As you make your summer travel plans, know it’s getting tougher to get a good deal on a hotel room. Leisure travel is up. So is business travel. And Consumer Reports found there are other reasons why great room rates are hard to come by. But with a little know-how, you can still get a pretty darn good deal.

With more people traveling, it’s no surprise that hotel vacancies are down and rates are up. And Consumer Reports’ Tod Marks discovered hotels have found ways to add new fees. For instance, some hotels are charging for maid service

“You can pay upwards of 30 dollars or more per day if a facility has a golf course, tennis courts, hiking trail — whether or not you bother to use them!”

Consumer Reports found even travel sites like Expedia.com and Travelocity aren’t the bargains they used to be. That’s because hotels no longer typically sell rooms to these sites at fire-sale prices. And hotel chains are now using sophisticated software to track whether a hotel is full or not, and adjust their prices accordingly.

“Generally these fine adjustments work against the consumer because it probably means bargains are less likely to be had.”

With fewer bargains, it’s more important than ever that you’re happy with your hotel.

Consumer Reports National Research Center just surveyed 35-thousand readers rating 48 hotel chains.

The Ritz Carlton had top scores for service and value and was one of the highest-rated chains among the most expensive hotels.

Homewood Suites and Springhill Suites are highly rated, as were many all-suite hotels.

And Hampton Inn and Drury Inn/Suites were among several described as a good choice in the 60-100 dollar a night price range — where the survey revealed the biggest differences in satisfaction.

So how can you get a better deal these days?

“Simply haggle with the desk clerk or the hotel manager. A majority of readers we surveyed who try these tactics were successful.”

Consumer Reports’ survey shows, while it’s a little risky, people who arrived at a hotel with no reservation actually paid less than those who made reservations in advance.

information from : abclocal.go.com

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 6th, 2007 at 4:42 am and is filed under Hotel. Tags: ABC Adjustment all-suite hotel business travel Consumer Expedia Hampton Hampton Inn Homewood Homewood Suites hotel chain hotel chains Hotels Leisure leisure travel Ritz SpringHill Suites Suite Hotel tennis courts Travel travel plans travel site Travelocity . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.