Suite dreams: hotels - survey.(Cover Story)(Industry Overview)

Night after night, more than one-third of the nation's estimated 4 million hotel rooms are empty. Rooms without "heads in beds" are worthless to hoteliers. But to consumers, they are valuable bargaining chips, a powerful way to leverage cheaper rates. How powerful? Our reporter discovered that firsthand when he contacted 100 hotels nationwide. He not only saved money, he was offered free parking, a room with a better view, and breakfast at no extra cost.

His tactics ran from sheer persistence--contacting the hotel more than once--to a more creative approach: pointing out that he'd received a better rate from a competitor. In one case, a luxury hotel in New York City immediately knocked $50 off its "best rate" when our reporter simply said, "Let me think about it."

In a market in which hotel prices differ not only room to room but day to day, some of our readers have used similar bargaining tactics to reduce their bills. Of the 41,000 respondents to our latest hotel survey, close to 7,000, or 17 percent, negotiated room rates. More than 40 percent of those negotiators said they were successful, with savings from $10 to more than $25 per night. Readers who combined bargaining with discounts like those from an auto club saved as much as $45 per night.

Other ways to cut costs include checking prices on the Internet, joining a frequent-guest program (akin to frequent-flyer programs), and exploring various ways to reserve a room. Once, by calling the hotel directly instead of using a discount broker, our reporter saved $211. Another time, instead of calling the hotel, he used an auction web site and saved $140.

For those lower prices, consumers are actually receiving more perks. The reason: "amenities creep," the hotel industry's term for the trickling-down of conveniences such as coffeemakers, pools, and fitness rooms from high-priced lodgings to some lower-priced ones.

There is an art to engineering lower hotel rates. For details on how, see "Guide to a Great Rate," facing page.

Bargaining for lower room rates pays, but aiming for bargain-basement hotels to begin with may not. Readers told us that the least-expensive hotels, as a group, provided less value than the rest. "Some budget chains have properties that are 20 or 30 years old," says John Fox, vice president of PKF Consulting, an international hotel consulting firm. "They may have changed hands several times and not been kept up. That translates into a lower-level product."