Did a check of rates at the Burlington Mariotte.  Book a room by phone at $299, AAA rate $269, ouch!

Booking online is much more reasonable although you pre-pay.  7+ day lead time offered Sun and Mon for $139, Tues, Wed, Thurs for $219, Fri and Sat for $119.  The pattern continues for future weeks with mid week far more expensive than weekend.

Moral of the story: book hotel online in advance and be aware the day of the week can make a big difference.

Ladies probably know this already and have their own ways like Member Points to save.  I have to say I was shocked!

Weekend rates are much higher than weekday rates on the cape for example.

With all their historical data, they know what rates to offer at various times and through various channels, but sometimes, by simply picking up the phone and calling the hotel, if you get the right person, you will be surprised at how low of a rate you can get.

Case in point: I recently missed a flight home one night and decided to fly home in the AM as opposed to waiting until 10PM on standby for a flight that was sold out.

First thing I did was check the Marriott website. They had numerous properties nearby, ranging in cost from 118 to 199.  I searched again and clicked on AAA discounted rates. One room came down a full 90 bucks for a Springhill Suites and showed a price of 80 bucks.  AAA rate for the Courtyard was 119.

I then called the Marriott reservations line, told her what I was seeing online. She checked the system and came back to me with a room at the Courtyard for 64 bucks and I booked it immediately.

Several factors in play:

I am a marriott rewards member, not sure if that affected things.
all marriotts set aside x number of rooms for AAA discounted rates, Even if you are not a AAA member, just book the rate. I have never been asked to show my AAA card.
Especially if it is same day booking, if they have a lot of inventory, they would rather sell it cheap than not at all.
Of course, if inventory is low, you will pay higher rates, even if booking well in advance.

prices go sky high for that.

So the rates are lower on weekends. In the burbs this rule of thumb is pretty consistent, in the city it can also vary depending on what is going on in town over the weekend.

Priceline can be your friend. A lot of ladies, and many clients, know this as well.

I've actually only ever used bidding or express deals with Priceline.  Their regular "discounts" have never really impressed me.  Of course, bidding requires some flexibility so it isn't always worth the gamble.

I wonder if this means the visiting parents will be booking time slots for themselves and as gifts for the new grads?  

My free time to schedule extra meetings is tight enough. I don't need more competition

Personally, I like to book directly when rates are high because it makes me incur rewards points / attain higher levels of annual membership faster.

But if rates are average or below average and it doesn't really matter BetterBidding.com (in conjunction with TripAdvisor & Orbitz for research) is an invaluable resource.

Just saw someone in a Tewk the other day. She told me she was shocked the rates were close to 200 a night in this area??? She called direct and got about 150. Went to priceline and paid 75 ! So it can vary ALOT.  

What was funny is when I got there, there couldn't have been more than 6-7 cars in the parking lot? She said she tried to check in early and told no that there weren't any clean rooms lol

Strange business running a hotel.

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