For many, the ultimate luxury of a five-star hotel remains an unwanted dream they only know from TV, blogs, travel brochures or Instagram. The longing of many travelers is correspondingly great: According to a survey of 1,000 Germans by the online travel agency Expedia from the summer of 2021, almost one in five would like to treat themselves to more luxury on their next trip.
“Many Germans now want to treat themselves to something because they had to cut corners when traveling during the pandemic,” says Expedia spokeswoman Susanne Dopp. “In the first six months of 2022, we saw around 30 percent more interest in five-star hotels than in the previous six months.” Nevertheless, value for money plays an important role: In the same survey, 27 percent of those surveyed stated that they only book an upgrade to a better hotel category if it is within their own travel budget. Luxury at any price is therefore not an option for the majority of German tourists. It doesn’t have to be, either, because with a few simple tips, luxury accommodation can become much more affordable.
Before we tell you the tips of the tourism industry, one more quick question for you:
If you want to treat yourself to a night in a luxury hotel, you should be flexible when choosing your travel destination. While overnight stays in the high-price segment are particularly expensive in France – on average, you pay more than twice as much as in Germany – it is significantly cheaper in other countries.
Especially in Turkey, Egypt or Thailand, the prices for a room per night in five-star hotels are significantly lower. According to an Expedia analysis, the costs for one night in the North African country and in Turkey are around 40 percent lower than in Germany. In Thailand you still save around 30 percent on average. You don’t have to worry about any quality differences in facilities and service in Europe, explains Expedia spokeswoman Susanne Dopp: “In Europe, the Hotelstars Union offers a harmonized hotel classification with common criteria and guidelines. 19 countries are currently taking part.” However, there is no uniform classification system worldwide. Tour operators assign accommodations that have not been classified by an official body to the various star categories according to uniform criteria. “The guest ratings offer further orientation,” advises Dopp.
Admittedly, this tip sounds pretty obvious, but it is a real savings trick. Where there is less going on and fewer tourists want to stay overnight, prices drop because the luxury hotels are also trying to fill the number of guests during this time. For a wallet-friendly luxury trip inland, travel experts recommend November. The weather may not be that great there, but then you can test the wellness offers of the top hotels all the more extensively.
If you have wanderlust and would rather go abroad, you should travel for an overnight stay in a five-star hotel in March and June. Then the prices are at their lowest. What is surprising, however, is that the month of May is particularly expensive in the luxury segment. For an overnight stay in a hotel in the five-star category in Germany, a whopping 45 percent more than in November will be charged. Prices are also significantly higher abroad in May.
Maybe you avoided the business districts of the big cities when looking for your travel accommodation. After all, the assumption is that where big deals are made and the rich and famous show up, it can only be expensive. In fact, the opposite is the case: most hotels in financial centers are pretty much empty, especially at weekends.
So if you only want to spend a weekend in London or Frankfurt, you should stay here: For example, the daily rate in Frankfurt’s banking district for a five-star hotel is on average around 25 percent lower than on other days of the week. Provided you check in on a Friday or Saturday. In the City of London, the economic center of the British capital, most five-star hotels are around 20 percent cheaper than during the week.
Of course, it is not always possible for working people to choose their vacation days very flexibly. But that’s why most tourists travel sometime between Friday and Sunday. However, if you book a different day for your check-in and check-out instead, you can save quite a bit. In Germany and abroad it is up to ten percent. In Germany, Monday is the best time to check in, while Wednesday is the savings day for trips abroad.
The day on which you book your trip with the tour operator can also affect the price: if you book with the tour operator in a German hotel on a Monday, for example, you can save almost ten percent. For trips abroad, it is advisable to go looking on a Thursday instead. Then the prices are almost five percent lower on average.
Yes, each of us has probably subscribed to too many newsletters and has too many loyalty cards in our wallets. But if you want to book a luxury hotel at a bargain price, you should take advantage of the various bonus programs offered by tour operators and hotel chains. With them you can easily save several hundred euros. Expedia spokeswoman Svetlana Hirth explains that her online agency’s free bonus program automatically grants all members a discount of up to ten percent on selected hotels. The list also includes a number of five-star hotels: “Travellers can also collect points for eligible bookings. These points can be applied towards future hotel stays, further reducing the nightly rate.”
But some luxury hotel chains also have their own loyalty programs with which you can save a lot if you book a night there. With the “Accor Life Limitless” program, you save at the 25hours and Sofitel hotels, for example. Anyone who likes to stay in Hilton hotels should secure an Honors credit card for EUR 48 per year in order to be able to benefit from the booking advantages of the Hilton Honors program. If you are a member of “World of Hyatt”, you can stay one night for free with as little as 5,000 loyalty points. You can also secure free nights with the Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program. To reduce the price of an overnight stay in a luxury hotel, the customer programs “NH Rewards”, “Radisson Rewards” and “Steigenberger H Rewards” are also worthwhile. Some credit cards with fees, such as the “American Express Platinum” for 50 euros per month, also offer attractive discounts on daily rates in selected luxury hotels, depending on the status of the credit card user and annual turnover. Thus, the stays in the luxury hotels are also cheaper.
So if you now have the perfect overview of how you can spend the night in a luxury hotel at the cheapest price – but you still lack the inspiration for the right destination, we might be able to help you with this: