How to book a hotel with a discount using a VPN: tips and hacks

VPNs, or virtual private networks, are designed to help you watch international Netflix, hide your activity from your employer, and protect your online privacy. Tech writer Brendan Heath explained the importance of using a VPN when visiting hotels, but new data suggests that it should also be used when booking. Why is it so profitable, the publication said Lifehacker.

Photo: IStock

What is VPN

VPNs hide personal information such as your IP address, location, and browsing data from anyone who tracks you online. This includes your ISP, advertisers, websites, governments, and even other private users on the same networks.

VPNs pass your connection through proxy servers located in other countries that mask your true location, and it is through these proxy connections that you can trick websites and streaming apps into thinking you live in another part of the world.

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VPNs are legal in the US, but you should always check local laws before using them in other countries.

How to use a VPN for cheaper hotels

You can trick a hotel booking site into thinking you are at a location with a lower price. The use of dynamic pricing is a travel industry standard. According to LinkedIn, location is one of the many factors that influence prices, and one of the few you can control.

To get lower rates, you need to start using a VPN, and through trial and error. When it comes to flights, ExpressVPN recommends trying to look like you're in a smaller or less affluent country, and the same logic can be applied to hotels: if a hotel website looks up your IP address to determine a price, you can get more low rates from an IP address that is much cheaper than, say, New York.

Here are a few more steps that will increase your chances of finding a cheap deal:

• clear cookies: Reddit users were more able to find flight deals when they cleared their cookies. This can work for hotels as well;
• use incognito tab: the fewer cookies that track your activity, the better your search will be;
• keep changing VPN locationto find out new prices;
• try different booking sites: each hotel booking site will have its own terms and conditions and dynamic pricing that they follow. Turn it on and see what works for you. Try Hotels.com, Expedia, Priceline, Hotwire, Tripadvisor and more;
• use virtual debit cards if you are connected to an international server: when booking from an international server, it is quite possible to encounter local billing address requirements. To avoid this, use virtual debit cards.

Are hotels with VPNs valid? cheaper

As Mashable found, VPNs are actually better at finding discounts on hotels than flights. They checked a hotel booking in Lisbon, Portugal for seven days with Trivago and found a Ramada by Wyndham Lisbon for $130 per night with a VPN set up for Portugal. The same search with the US VPN set returned $123 per night. Similarly, a hotel in Mexico City for seven nights with a VPN set to Mexico City showed that it would cost $319 per night, but when booking the same hotel with a VPN set to the US, the price dropped to $213 per night.

Although the US has lower prices for such international hotels, this certainly does not mean that the United States is the best place to book hotels.

Best Overall VPNs

Many VPN companies claim that using their services can save you money when booking flights, hotels, and car rentals, but there is no one VPN that is “best” for saving money on travel sites.

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However, some will be better off targeting more specific locations (some may wish to target only the country, while others may target states or cities). This can come in handy if you want to target specific locations that you think will give you a cheaper deal.

Here are some of the best VPNs:

• ExpressVPN costs $6,67 per month (with an annual agreement - three free months);
• NordVPN — $3,99 per month (plus three free months);
• CyberGhost VPN — $12,99 per month;
• TunnelBear VPN - $9,99 per month.

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