems less like a science than witchcraft.
After all, it’s easy to say you’ve got a better chance of getting an upgrade if you’re celebrating a special event like an engagement, but how do you drop that hint? How do you avoid being tacky? Did you know you can actually negotiate for a hotel room price? That most hotels have amazing, unpublished rates?
We got advice straight from the source by talking to Freddie Floyd, who goes by “The Consummate Concierge” on his blog, Can You Get Me In?. Floyd has served as concierge at many high-end hotels in Houston and now works as the concierge at a hotel in Times Square in New York City.
Floyd shared his insider secrets to scoring deals at hotels—from finding secret, unpublished room rates to nabbing a free upgrade and complimentary swag.
Here’s what he told us:
Know the Hotel You’re Dealing With
If you’re planning to stay at a budget hotel like the Days Inn, you’re going to have a harder time getting an upgrade to a sweet room, because there might not be many more tiers to upgrade to. It’s helpful to learn the difference between a “hotel of necessity,” where travelers stay because they need somewhere to stay, and higher-end hotels where people go because they want a great time.
Think of this advice as falling into two buckets:
- Getting rooms for less
- Getting free perks
Almost anywhere you stay, you can try to get rooms for less. But you’re likelier to succeed at getting fun, free perks at higher-end hotels. If the hotel has a restaurant, bar and room service, it’s generally considered “full service.” If you see a lot of personnel like bell hops and a concierge, consider it a sign that our free perk tips are likely to work.
That said, here are eight tips for scoring the very room you want—and more—for less:
To see the slides in one long list, click into the slide show and click "list view."
