Save On Last-Minute Bookings With Hotel Tonight

Hi Tiffany, great post as always!
As someone who has worked at a Front Desk at a hotel, if you call the hotel and tell them you see the Hotels Tonight rate online, they are more than likely to honor it. Hotel Tonight will charge hotels in the 10% - 20% commission so it is much smarter for them to take the room at the same rate over the phone and avoid those fees. No paperwork needed, just a quick chat with the Manager on Duty and they should honor it. That way you get the points/benefits and are more likely to get better treatment since you booked directly with them.

I'm not a fan of HT. Used it a couple times. Last time was in Brooklyn once and HT made it seem like the hotel was really hip when in reality it was basically a glorified $300 a night Holiday Inn Express. On top of that, the hotel put us in a room right off the lobby. All in all, after that experience and after using HT a couple times, I realized that hotels know that the rates for HT are non-refundable so there is nothing you can do if the property isn't up to par or if they give you the worst room in the hotel. Unless you really need a room and have no other options, I would stay away from HotelsTonight but that is just my 2 cents.

Definitely stay at the Town Hall Hotel, it's in my neighbourhood and very chic - the cocktail bar (Peg & Patriot) is ace and the staff are generally very pleasant, as a visitor to the public areas at least. Plus tons of drinking and dining options in that area, including a relatively new row of places in the railway arches beside Bethnal Green tube.

And back on the main topic, this app is probably best for exactly the boutique type places Tiffany mentions, where you can find some value (but its never going to be a rock-bottom price).

^^^Great point. *thumbs up*

I just got an email with some promotion that HT has with B6. You can earn B6 miles on bookings made on HT. Might be targeted but worth checking

i've only used HT in emergency circumstances (such as having an airbnb host cancel on me last minute). it's convenient then because the app has your data pre-loaded and thus makes booking a roughly 30 second process. but i agree with the above posters that the real value of the app is finding good rates at boutiques that you can then just call and book directly.

I have used HT for those "want to get away" moments, to get out of town to a nearby destination, like Napa from San Francisco: It's a nice way to get a good deal. I agree that the independent, quirky hotels are the best!

Town Hall Hotel is an excellent choice, stayed there back in March 2014 booked via HotelTonight. http://travel.bart.la/2014/04/02/weekend-in-london/

Less than great news for the folks at Hotel Tonight. Layoffs for 20% of their staff:
http://recode.net/2015/11/10/last-minute-booking-service-hoteltonight-lays-off-20-percent-of-staff/

My agent Rita was amazing. She embodied the energy Hotel Tonight wants to project out to the masses... Cool, Calm, and on top of it!!

Rita made the process easy and clear. And I swear she just might be my adopted sister lol