Travel alert: The best day and time to book a hotel room

Looking for a great hotel deal? The travel website Kayak has analyzed its search data to reveal the best day and time to book a hotel room.

There’s good news for procrastinators in Kayak’s first-ever Global Hotel Study, which found that waiting until the last minute to make your reservation — one to three days in advance — can save you between $15 and $20 per night.

New report: Kayak reveals the best day and time to book a hotel

The report also said that booking a hotel room over the weekend is a money-saving strategy because fewer people are searching:

"We see supply and demand play a major role with prices, which are at their peak Monday through Wednesday . Searches and prices start to decrease the closer it gets to the weekend, with prices at their lowest Fridays through Saturdays (when 23 – 30% fewer people are searching)."

Another thing to consider? Your hotel check-in and check-out days. Kayak found that checking in on a Friday or Saturday and checking out on Sunday is the most expensive option overall.

According to the website’s data, a Sunday check-in is the cheapest, followed by Monday and Tuesday.

Summary of Kayak’s Global Hotel Study findings for domestic travel

Cheapest day to book a hotel	Friday/Saturday
Most expensive day to book a hotel	Tuesday
Cheapest hotel check-in day	Sunday
Most expensive hotel check-in day	Friday
Cheapest hotel check-out day	Friday
Most expensive hotel check-out day	Sunday

Clark’s hotel booking strategy

With hotel prices changing so frequently, how do you make sure you’re always getting the best deal? Money expert Clark Howard has a three-step strategy that works for him:

Book a refundable hotel the day that you book your flight
Check for deals on Hotwire and Priceline mystery hotels one week before your trip
Cancel the refundable hotel if you find a better deal

Clark says it’s important to keep in mind that many hotels are now requiring that you cancel refundable hotel reservations up to 72 hours before your check-in, so you need to read the fine print before you book one.

In addition, mystery hotel deals — Hotwire Hot Rates and Priceline Express Deals — are NOT refundable.

The next time you go to reserve a hotel room through Hotwire, Priceline or any other hotel booking website, there’s a sneaky fee that’s often excluded from the advertised room rate.