June 23, 2009 Little luggage, lower rates
Carrying less can help you pay less for your next hotel room. Check the online rates, then compare them against the walk-up rates in, say, London for non-peak seasons. You may pay less by walking in early in the day - provided you’re unhurried and not obviously desperate - and asking for their best rate. If you stumble in, bedraggled, pulling a wagon train of luggage and weary traveling companions, expect to pay more. The rates are often variable, they are market-driven, they are based on supply and demand. It needs to appear that you need them less than they need you. A light shoulder bag conveys ease and sends the message that you’ll gladly walk on down the street in search of a better deal - one more reason to go light. Of course there is an element of risk. What if all the rooms in a given area are full? This is rarely the case, but if it is the light traveler can hop off to another area. Understand the risk, but expect to reap the reward.
Reader Comments (2)
While I have done my own share of canvassing 2nd/3rd world guesthouses for deals, I'm not sure that asking for the rack rate in major cities is particularly useful advice. The argument that one-bagging it to the check-in counter might help secure that bargain is a reach at best.
Oh, and the downside may well involve legging it to the next town, even in the off-season. Then again, sometimes, that's just what you're after.
You may or may not get a lower rate, but you do have the freedom to cruise down the street or hop the train when you don't have that forty-pound millstone on wobbly wheels.