How To Get Free Hotel Stays – My Top 9 Tips Show You How

Updated 11/3/2020

I’ve been travelling a lot lately. While I absolutely love to explore new places, it does get expensive, what with plane tickets, dinners out and hotel stays.   Some people recommend staying in VRBO’s to save money, but honestly, when I looked into a lot of these types of rental options, it didn’t turn out to be a great deal,  unless there are multiple families splitting the bill. My recent trips were with one other person – my Mom or my sister, so the VRBO route wasn’t a good option. Since I’m a member of multiple loyalty programs, and had a smallish stash of points to use, we did end up getting good deals and received atleast one free night’s hotel stay room per trip.  YAY!  I love getting free hotel stays! I’ll show you how to get free hotel stays, too so you can stay longer and save some money!

My Top Tips On How To Get Free Hotel Stays

We recently went down South on a baseball tour to watch my son’s team.    His team put together a bunch of wins, so they qualified for a couple of somewhat unexpected post-season tournaments.  This was really fun and it’s always good to win.  But, If you know baseball, you know these tournaments are always last minute (read:  expensive)!!  So being able to get some deals with last minute airfare and hotel stays is crucial to not busting the budget!

In Biloxi, MS, we stayed at a beach front Hyatt for 5K points per night. In Athens, GA, we stayed at a Marriott for 22.5K per night for 2 nights; and used my annual free certificate for the third night.  Earlier this year, I used Marriott points at the Renaissance Boca Raton, Fl.  As you probably figured out, Hyatt and Marriott are my favorite hotel brands. They are both so accommodating and it’s super easy.  I’ll show you tons of ways for how to get free hotel stays.

It’s really not that hard to get free hotel stays, especially if you do a little planning.  Today I’m sharing my top tips and show YOU how to get free hotel stays.  Using my tips below, it’s easy to travel hack your way to much cheaper or even free hotel stays with very little effort.

1. Get a Credit Card. Sign up for a flexible rewards card. With the new account point bonus, you’ll get at least a few free nights. For example: The Chase Sapphire is my favorite flexible rewards card. It usually offers a generous 50,000 sign up bonus. You can use those points towards free night stays at hotels like Hyatt, Marriott and IHG, to name a few.

2. Sign Up For A Co-Brand Card.  Hyatt, Marriott, and IHG (among others) all offer excellent cards that have big sign-up bonuses that you can use towards free nights stays. Typically, these types of cards also give you free night stay each year. You can stack your annual free night stay with the points you’ve earned to score a longer free hotel stay! Some, like IHG Rewards, even give you a free night stay when you redeem points for a certain number of nights.

More Ideas For How to Get Free Hotel stays!

3. Join the Hotel Loyalty Program. You should always join the hotel loyalty program. You’ll earn points for every night you stay, allowing you to rack up enough points to stay for free. The loyalty program itself is free, so it’s a no brainer. I am personally like IHG Rewards, Bonvoy and Hyatt Loyalty programs the best.  I can tell you it’s super simple to sign up for the programs and it’s totally worth it.

One perk I love is that you are much more likely to get a room upgrade if you are a member of the Loyalty program.  And you’re much more likely to get a free hotel stay if you are a member of the loyalty program.   Insider tip: When I check-in, I always casually mention that I’d like a room upgrade if at all possible. If I’m a cardholder of the hotel brand, I tell them. I usually get a room upgrade!

4. Take advantage of Special Offers. If you sign up for the hotel Loyalty Program, the hotel will notify you of specials. Example: I belong to Hyatt’s Loyalty Program and recently received an email offer to get 1 free night if I pay for 3 nights. How cool is that? If I’m staying there anyway, why wouldn’t I want a free fourth night? If you aren’t a member of the World of Hyatt Loyalty Program, Hyatt can’t send you these offers!

Take Your Time To Get Free Night Stays

While you sometimes do have to move quickly to score good deals, don’t be in a huge rush when booking.  Make sure you take enough time to check and double check pricing and points so you know you are getting the best deal.  That’s not to say you should let your OCD creep in, but you do want to look over your proposed bookings a couple of  times at least to see if there are any better deals out there.  Things change quickly in the travel business.

5. Browse Often. Rates change constantly so check back often and use different booking sites to make sure you get the best rate. Once I find a good rate, I book immediately. A quick and easy travel hack I use is that I always make sure I book the rate that allows me to cancel with no penalty. This allows me to rebook if I find a better rate.

6. Call The Hotel Directly. Sometimes you can get the absolute best rate by calling the hotel directly. Make sure you speak with the front desk and NOT the call center. Only the front desk representative y may be able to give you a better rate. The call center won’t have that authority and will quote you the same rate you see online.

7. Use Points Wisely.  Make sure you use your free night certificate or your stash of points for the most expensive priced night. Example: Recently, I stayed at the Hyatt. I needed to stay for 4 nights. I had two certificates for free night stays that I wanted to use, plus I’d pay for two nights. After researching, I found that the most expensive nights were Thursday and Friday.  The price was $220 per night.   Saturday and Sunday night were only $180 per night.  So I used my certificates for Thursday and Friday and I then paid cash for the other two nights. This saved me about $80. It pays to do a little research to score cheaper accommodations.

Flexibility is Key

8. Be Flexible With Dates. This is an easy, but often overlooked travel tip. If you can work in a little flexibility with your travel plans, you can save. If you book weekdays, a lot of times the rates are cheaper. On the other hand, if there are multiple conventions in town the week you’re traveling, then weekends will be cheaper. I always research multiple dates to see what dates have the cheapest rates, then I book my vacation for those dates. I don’t mind changing my dates if it means getting cheaper accommodations.

9. Be Flexible With Location. A stay at a beachfront hotel will always run you more than a very similar property a mile or two off the beach. Decide what is important to you and book accordingly. I planned a trip to Florida during Spring Break this year. We knew it would be expensive to travel during Spring Break, but unfortunately my plans couldn’t be changed. So I set out to find a great hotel deal.

to Beach or No Beach

First of all, if you’ve never been to Del Ray Beach, you should go!  It’s a really cute little beach town near Boca Raton–(Boca Raton is also very fun)!!  The beach was calling us at Del Ray – we really wanted to stay beachfront.   I had been to the Florida Gold Coast a few times, but never stayed at the beach. I did research online and found that for my dates, a nice (3 Star) place on the beach was between $300- $320 per night. This was more than I wanted to pay.

I did find a good rate using points for the Hyatt Place Del Ray Beach that might have worked. It wasn’t right on the beach, but it was a steal at only 12K points per night. I do have a stash of Hyatt points that I could’ve used to cover the trip, but I have them earmarked for a Key West trip later this year. Ultimately, I decided that it was more important to me to save my points for Key West and to find less expensive accommodations in town this trip.  So we ended up further inland.  Not a big deal!  We still had a great time.  And I still have my points for Key West!!

Wrap Up

As you can see, there are lots of easy ways to score cheap or even free hotel stays. Take advantage of some or all of these tips when you book your next hotel stays to make your travel dollars go farther!