Saving on Summer Holiday Hotels

Posted by Henk Bekker Jun 28, 2008

For the budget conscious traveler, European cities can be a very good deal during summer months when hotel prices in some cities drop to mid-winter levels. Getting a three-for-the-price-of-two-nights deal is not particularly difficult in many cities. City hotels that mostly aim at business travelers may lower prices even mid-week to attract leisure travelers in the absence of their usual well-heeled clientele.

Not all hotels in all cities participate in such deals so I usually find it worth the effort of using a few different online reservation services to compare what deals are available in a specific city. It often pays too to check rates over a longer period than the actually planned hotel stay. If my traveling dates are flexible, I can rework my plans if hotel prices suddenly drop or increase due to a festival or trade show in a particular city.

I frequently recommend staying in smaller towns as a way to save money but during summer, the reverse is often true. Trains are usually available to take travelers fast from European cities to countryside sights. It is easy to take day trips from Dresden to Moritzburg or to the lovely nature of Saxon Switzerland, or from Salzburg in Austria to the picturesque town of Hallstatt.

• Sleeping in the city allow travelers to hike in the countryside during the day but enjoy the cultural attractions or bar scene of the cities at night.

Some popular cities such as Paris, Amsterdam, Munich, and increasingly Berlin too do not see a significant drop in summer hotel rates. However, even here, prices tend to be somewhat lower in mid-summer than in autumn when many Europeans like to take city breaks.