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Hotel Tonight Fees: Your Guide to Booking Last-Minute Hotels

In this day and age, finding an accommodation for any given night is rather simple.

The options travelers have are endless.

If you want to stay in a home, then Airbnb and HomeAway are right up your alley.

Looking for a hotel?

Then you can go to any online travel agent, like Expedia, Booking.com, or Orbitz.

You could even get ahold of the hotel and book directly, which is always a great option.

But what if you need a place to stay as soon as possible, say tonight?

Are the options mentioned above the route you should take for last-minute booking?

If you’re worried about being overcharged, there’s one more hotel booking platform you can use to price check before booking: Hotel Tonight.

Hotel Tonight is a travel booking app that gives travelers daily deals in a new and unique way.

In this article, we are going to tell you all about Hotel Tonight.

You can learn how the app works, what the booking fees are, and whether or not it makes sense for you to use.

What’s Hotel Tonight?

Hotel Tonight is a last-minute hotel booking app that takes unsold hotel rooms, discounts them, and gives you daily hotel deals.

As a Hotel Tonight user, you’re given access to great deals that are sometimes not listed anywhere else.

Hotel Tonight focuses on hotels that will give its users high-quality accommodation at a lower price.

Hotel Tonight Fees: Your Guide to Booking Last-Minute Hotels

It has what you would call a quality over quantity preference, so you won’t come across run-down hotels on the side of the highway.

Using Hotel Tonight also allows you to stay flexible with your travel plans to a certain extent.

There may come a time on your vacation when you really enjoy a city, but must leave because you have a booking the next day in a neighboring city.

Or maybe the destination that you booked multiple nights at is just rubbing you the wrong way.

There is nothing worse than being stuck in a city that just isn’t clicking with your style.

Now that you have a general understanding of Hotel Tonight, let’s show you exactly how it works and why you are able to receive these discounted bookings.

How Does Hotel Tonight Work?

Hotel Tonight is able to provide daily deals to travelers by partnering with top-rated hotels to get rid of unsold hotel rooms.

By establishing partnerships with the best hotels in town, Hotel Tonight receives access to all of those rooms hotels are unable to get rid of.

These could be high-end luxurious rooms that will sit unfilled if nobody books, or premium suites that aren’t selling during the low season.

Hotel Tonight Fees: Your Guide to Booking Last-Minute Hotels

Whatever the reason, hotels will notify Hotel Tonight which will then discount these rooms for you to book.

As you browse through your hotel choices, you’ll find daily deals that fit your preferences.

You’ll be able to filter choices by dates, location, or room preference.

In some cases, you’re able to choose your room type, but other times you must accept the best available rooms at that time.

Once you’ve decided on which room you’d like, it’s time to book it!

You’re only able to book one room at a time, however, you are able to book one room for multiple nights.

Not only can you book hotels for tonight, but you can also book days in advance if you want to lock in a great deal you came across.

Does Hotel Tonight Only Do Same-Day Bookings?

Depending on the city you are booking in, you can book stays of up to five nights, as far as one week in advance.

If you’re planning far ahead, you can even book stays of up to 14 nights as far as 100 days in advance.

Hotel Tonight Fees: Your Guide to Booking Last-Minute Hotels

And if you’re a last-minute, live-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type of person, you’ll be happy to hear that you can book a room for same-day check-in as late as 2:00 a.m.

So really it’s up to you when you should book your room.

You can play the fun game of trying to predict when you’ll get the best deal.

You can book in advance, or book the day of.

Whichever you think will give you the best price.

Sometimes rates will drop at the last minute if rooms are not filling up.

Let the guessing games begin!

Are Hotel Tonight Bookings Non-Refundable?

You should be aware that all rooms booked on Hotel Tonight are non-refundable.

Once you take the plunge with your booking, you’re no longer protected from a change of plans, trip cancellations, or any other itinerary changes.

Hotel Tonight makes it very clear that they won’t be responsible for any mishaps that come your way.

Once you book, you’re on your own and won’t be refunded by Hotel Tonight for any reason.

And good luck trying to get money back from the hotel you booked at!

Due to this “Good Luck!” mentality, Hotel Tonight’s approach to customer service has garnered itself somewhat of a tarnished reputation.

How’s Hotel Tonight’s Customer Service?

You won’t need to look far to find scathing reviews of Hotel Tonight’s customer service.

It seems to be the general consensus that Hotel Tonight is lacking in this area.

What seems to frustrate customers most is that once they make their booking, there’s no way they can receive a refund from Hotel Tonight.

Therefore if you accidentally make a mistake at any point in the booking process, you’ll need to deal with whatever consequences come your way.

While yes, Hotel Tonight clearly states on their website and in the app that there are absolutely no refunds, it still seems to be a source of major frustration for travelers.

Slip-ups like mixing up the booking dates, accidentally looking at the wrong currency, or forgetting to enter your promotion code are a source of hard lessons and wasted money.

You should be fine, as long as you double check your booking details and ensure that your travel plans are set in stone before using the platform.

But what if you still need to contact Hotel Tonight about your booking?

Here is how you can get in touch with Hotel Tonight Customer Support.

How Can I Contact Hotel Tonight?

The best way to contact Hotel Tonight Customer Support regarding current bookings is through the Hotel Tonight app.

If you already have a booking, tap “24/7 Customer Support” and choose between a live chat support or phone call with a Customer Support team member.

Hotel Tonight does a great job giving you accessible ways of contacting them.

There are several ways you can contact Hotel Tonight with different types of questions or requests.

As mentioned above, the best way to address an issue with a current booking is to go through the app.

But what if you have other questions or don’t have a current booking?

Here are a few more ways you can get in touch with Hotel Tonight.

If you have any other questions or concerns, head to Hotel Tonight’s FAQ page for more help.

But remember that Hotel Tonight can do next to nothing regarding trip cancellations or refunds.

Again, all bookings are non-refundable and you can expect no sympathy or exceptions to this rule.

So is the service even worth it in the long run?

Let’s take a look at some of the Hotel Tonight fees to determine if it’s a right fit for you.

What Are the Hotel Tonight Fees?

Hotel Tonight charges you standard hotel taxes, city fees, and an additional fee to compensate for using the Hotel Tonight app.

A problem that users often complain about is the lack of transparency with the Hotel Tonight fees.

As you scroll through the app looking for your next hotel deal, you’re not seeing the final price you’d pay in the end.

The low prices you’re seeing are actually pre-taxes and fees.

For instance, you could have found a great deal on a hotel in downtown New York for only $150 and are going through the booking process to lock in the rate as soon as possible.

Well, as you go to check out you are confronted with the harsh reality that your $150 per night rate is actually $210 because you weren’t accounting for an extra $60 in hotel fees, city taxes, and Hotel Tonight usage fees.

These misleading hotel prices seem to frustrate users who feel like it’s a bait and switch and that fees are hidden in the fine print.

t also opens up a debate over whether or not the service is really worth it.

Is Hotel Tonight Really Worth It?

It seems to be up for debate as to whether or not using Hotel Tonight is worth it.

There are conflicting opinions that seem to go both ways.

On one hand, some frustrated users claim that the deals you see are the same you could find on any other online travel booking platform.

They also say that instead of using a third-party platform, if you book directly or walk in to a hotel, you can even find a better deal.

The fact that all bookings are non-refundable seems to push people away from this service.

But on the other hand, you can still find some great last-minute deals. And at the end of the day, that’s what you’re looking for, right?

We think it should at least be in your arsenal of travel booking tools.

You can always use it to price check with other booking sites, like Kayak and Priceline, and then decide which one has the cheapest and best rates.

How Can I Sign up for Hotel Tonight?

So how can you sign up?

Head to the App Store or Google Play to download the Hotel Tonight app.

Once you download the app, you’ll input your personal and credit card information, and then receive a text confirmation code.

The total sign up process should take you less than five minutes from start to finish. After that, you’re free to start browsing for the best daily deals.

Signing up is the easy part.

The hard part is deciding on which hotel and deal you want to jump on!

It Doesn’t Hurt to Give It a Shot

If you’re an avid deal-finder or wandering traveler, Hotel Tonight should at least be in your consideration set for finding your next great deal.

While there are some negative feelings from customers regarding non-refundable rates, hidden taxes and fees, and poor customer service, we feel like you should at least use the service to price check and look for potentially great deals.

Bottom line, it never hurts to have one more source when booking your next trip.

You never know what kind of deal you might stumble upon for a future booking.

So what’re you waiting for?

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