A traveller has revealed a genius hack to save hundreds on hotel stays – and it only takes five minutes.
Frequent traveller Azar shared her clever tip that allows her to save hundreds of dollars when booking a trip or seeking an upgrade.
She posted the video on TikTok on her account @azartravelz, sharing it to her 16,700 followers.
Azar says: ‘I travel a lot with my family and I do this little hack every single time before we head to the hotel we’re staying at.
‘I Google who the general manager is of the hotel we’re staying at.’
She explains this might require a bit of ‘sleuthing’, but she finds the email address of the manager.
Alternatively, you could also call the hotel and ask for the manager’s phone number and email address.
Next, she sends the manager an email to show they are excited for the upcoming stay.
Planning a trip anytime soon? This trick could help you shave money off your hotel cost
Azar explains: ‘I send them an email that just says, “Hey, we’re coming to your hotel [on] these dates. Here’s our confirmation number.
“We’re so excited to stay with you. We’ve heard such wonderful things about the property.”‘
That’s when she gets clever – and turns on the charm.
She will add in the email something along the lines of: ‘We’re celebrating my birthday and I’m just wondering if there’s anything you could do to make our stay extra special, such as a room upgrade and/or a free breakfast or club access.’
Azar explains the trick – which takes her an absolute maximum of 10 minutes to find the contact details and send the email – has worked ‘100 per cent of the time’.
At a minimum, she says, she’s got a bigger room or one with a better view – and if you draft the email, it could take just five minutes to do.
But sometimes it’s even better – on her most recent trip to Turkey, her whole family was upgraded to a suite, and the hotel provided free breakfast buffet for her family of five.
She said this shaved ‘hundreds of dollars’ off the holiday over the course of the week.
The method works well if you contact the hotel’s general manager in advance
Viewers were impressed, with many taking to the comments section to share their thoughts.
One wrote: ‘I just fired off two emails. I’ll let you know how it goes!’
A second added: ‘This has actually worked for me as well.’
Meanwhile, a third wrote: ‘This is amazing!! I’m definitely doing this next time I travel!’
