"Is Early Hotel Booking Always Best?" The Rule Is Broken... Up to 44% Cheaper If You Book at 'This Time'

"Booking One Week Before Check-in Is the Cheapest"

If you want to stay at a hotel for a lower price during the upcoming vacation season, booking well in advance is a good option—but, according to a new analysis, waiting until one week before your departure can also be a smart strategy.

Lotte Hotel Jeju Pool Villa Suite Room. Photo is not directly related to the content of the article. Lotte Hotel

According to the '2026 Hotel Price Index' released by Hotels.com on June 14, booking a hotel just one week before departure was found to be about 44% cheaper than booking four months in advance. Even for 4-star hotels, last-minute reservations resulted in an average cost savings of 36%.

The periods when hotel rates drop the most throughout the year were identified as the 'second week of March' and 'February.' The most expensive time was the 'beginning of October,' when autumn travel demand and public holidays overlap. Price differences by day of the week were also significant. For overseas hotel stays, checking in on a Thursday was the cheapest, while Saturday was the most expensive day.

Additionally, according to Hotels.com, the average additional cost for upgrading from a 4-star to a 5-star hotel overseas was only 39%, but for domestic hotels, the same upgrade required an average of 113% more.

In practice, 5-star hotels in regions such as Southeast Asia could be booked for less than 380,000 won per night. The average nightly rate by destination was as follows: Nha Trang, Vietnam at 199,000 won; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at 242,000 won; Manila, Philippines at 249,000 won; Jakarta, Indonesia at 264,000 won; and Bangkok, Thailand at 276,000 won.

However, the traditional luxury standard, which relied solely on the hotel’s star rating, is changing—especially among younger travelers. Generation Z travelers were more than twice as likely to choose 4-star accommodations (37%) over 5-star hotels (18%). For these travelers, the criteria for premium accommodations were based on actual stay experiences rather than the star rating itself: 39% valued an excellent view, 31% preferred spacious rooms, 30% prioritized room service, and 30% looked for advanced amenities.

Meanwhile, the destinations with the largest year-over-year drop in average daily rate (ADR) were Kagoshima, Japan at -20%, Las Vegas, USA at -15%, and Da Nang, Vietnam at -10%.

Lavinia Rajaram, Head of PR for Asia at Expedia Group, commented, "Korean travelers are strategically getting great value for money by making last-minute bookings, checking in on Thursdays, and choosing reasonably priced 5-star destinations," adding, "How you book is just as important as where you go."

This data was compiled based on actual reservation data from Korean travelers and a global survey of 11,000 people worldwide.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.