I’m not the mightiest of bargain hunters. In animal kingdom of bargain hunters, I’m probably a badger - an omnivore that predominantly preys on pocket gophers.  I don’t go out of my way for bargains, but at the same time I want to try to get a better deal when I can.

Last night I was helping my girlfriend shop for a hotel.  She’s going on a trip to Puerto Rico with one of her friends this coming weekend.  I recommended that she stay at the Marriott Hotel and Casino in Coronado.  Last year at my friend’s Bachelor Party, we stayed at the Radisson around the corner, but we actually hung out at the beach at the Marriott.  The Marriott has a nice beach front, pool, and outdoor bar.

My girlfriend looked online to book the hotel, and could only find an average nightly rate of $270/night which was much more than many of the other hotels in the area including the Radisson.  The previous year I had asked at the desk about rate and was quoted a rate in the $170 range.  My first couple Internet searches returned the rate she was seeing. Generally speaking, I expect the different travel portals to return approximately the same rate.  I usually don’t usually bother with the individual portals but go through aggregator kayak.com.  What I expect to vary is the hotel selection, not prices.

Though after a slightly more exhaustive search, I found that Travelocity had the hotel for less than $200/night. Not a great rate, but quite a bit better than what we were finding before. The average rate would’ve been lower had all the nights been in May.  As is there was one night in April.  In my experience May and June are two of the better months to go down to the Caribbean, especially May. Both months are only slightly past peak season, but not in the dead heat of summer. Prices and crowds are both much better.

I was very surprised to find that the major travel portals quoting very different prices for a major hotel chain. I had never encountered this before. I’ve encountered different prices, but usually in some kind of special package promotion. I guess it always pays to make a thorough search.