Top 10 hotel freebies

When it comes to choosing your hotel what do you look for first: location, amenities… freebies? Who doesn’t like free loot on holidays, especially if it means spending less (ref. continental breakfast) and packing less (ref. to the bathroom goodies). Curious what the top 10 hotel freebies are? Take a look!

You don’t need to stay in a luxury hotel to get freebies either. These days even economy accommodations are willing to dish out a little extra for their guests, if only to make themselves noticed above the steep competition.  So what are hotel guests getting excited about and exactly what kind of freebies are out there?

• Breakfast: The most popular and most valued freebie doesn’t come upon arrival but the morning after. Of course it’s free breakfast, an invaluable addition to any hotel guest’s stay. Not only does it same money ( but it’s totally convenient.

• Spa: Deals and discounts at the in-house spa are next on the list. If you’ve never been to the spa or haven’t been able to afford the sometimes pricey treatments, a coupon or free treatment at a hotel might be just the trick to lure you into the addictive pampering. How about a free yoga class?

• Children’s activity kits: When it comes to travelling with kids and choosing between two similarly priced hotels, the obvious winner will be the one offering a free activity kit for your child to use during the holiday.

• Wi-Fi: In-room wireless internet, you’d be surprised how many hotels don’t have internet connections, what’s a business traveller to do or someone who just needs to tell their Twitter following how great of a hotel they’re staying in?!

  

• Airport shuttles: Hotels who want to make their guests lives easy offer airport shuttles. It can make the world of a different to a business traveller who needs to jet quickly for airport to hotel to meeting, same for families, same for any traveller who doesn’t want to waste time getting lost on public transit or hire a car in a foreign city.

• Beverage coupons: Apart from the coffee, some hotels offer a complimentary drink her, wine, spirit or beer) during the evening for all of their guests at the hotel bar, a nice gesture that starts the stay off on a nice foot.

• Good coffee: If you don’t drink instant coffee at home, how can you be expected to drink instant coffee while on vacation? Hotels that cater to the die-hard java drinkers know that when it comes to the morning brew it should be a good one.

• Parking: This rings especially true is you’ve reserved a room at a hotel on a busy street and you have to pay for street parking or even lot parking. If you pay for the room, shouldn’t it also include a roof over your car’s head? Free parking is just a sigh of relief.

• Movies: Has anyone else been disappointed to turn on the hotel room TV only to find you have to pay either for cable or for watching a movie? In our books, free flicks are a no-brainer and we’re ecstatic when hotels offer them for free.

• Free nights: It’s always worth to ask at any hotel if you can get a discount for staying longer. It’s not hard to find hotels offering their guests a free night’s stay after 2-3 nights at their hotel, it’s only an incentive for their guests to stay at the hotel rather than jump to another one for the remainder of their holiday.

What kind of hotel freebies do you look for when you search for hotels?

Img: MoToMo / flickr cc