Tom Verdi

@VERD_Is_theword

Above: Millenium Biltmore LA Galleria

Exorbitant. That’s the word that comes to mind when I think of booking a hotel room. Outrageous prices for two twin beds cramped into one single room and a ludicrous upgrade fee if I desire something more comfortable, even in the luxurious resorts. 

Services like Booking.com, Expedia, and Kayak can help find a good deal, but they take time and often require a fee of some sort. We here at Localfu have found a small but precious travel loophole that can help you save literally hundreds when booking your next hotel.

TL;DR: Free expos and conventions often offer insane booking promos for hotels during the event

Here it is. Do you like expos? Conventions? Neither do I!—for the most part. But there’s a little known secret that we’ve found through a combination of confusion, an accidental string of events, and intensive, expert research. Mostly expert research.

The thing is, these conventions and expos often draw large crowds from across the country. To accommodate these devoted attendees, the expo will recommend a hotel or list of hotels to stay at for the duration of the event, which can often last several days.

Even better, the expo will arrange a deal with the hotel so that its attendees can book their rooms at significantly discounted rates. The best part? You don’t even need to attend the expo to receive this booking discount!

For example, take The Small Business Expo into consideration. They have day-long expos in cities all over the country, and their Boston event is on October 8, 2015, according to thesmallbusinessexpo.com/boston.

Now, if you navigate to their “travel info” page, they recommend the Marriot Copley Place. I called this hotel to book a room on the same date, and they were booked, leading me to believe that they have rooms set aside for the expo attendees. The screenshot below will portray the same results. I asked the booking agent for the day after the expo, and she quoted me somewhere upwards of $500 per night.  

But, if you click the “book hotel now” link on the small business expo’s website, it redirects to a Google form that lists the nightly rate at only $299 per night (plus taxes)! Nowhere does it require confirmation of expo attendance or any sort of code that must be entered. Simply enter the first and last name, phone number, email, check-in and check-out dates, credit card number to hold the reservation, and any notes you’d like to leave for the hotel. That’s it! Enjoy your $200 discount. 

Now, if this one a one-off, isolated coincidence, fine. But, we’ve found multiple examples of deals extremely similar to the one in Boston discussed above. Let’s take a look at the Millenium Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles. This place looks absolutely incredible. Regal. I’m no health nut, but The FitExpo Los Angeles 2015 offers a pretty sizeable discount, and they list the promo code right on their website, as seen below.

$140 per night for the Classic Room and $180 per night for the Club Room, using their discount code. As you can see in the screenshot from the hotel’s website below, the average nightly rates for this same Club Room hover around $320 per night. You’re even encouraged to book directly with the hotel, so you don’t even need to contact the FitExpo at all.

Because of the fact that The Small Business Expo has such great booking deals, let’s check out their Dallas event. This one is just insane. They give the same style Google booking form as the Boston event, listing the nightly rate at $175 per night, both single and double occupancy.

Again, providing similar booking dates on the Hyatt Regency Dallas’s website, the difference in price is astrononomical. Upwards of $500 for a room that you could get through the expo for only $175! Unless this is listed in error, or they have the expo people sleeping in the utility closets, this deal is just crazy. 

If you don’t mind signing up for an expo or a convention on your next vacation, it’s pretty difficult to pass up these travel deals. Who knows, you might find an interesting zombie convention or something. Everyone loves zombies. I like saving money. A lot of money.