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Staying at a Hotel Before the Trip Begins

by Scott Mackenzie
Last updated February 24, 2018

Yesterday I booked my first Hotwire stay in quite a while, ever since I got into the hotel loyalty game early last year. My motivation was a change to my itinerary from Seattle to Washington, DC, which moved my departure from a pleasant 8:05 AM to a torturous 5:22 AM. I didn’t know Seattle even had flights that early.

I certainly wasn’t going to make Megan drive me to the airport at that hour as we originally planned, and the cost of a taxi from my home to Sea-Tac is at least $60. By contrast, Hotwire was offering a 3.5-star hotel for only $71 plus tax, about $83 all-in. Both of us could sleep in a little longer.

I was hoping for the DoubleTree but ended up with the Hilton. The details don’t really matter since, for a stay like this, I wasn’t looking for any amazing amenities. Doing my research I knew that all the possibilities were good ones. I did check around to see if I could find a better deal elsewhere, and hopefully get some points or stay credit, but Hotwire was the cheapest option for what I really wanted: a place to rest where I could wake up and be at my gate within 30 to 45 minutes.

Some of my readers, I know, regularly book hotel stays at the airport or nearby the night before early morning flights. I have never done this before. Backpacking through Europe after college, I stayed up for a consecutive 44 hours rather than pay $200 to share a room with three other guys in Zurich before our 7 AM return home.

My frugality sometimes gets the better of me. I am realizing, now that I am growing “old” and a little more flush, that I can’t keep traveling like a college student. That $83 was well spent.

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Most airport hotels tend to be cheaper properties that don’t see the same run-up in rates close to arrival like I see in downtown or tourist areas. None of my preferred chains are located near Sea-Tac, but it would have been a nice bump toward requalifying for elite status if they were.

Besides Hotwire, you can also search for cheap last-minute rates on Priceline and Hotel Tonight. The latter requires you to wait until after 12 PM to book. I also keep a nice stash of Expedia $50 best rate guarantee coupons for uses like this.

In retrospect, of course, I should have just flown on Thursday, attended the Freddie Awards that night, and put the same $80 toward a night at the Westin Tysons Corner. My breakfast rate there is about $100 including taxes and would earn me points and stay credit.

But sometimes I plan my trips too far in advance, and I booked my flight well before I received my invitation. By the time I was able to request a same-day change, it was too late to get to DC in time. That’s something else I need to work on. You can’t always plan for every scenario, but hopefully I’ll make it next year!

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About Scott Mackenzie

Scott is a former scientist and business student who created Travel Codex to unravel the complexity of travel loyalty programs. After 11 years in Seattle, he now lives in Austin with his wife and flies over 100,000 miles every year.

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