But in recessionary periods like we are experiencing right now, hotels find occupancy rates running at 60%-65%, making it hard for the hotel’s management to make ends meet.

Hotels make money when they can fill their rooms, with paying customers. When running at 95%-98% occupancy rates, filling those final rooms are pure gravy on the hotel’s bottom line. With high occupancy rates, hotels tend to hold empty rooms for people desperate for a room, enabling the hotel to maximize its profits.

But when occupancy rates are low, hotel managers are desperate for customers instead of customers being desperate for a room. Herein lies the secret to getting more bang for your travel dollars.

Full rooms are a sellers’ market, and empty rooms create a buyers’ market. When in a buyers’ market, the buyer has a lot of control over the final price the customer will pay.

If you go to the front desk of the hotel and demonstrate to the satisfaction of the hotel proprietor that you may be willing to walk out the front door of the hotel and shop for another room, then you will have strengthened your hand for negotiating a better price for a room. My experience has been that many hotel proprietors believe that if you are standing in their lobby that you are more inclined to buy from them, rather than to go down the street, so the proprietor will hold more firm on his or her price. However, if you are willing to call the hotel on the phone – even from the hotel’s parking lot – you will find that you have a lot more leverage to get a better deal.

The simple truth is that if hotel’s are struggling to fill rooms, hotel proprietors are more often willing to negotiate a better deal, with any person willing to ask. So ask.

Not every hotel proprietor will be willing to reduce the price of a room, but frequently, proprietors who reject a lower price will offer extra amenities to sweeten the deal. So ask.

You have nothing to lose by asking, and you could very well negotiate a much better deal if you would only be willing to ask for a better deal. So speak up, and see if you can find a better deal.