We’ve learned a lot planning our upcoming trip to Austin. Namely, that even seasoned experts like ourselves can sometimes forget an important step, like making sure there’s not a major event going on the weekend of your trip. For us, that means we’ll be in Austin during the University of Texas-Baylor game. While we love college football and all the adorable players and fans, our first choice hotel, the Driskill is completely booked on Friday and Saturday night.
We’ll be staying at our number two choice hotel, the Omni downtown, recommended by our friends MacIsCrack and LollieShopping. When we booked the hotel a few weeks back, we were told the best rate was $279 a night. We took it, figuring we could shop around a bit and cancel if we needed to down the line. Turns out—the shopping around paid off... at the very same hotel. The rates have come down to $229 a night. We immediately called and a scored the lower rate—a $100 savings for the two nights we’re there.
Our lessons on this trip?
1. Always look to see if there’s a major event happening your weekend of choice in the destination of your choice. Events like football games, art exhibits and food and wine fests are definitely good things, but can jack up rates or mean you won’t get in to your hotel of choice.
2. Ask for the lowest rate at the hotel, then double check every week to see if rates have gone down.
Thanks to those JSG readers who gave us recommendations on where to eat, drink and party!
We’ll be staying at our number two choice hotel, the Omni downtown, recommended by our friends MacIsCrack and LollieShopping. When we booked the hotel a few weeks back, we were told the best rate was $279 a night. We took it, figuring we could shop around a bit and cancel if we needed to down the line. Turns out—the shopping around paid off... at the very same hotel. The rates have come down to $229 a night. We immediately called and a scored the lower rate—a $100 savings for the two nights we’re there.
Our lessons on this trip?
1. Always look to see if there’s a major event happening your weekend of choice in the destination of your choice. Events like football games, art exhibits and food and wine fests are definitely good things, but can jack up rates or mean you won’t get in to your hotel of choice.
2. Ask for the lowest rate at the hotel, then double check every week to see if rates have gone down.
Thanks to those JSG readers who gave us recommendations on where to eat, drink and party!
(Photo courtesy of ESPN Sports Travel. 85,000 people per game, some of which scored rooms at the Driskill.)
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