Late Hotel Deals

Late Hotel Deals can work in your favour, provided the hotel you are trying to book into has plenty of spare capacity. On the other hand, if there's a high demand for rooms, prices will increase rather than drop.
To take full advantage of late deals, it's important to know how the system works.
Thanks to the internet, prices now rise and fall on a daily basis. This can be based on bookings, interest and all kinds of complicated factors we aren't supposed to know about.
With accountants and chain hotels the buzz-word is "occupancy rate". This is the percentage of booked rooms the hotel achieves on a weekly, monthly and annual basis. The manger will be judged – and usually paid – according to this figure. How much the rooms are sold for is often of secondary importance. Head office would rather have a 90% occupancy rate at £50 a room than a 45% at £100. The more people a hotel has staying there, the more money there is to take at bars and by selling dinner, afternoon tea, wi-fi and other little extras.
Remember this and try and work the system in your favour.
I find that well-known websites offering last minute deals are usually a waste of time. Most of them work with a small number of hotels and their prices don't seem to change either way, no matter how lastminute.com it gets. I prefer the personal touch with late hotel deals…
Even when demand is high, you can still get a late deal when someone cancels their booking at the last minute. In this case the hotel can afford to be generous – they hate having empty capacity – because they'll probably get paid twice for the same room. To go down this route, you must have nerves of steel, as cancellations don't always happen. Be prepared to spend a night in the car if all goes wrong.
My own method of getting cheap rooms in a busy town is to arrive in person from late afternoon. Start at your first preference and work you way down. Usually a combination of charm and tipping will work wonders. Even if your hotels of choice don't have room, they'll often suggest someone who does and even call them on your behalf. And always leave your card – you'd be surprised how many call you back later and say they can fit you in after all.
Expect to pay around half the rate you were originally quoted. Late Hotel Deals can be fun.