In our price checks the cheapest booking site was about 16 % below Booking.com (median). Arriving on a Sunday instead of a Friday saved about 12 % for the same hotel. Booking earlier showed no clear saving so far.
We check the prices of 9,098 hotels in 283 cities on all booking sites we can read, every day. Here is what this data says about saving money. The numbers on this page are recalculated every day (last update: 4 November 2026).
1. Compare booking sites: the biggest and easiest saving
For the same room and the same dates, the cheapest booking site was 16 % below Booking.com in the middle of all hotels we checked (7,579 hotels with a Booking.com price). In 89 % of hotels at least one site was cheaper than Booking.com. Sites that were often the cheapest: Super.com (26 %), Booking.com (7 %), trivago DEALS (7 %).
Always compare the total price for the whole stay, including taxes and fees, and check the cancellation rules before you pay.
2. Choose your arrival day
We check the same hotel for stays of 3 nights that start on different days. Arriving on a Sunday was about 12 % cheaper than arriving on a Friday (22,178 price checks). Weekend nights in city hotels are usually the most expensive.
The day matters differently in each city:
| City | Cheapest arrival day | Most expensive arrival day | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abu Dhabi | Sunday | Thursday | 69 % |
| San Francisco | Thursday | Tuesday | 60 % |
| Kyoto | Saturday | Thursday | 51 % |
| Las Vegas | Wednesday | Thursday | 47 % |
| Miami | Tuesday | Friday | 46 % |
| Prague | Monday | Friday | 45 % |
| Pattaya | Tuesday | Wednesday | 44 % |
| New York | Sunday | Thursday | 41 % |
| Vienna | Monday | Friday | 41 % |
| Hamburg | Sunday | Thursday | 40 % |
| Madrid | Tuesday | Friday | 37 % |
| Taipei | Tuesday | Thursday | 37 % |
3. Pick the cheaper month
For many cities we check the price for every week up to six months ahead. These are the cheapest and most expensive months we measured:
| City | Cheapest month | Most expensive month | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Budapest | February 2027 | December 2026 | 75 % |
| Amsterdam | January 2027 | April 2027 | 57 % |
| Prague | February 2027 | December 2026 | 55 % |
| New York | February 2027 | December 2026 | 54 % |
| Vienna | February 2027 | December 2026 | 52 % |
| Da Nang | November 2026 | February 2027 | 46 % |
| Milan | December 2026 | April 2027 | 45 % |
| Phuket | April 2027 | December 2026 | 44 % |
| Chiang Mai | March 2027 | January 2027 | 43 % |
| San Francisco | December 2026 | April 2027 | 42 % |
| Pattaya | March 2027 | December 2026 | 41 % |
| Seoul | February 2027 | April 2027 | 41 % |
Christmas, New Year and big events push prices up. Quiet winter weeks in January and February are often the cheapest in Europe.
4. Take a hotel with the same rating that costs less
In most cities there are hotels with the same or a better guest rating that cost much less per night. On every hotel page we show up to three of them under “Same rating, cheaper” (no hostels, at least 200 reviews).
5. Does booking earlier save money?
Not in our data so far. When we checked the same stay again about ten days later, the price went up about as often as it went down, and the typical change was close to zero. We keep measuring and will update this page when the data shows a clear effect.
Questions
What is the easiest way to pay less for a hotel? Compare all booking sites for your dates and look at the total price. In our checks the cheapest site was about 16 % below Booking.com.
Which day is the cheapest to arrive? In our data a Sunday arrival was about 12 % cheaper than a Friday arrival for the same hotel and 3 nights.
Is it cheaper to book early? So far our repeated checks show no clear saving from booking earlier. Prices go up and down.