Snagging a great hotel deal while traveling is the holy grail of vacationing, next to getting a flight for free with airline miles. Some of the best hotel discounts to be found are by booking a top secret hotel deal with Travelocity or similar travel sites. These promotions offer deep discounts by allowing you to book a hotel room at a ridiculously low price because they hide the hotel name and brand until after you have booked and paid so that the hotel chain doesn’t have to compete with their competitors over that low price.
You can use these secret deals to your advantage by finding out the exact hotel and location offering the secret discount deal. That way you can book nearby friends and family, get points for staying at the chain you have a frequent traveler card with, or just stay at your favorite chain with the soft sheets and great smelling shampoo. Booking a great price at and getting frequent traveler rewards is a stacked deal!
Top Secret Hotel Deals at Travelocity
Travelocity offers top secret hotel deals in major cities across the country and around the world, but they are not offered in all cities. To find out what is offered in the city you are traveling to, go to the Travelocity website and click on the hotel tab, then search for the city and dates you are staying. Scroll down in the search results and you will see the orange image and link for top secret hotel deals. Click on the link to open the top secret deals, then run your search again in a new tab so that you can compare the results for the regular and top secret deals.
Comparing Results and Finding Your Hotel
When you have both the top secret/name your price and regular hotel prices showing, compare your results. Say you want to stay at a 4 star hotel in the French Quarter of New Orleans. In both the secret deals window and the regular price window, narrow your search to four star hotels in that part of the city. Depending on the location you may have many results or just a few. Next, select one of the secret hotel deals and click on its name to read a full list of amenities. Then go to the regular hotel results and check the boxes for the amenities that your selected hotel has to narrow the results. If that doesn’t narrow to a few results, then look to exclude those hotels that have amenities that your hotel doesn’t have, for example being pet friendly or on-site spa services.
Match it Up
Click through the remaining results to see what the hotels offer and try to match up those amenities to the amenities offered by the secret deal hotel. If you think you have a match, check the regular price for the room. If the regular price of the room is about the same as the secret deal price, it is probably not the correct hotel. Alternatively, if the hotel room is $250 a night and the deal is offered for $88 a night, it may not be the correct hotel either. Look for a discount of 40-50% though you may find a discount of more or less.
Through this comparative process, I narrowed down 23 hotel results to find the one that matched the top secret deal and found a $179 a night room for just $82, and I am 80% sure that I figured out the exact hotel! While it is not exact, comparing the results can help you narrow down the secret hotel deal to one or two hotels. Then you can book the secret deal knowing where you will likely end up and where you can use your frequent traveler card. Enjoy those savings and those soft sheets!