Last week I talked about tips to score cheap airfare. So it’s without a doubt that the next step to help ease our wallet during the blog conference or social media conference is to find cheap or affordable accommodation. Here are tips to find cheap or affordable accommodations for your blog conference trip.
1. Check hotel recommended by the conference organizer
Typically, most medium to large blog or social media conference will provide the attendees with official hotel that they have worked out the deal to provide discount rate for the conference attendees. So that will be your first option to check out the hotel rate. Keep in mind that, there are only limited number of rooms blocked for the conference so you will have to work fast before the great rooms are gone.
One note though, sometimes the rate from the official hotel is NOT cheaper than surrounding hotel. So if you goal is to find the cheapest accommodation possible, you might want to consider stay at other hotels. But if you goal is also to network, you might find that stay where everyone else stay will give you more opportunity to mingle.
2. Look for roommates
This option will help cut your cost in half by just share a room with another conference attendee. I wouldn’t promote you to just start posting on Craiglist or Twitter and cross your fingers. Start from people that you know or have met before and see if he/she might be interested in sharing a room with you.
Also, sometimes getting a suite that can fit more than 2 adults will save you even more if you can find 3 more roommates. My upcoming conference to TBEX, I will be sharing with 3 more attendees and we each will pay less than $100 per night in NYC. What a great deal!
3. Think outside the box (or hotel room)
Hotel is not that only option when traveling to attend blog or social media conference. Check other accommodation options like VRBO, Homeaway, or friends. Sometimes, you might be able to rent a room for far less than a hotel room at night and you might still be able to share with another person to keep the cost even lower.
BUT, make sure you check the minimum nights since most VRBO or Homeaway tends to enforce 1 weeks minimum. However, if you travel during low season the owner might be more than willing to negotiate with you.
4. Use Priceline or Hotwire to bid for hotel room
I think business traveling is the perfect trip to use priceline or hotwire to bid for hotel room. You will most likely travel alone and can be more flexible with the accommodation.
If you never tried Priceline before don’t worry. There is a post on 5 Easy Steps to Start Bidding on Priceline.
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