How can I discover what time of the year hotels will be cheapest for a given city, e.g. Tokyo?
I'm interested in visiting Tokyo in 2015, and am trying to figure out what time(s) of the year will likely be cheapest for hotel stays, since it is a notoriously expensive city. Short of using a hotel search such as hotels.com, and laboriously going through each week/month of the year, is there a quicker way? Assume I want to constrain it to hotels of at least a reasonable luxury level (3*+). I'd like to base this on actual costs from a search engine as if I were to book now, not simply past observations from a guidebook (which typically only take in account the time for the booking, but not the time at which the booking is made - for example, staying in January may be generally cheap, but if I book now, in December, it probably won't be).
More generally, is there a way to search in this way for any city/area worldwide?
Note: Yes, I know that airline tickets will vary in cost too - I'm spending airmiles, so assume for the purposes of this question that this and other costs stay constant.
Best Answer
There isn't much seasonal variation for the very cheapest class of hotels in Japan -- the business hotels, cheap ryokans, and capsule hotels. The rooms tend to be fixed price and when they sell out, they sell out.
Look at hotel networks such as Toyoko Inn, Route-Inn, Super Hotel, etc. Unfortunately, most of these are designed for domestic customers only -- the websites are only in Japanese, they don't book through resellers (like Hotels.com or Orbitz), and the front desk only speak Japanese.
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What time of year are hotels the cheapest?
The best month to book hotels in the US in September. During the month of December, hotel bookings are 6% cheaper on average. The second cheapest month to book a hotel deal in March. Avoid October, as this is the most expensive time to book a hotel stateside.How do you know if hotel prices will go down?
Since hotels are always aiming to maximize their occupancy rate, many will decrease their rates if they aren't meeting their expected targets. That's why you'll often see hotels dropping their prices a few days before a check-in date or on the day of arrival.Do hotels get cheaper the closer to the date?
As a general rule, hotel rates drop closer to check-in date, says Sarah Keeling, director of public relations at Expedia, but there are risks for waiting until the last minute.How do I get the lowest rate on a hotel?
6 Ways to Get Cheap Hotel RoomsHOW TO FIND CHEAP FLIGHTS - My Best Tips After Booking 500+ Flights
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