I’m currently still at one of my military courses right outside of Washington DC. I decided at the last minute to book a hotel in downtown DC for the weekend. A special person in my life flew out here for a pretty cool veteran program. So I knew I wanted to stay close to them so I could get as much time with them as possible.
Fast forward to the problem of where do I stay at. Well, I was suggested the Westin as that was super close. Not only was it close to them it was a fantastic spot in walking distance to so many cool places. So naturally, I decided to call the hotel and see about pricing. To my surprise with my military discount the room was fairly priced in my opinion right at $139 a night without tax. To my luck, I did not have my wallet on me and would have to call back to book this room. I called back a few hours later and talked to another lady this time I was quoted a much higher rate!
The cheapest rate I have sir is $227 a night without tax. Oh and parking is $59 a night.
Not only did my heart drop I was very confused at this point. I thought how is it possible the price went up almost $100 a night in a few hours. I ask the woman this and told her I got a much cheaper quote earlier not more than two hours ago. Her reply was this was the current price and the “lowest I could get”. As I heard that last part my financial savvy side of me kicked in and said, David, it’s time to research this. As I thought this the lady on the phone followed up with if I hang up and don’t book this room it could go up again even if I call back in five minutes. At that point, I knew I had to use the tool in my hand known as an iPhone to research prices on third-party websites for hotels.
Found a room in this hotel for $143 a night in less than five minutes of searching. My little win of the day for doing a little extra work to see above average results. I believe the ability to research and think outside the box are building blocks to success in today’s society. Now let’s go over these numbers.
- Hotel cost quote $227 a night
- Parking $59 a night
- Total costs $572
- Third party cost quote $143
- Parking $70 two night (a five-minute walk from the hotel)
- Total costs $356
That is a total savings of $216! That’s right literally researching for five minutes saved me $216 on this adventure. This goes to show just how important a little research can be on things we spend money on. In my case, it was probably an above average win. Well, I just wanted to share my little win this week and encourage everyone to do your research you never know how big the impact might be. I’m off to more exploring by walking around DC.