Hotel bargains
By Diana McLaren • Bankrate.com

Diane Dyson works for a large Toronto non-profit agency providing programs for seniors and low-income people. Recently, she was preparing to attend an anti-poverty conference in Calgary with a hotel rate quoted at almost $300 per night. 

"It wasn't acceptable to be spending that much money for a room when we were there to discuss poverty," she says.

As a professional researcher, Dyson started to investigate and quickly found out about Internet bargains. Using Hotwire.com, an online travel service, she was able to shave one-third off the price.

Hotwire guarantees what it says are the lowest rates because you book and pay before knowing which of several hotels you'll actually be staying at. This didn't bother Dyson because Hotwire ensures that whatever hotel you end up with will meet your specifications for price, size, location and amenities.

As it turned out, Dyson ended up staying at the very hotel she'd have booked before using Hotwire. "The only kicker was that when the invoice came in, our accounting department saw a discrepancy because I'd listed the rate in Canadian dollars, but the credit card payment receipt had converted it into U.S. (all Hotwire rates are in U.S. currency) and that resulted in the room cost being somewhat higher. But it was still a bargain."

This season, bargain hotel rates are the name of the game for travelers. In fact, the latest Hotwire rate for four-star downtown Calgary hotels is $97 per night, significantly lower than the $199 Dyson paid.

Lots of choice
"The good news for consumers is that there's lots of choice," says Sean Shannon, managing director of Expedia.ca, the largest provider of online travel bargains. Unlike air travel, where a few companies control the market, "hotel ownership is highly fragmented and that makes for lots of competition."

Shannon says that under the laws of supply and demand, hotels face a tough challenge. If bookings are too low, airlines can ground planes, but hotels have a fixed number of rooms.

And many of those rooms right now are vacant and available at bargain prices. Shannon says industry estimates for occupancy show that between 30 percent to 40 percent of hotel rooms in Canada are empty.

Hotwire's monthly hotel report lists the top 10 cities for room rate reductions over the same period last year. For June 2009, Vancouver topped the list showing a 38 percent price drop with New York City next at 32 percent.

Charles Pakuski is a Toronto-based ticket seller who travels between 20 to 25 times a year, mostly to other Canadian cities on business. He's used Priceline.com for several years which, like Hotwire, doesn't reveal the name of the hotel until after the booking and payment are complete.

"I've always gotten at least a three-star room that goes for well over $100 a night, and I never pay more than $65."

On a recent vacation trip to Chicago, Pakuski says his US$90 room right on the waterfront has a listed rate of US$240 per night.