I’ve become a little spoiled these past few years. Thailand and Southeast Asia does that to you.
I got to used to cheap food, cheap transportation and cheap accommodation – I rarely spent more than $45 for a room…and even that was splurging, normally I was staying in places for $10-15 a night. I never made a huge effort to look for deals or find the lowest prices, except for a few times trying out fun boutique hotels in Bangkok, and rarely booked a room far in advance since I knew I could easily find something within my budget no matter where I was. Spoiled!
Coming back to the U.S., and now planning for five weeks in Europe, has been a bit of a shock. I mean, I knew everything was going to be more expensive…but WOW. One night in an average Seattle Marriott is more expensive than my monthly rent was in Chiang Mai. Ouch.
So, I’m now being more diligent at keeping an eye on deals and looking for ways to save money on hotel rooms, especially when I’m planning on booking a ‘traditional’ hotel and not staying in a guesthouse or trying out an apartment rental.
Enter Travel Pony.
Launched last year, the site prides itself on being able to offer cheaper room deals than other booking sites by putting their marketing budget back into customer pockets instead of spending big money on advertising. Instead, its looking to leverage social media to get the word out about the service and pass savings onnto you when you book a room. Not only are the rooms cheaper on Travel Pony than other booking or hotel sites, but there are also regular ways, like referring new members, to earn extra booking credits awarded to your account.
This site will save you money….
Testing it out, I looked at hotel listings for Chiang Mai, Bangkok and Seattle (since they were three places I was familiar with) and compared the prices I found on Travel Pony to the prices on the individual hotel websites. From what I saw, Travel Pony was cheaper every time, and not just by a couple of dollars.
For example, I’ve always wanted to spend a night at the Anantara Chiang Mai Resort & Spa (formerly known as the Chedi). It’s a gorgeous 4-star property with an excellent restaurant that’s housed within the first British Consulate, a grand colonial-style building. It’s just cool. And expensive. On the hotel’s website a deluxe room is listed at $256 including all the taxes and breakfast.
On Travel Pony, the same room on the same dates, is listed at $179.20 including taxes. That’s a $76.80 difference – not too shabby! And I found similar savings in Bangkok and Seattle.
Of course, the site isn’t perfect, it’s a little clunky and there aren’t really hotel descriptions…although I know for a fact that the hotel descriptions on large booking sites are often written by people who know nothing about the property, so you’re not really missing out but instead have to do a little extra research to learn more about the individual properties. I’d rather do a couple more Google searches and save $75 though than have the site invest more money into descriptions!
Also, I’m assuming because it’s relatively new, the hotel offerings are limited (there were only seven hotels listed in Chiang Mai) and seem to be mainly for larger chain hotels such as Best Western, Grand Hyatt, Hilton, etc. If you’re looking for smaller, local places or boutique hotels, you won’t find many. But if you’re wanting to stay with some of the big brands, you’re sure to find some extra savings – it just depends on what you’re looking for. I know that I’m already eyeing some hotels in Paris for when I’m over there in a couple months…
Have you used Travel Pony before? What did you think? What are some other ways you’ve found to save money on hotel rooms? Let me know in the comments below, I’d love to hear your tricks!
Note: This post was written by me in conjunction with Travel Pony who gave me a credit to test out the site. As always, all opinions and recommendations are my own…and you can’t argue with the numbers!
13 Comments
I’ve never used Travel Pony but I’m definitely going to give it a try- that’s quite a saving! I always get annoyed when I think I’ve found a deal on Agoda and then they add the tax and service afterwards (being a Brit I’m not used to having tax added afterwards). But I do love a good hotel deal!
I know what you mean about the taxes…on the Travel Pony site they show just the room rate and then when you click on it add taxes, but it’s still way cheaper (the prices I listed above included taxes). I think Agoda and AsiaRooms are pretty good for Asia though! And they have a ton more listings than TravelPony…it just depends on where you’re going and what you’re looking for.
Sorry, but Travel Pony is actually MORE expensive than loyalty deals, if the hotel of your choice has them.
For example,
I’ve said yes to several hotels in Niagara falls Ontario, giving them permission to email me special rates. (loyalty rates)
For $99 I get a room at the Oaks hotel AND a dinner for TWO @ Remmington’s.
Travel Pony only offers the room for $79.
$20 bucks for two people to eat dinner? Not a bad deal at all!
Plus, sometimes they’ll do one better and throw in some gambling tokens for the Fallsview casino. (recently, that offer was room, meal and $50 in gaming tokens for only $129…look at that! I’m $20 ahead before I even bother to gamble! lol)
Recently I paid $186 at a Hampton and it was bad. Heat did not work etc. I paid $160 for a Holiday Inn and it was not worth it. I’ll see what Travel Pony can do!
Well, it won’t help that quality of the hotel…but perhaps the value!
trivago is way better, i tested yours and it came up with the same pricing as expedia and many others, nothing new with this pony
These sites are always so funny because they always get it wrong.
Now that you have heard from a sales person or someone that doesn’t have a clue how hotels work, let ME tell you how it really works. I have 13 years hotel experience in front desk, housekeeping, sales, and revenue. I’m currently an Assistant GM in a hotel in the United States.
These websites will rarely ever have lower rates than the other powerhouse websites like Booking.com, Expedia, Bookit, and Orbitz. You can find good deals on the app Hotel Tonight but those are same day rates for rooms that the hotel is desperate to sell and you will likely get the worst room in house for that very reason (though that is not always the case, it usually is).
The reason is simple… because the powerhouse websites make us sign contracts agreeing to exactly that. Do you see a cheaper rate on Booking.com than on Expedia? That’s because Booking.com is absorbing the difference on their own in a flash sale that has nothing to do with the hotel itself.
Do you really want to save money on your stay from the rack rate? Then look at the powerhouse websites and call the hotel directly. These websites charge us a commission for every room we sell. Expedia is typically 25% but may be 30% depending on the size of the hotel and the fame of the brand. Booking.com is a 15% commission in most cases.
So… you see that $99 rate you see on Expedia? Call the hotel and tell them that you will pay $89. $89 saves you money because you get 10% off and we don’t have to pay 25% on commission so we both come out ahead.
Usually special events won’t have this applicable, but in almost all other circumstances, the hotel will accept this alternative because they make more money and you save money.
So this website? Won’t help you much. Even if the rates are lower now, once the site catches on (usually a one or two year time frame), the prices will be the same or very close to it. They are already starting to demand we match Hotel Tonight.
Take advice from a real hotelier.
melissa in most cases when you call the hotel directly the person who takes the call
is not authorised to accept the rates you mention which are listed on travel web site
hence it will not work
Yes, it is true as you will be connected to the reservation desk. But, if you ask for their sales department, they will definitely to so ( as they have pressure to achieve their targets ).
But, Reservation Department, or better the Manager can help you in providing good deals, add-ons and the events to be which the sales people can’t do it.
But, Beware of payment in advance to cheap hotels in advance, without any Confirmation.
Have a Nice Stay!!!
Found better deals on http://www.hipmunk.com
In some cases, it is better to book straight with the hotel. I booked a room in Mexico City through Booking.com. When we got to the hotel, the posted ra
tes were lower because Booking had not added in the taxes, whereas the posted hotel rates have the taxes included. I learned my lesson and now try to book directly with the hotel.
True, same goes for plane tickets. I’ll usually start researching flights with a search engine/booking site then when I find a decent price go to the airline site itself and se if I can get something similar!
Wow!
Really nice ideas
I must say that booking early is one of the best ways to get a discount hotel reservation.
And the earlier you book your hotel room the more discount you may receive. Hotels manage their reservations to ensure that the hotel books the maximum number of rooms at the maximum room rate possible.
And the hotel will certainly make sure that the number of bookings exceeds the hotel’s break even point so that it is profitable.
Hope this will help you .
Thanks a lot buddy for sharing this information .
Keep doing good work.
God Bless u:)