Tips for booking your hotel at the best price
Barcelona is a perfect destination for leaving behind the rat race and re-charging your batteries. But like all tourist towns, the hotels advertise high prices.
Take our advice so that your accommodation budget doesn’t prevent you from enjoying all the top tips we’ve uncovered for you!
- 1 1- Compare hotel prices to save money
- 2 2- Book in advance or last minute
- 3 3- Travel in Winter
- 4 4- Choose the cheaper Summer months
- 5 5- Avoid the big annual events
- 6 6- Find out your hotel reception’s opening hours
- 7 7- Ask for an “external” room when booking
- 8 8- Look at triple room offers
- 9 9- Check-out times
1- Compare hotel prices to save money
This simple hotel price comparison site will help you choose, and get the best prices available.
2- Book in advance or last minute
Hotel prices are always better when only a few rooms are booked. As the hotel fills up, prices go up – it’s supply and demand.
The further in advance you book (around 3 months before traveling), the higher your chance of getting the hotel’s best prices.
Conversely, booking a room at the last minute can also be a top tip as hotels need to fill up so they sell off the free rooms for lower prices.
3- Travel in Winter
Prices fluctuate depending on the season. The cheapest times are November and January, after the holidays. If you can, try to book your stay in Barcelona around these times to get really good prices.
Of course, in Winter you can’t spend your day tanning and swimming at the beach… but if you’re more interested in Barcelona’s modernist architecture, food, traditions and atmosphere, then a Winter trip is better than Summer.
- Some rental sites have interesting promotions during quieter periods. Take a look!
- Read our article on weather in Barcelona. You might be surprised by the mild temperatures in Winter.
4- Choose the cheaper Summer months
If you are not afraid of heatwaves, book your hotel in August rather than July, as the prices are lower. The tourist attractions are all still open, although some restaurants and shops shut for their annual holidays.
5- Avoid the big annual events
Hotel room prices shoot up around the time of big annual events.
This is the case, for example, during the global mobile phone conference which takes place in February. Avoid the dates of this event at all costs as the prices are the most expensive of the year due to the number of people visiting the city.
6- Find out your hotel reception’s opening hours
The cheapest flights often arrive very early in the morning or leave very late at night. Find out the reception hours of your hotel. If a member of staff has to stay at reception just to wait for you, you may wind up paying a supplement.
7- Ask for an “external” room when booking
To avoid the heat, many buildings in Barcelona have an internal patio, and many hotels offer “external rooms” with a view onto the street and “internal” rooms with a view onto a courtyard. They cost the same but the level of brightness is very different!
Therefore if you don’t ask for an external room, you won’t get the best value, and you could end up with a darker internal room.
8- Look at triple room offers
We tend to think that asking for an extra bed in a double room is less expensive than booking a triple room, which can can be bigger, more comfortable and more suitable for 3 people. But this is not always the case. At the hotel Centric for example the price is the same but there is a big difference in comfort.
9- Check-out times
Find out the check-out time and stick to it as otherwise you may run the risk of paying a supplement.
If your flight leaves late, most hotels offer a free luggage service for guests both leaving and arriving. If this isn’t the case, you can find secure storage in places such as LockerBarcelona.
