Finding Hotel & Resort Discounts

Since hotel prices in all price categories have gone up, it's worth reviewing Consumer Reports' suggestions on maximizing your travel dollars with these tips:

1) Be flexible. Skip the holidays or lengthen your stay and you'll have more negotiating power.

2) Compare distributors. The same hotel will distribute, or sell rooms, through travel websites, hotel-only sites, its own website, a toll-free reservation system and a direct call to the front desk--price all of them. Although many hotels now offer a "best price guarantee" on their own branded website, in fact they are still selling discounted rooms to other sites who might choose to discount them even further.

3) Asking doesn't hurt. Consumer Reports found the best rates by bargaining with a reservations clerk by phone.

4) Book early or late. Reservations agents like far-off bookings as much as they like last-minute arrivals.

5) Walk, Drive, Run away. If you don't get a price you like, try a competitor. Buyers win.

Alternatively, the Mobil Travel Guide rates up to 9,000 hotels across North America to assist a nation devoted to road trips. This is the organization that invented the "star" system for ratings, and sends out teams of inspectors each year to validate each establishment's past rating. Would you believe that after nearly 50 years, only 37 hotels and 16 restaurants warranted their five-star honor in 2007?

Still, Mobil ratings inspectors are the front line of the lodging wars and they tell us that active consumers get the most value from a hotel stay. The experts at the "Mobil Travel Guide" share the following savings tips with road tripping families:

1) Asking more doesn't hurt. At check-in, request an upgrade or an empty suite.

2) Confirm what's included in fees. You may be paying a "resort fee" for facilities or staff gratuities without being aware of it.

3) Package it. Hotel packages that include meals, spa treatments, sports or other activities will probably save money for the active family.

As smart shoppers, you can see the overlap in the hotel booking strategies recommended by the experts at Consumer Reports and the "Mobil Travel Guide."

Bottom line: Trying a variety of strategies will yield the best rates.