Home Away from Home: How to Save Money at An Extended Stay Hotel

• Author: William Asher
• Posted: 2024-07-15

You think you have it all figured out. You have your budget down to a science with money allotted for your rent or mortgage, insurance policies, groceries and even credit cards and entertainment expenses. Yet, what do you do when you're suddenly required to leave your home for an extended period of time and live in a hotel?

People live in extended stay hotels for a month or longer for a wide range of reasons. Sometimes they need to temporarily relocate for work, or they need healthcare at a non-local major academic research or specialty hospital. They might experience an emergency event like a fire or flood that temporarily makes their home unlivable or need a temporary place to stay while awaiting approval to move into a newly constructed or recently purchased home. Some people suddenly have to relocate after their landlord sells the property they're living in or decides not to renew their lease.

Whatever your situation, you can expect a heavy hit to your budget if you move into an extended stay hotel. Although cheaper than standard hotels, extended stays typically charge rates that are higher than regional non-hotel rental standards. To protect your finances and actually save money, follow these simple tips:

Discuss Payments Options First

Before you set foot in an extended stay hotel, you need to make certain that they do more than accept debit or credit cards and checks. Depending on the quality of the hotel, you can lose a lot of time and money if you're stuck paying at the front desk instead of online. These hotels often treat people like rental property tenants instead of hotel guests, which means that they might not hire more than one front desk clerk to carry out duties, limit the availability of the clerk to a narrow window of hours each day and make guests wait a half hour or longer to receive face-to-face service even if no waiting line exists. Since these hotels often appeal to people in lower income brackets, members of management typically consider their guests "high risk" and limit online payment options. For example, they might not allow you to pay online with a new card or multiple cards. You need to check ahead that the hotel provides these payment options or potentially face frustratingly long in-person wait times that eat away at your work hours.

Pay for The Premium Room

Extended stay hotels usually offer a kitchen or kitchenette with every room, but there's no guarantee except with premium rooms. When you pay for a premium room, you also receive a lot more than this convenience: You usually receive or can request a room on the top floor, which reduces the amount of noise you're exposed to from your neighbors. Since many extended stay hotels treat their premium room guests better than standard room ones, you're also more likely to receive better service and perks. For example, these hotels often don't provide laundry or trash removal services. Yet, premium guests might receive these services automatically or upon request.

Pay A Month at A Time

You need to remember a simple phrase: The longer you stay, the less you pay. Extended stay hotels don't usually offer new potential guests daily rates, which means that you must choose a weekly or monthly rate. To retain great guests, they typically provide a better discounted rate for monthly stays of at least 28 days. After your initial payment, you can sometimes fall back on a daily rate, known as a stayover rate, if you need a buffer of a few days between making your next weekly or monthly payment. That said, the stayover can cost you over a $100 more than the other two options. So, the best way to save money is to pay a month at a time, and always pay on time before or by the next renewal date.

Ask Staff to Wave Taxes

Many states require hotels to stop billing guests taxes after the first month because these states recognize the guests as "permanent residents" rather than visitors. If you're in a state that waives city, count and state taxes, you can potentially save hundreds of dollars. Yet, extended stay hotel staff members in applicable states sometimes forget to mention to their guests either during check-in or renewal that they can waive taxes. Also, they and their billing offices don't always automatically remove the taxes unless you mention it. It's important to note that if you're located in a city that requires you to check out and then check back in every thirty days, you can still save money because those states typically count the housing as continuous as long as you check back in immediately.

Things to Keep in Mind

As you can see, you can save a lot of money when you need a home away from home at an extended stay hotel for more than a few weeks. You merely need to prepare ahead as much as possible and research and maintain awareness of the availability of potential savings.