Alright, so I found myself needing a place for a longer stretch, not just a weekend, I’m talking a month, maybe two. My first thought, like probably everyone’s, was to jump onto those big hotel search websites. Easy, right? Well, that’s what I thought.
My First Clumsy Attempts
I went to one of the usual suspects, typed in the city, and then, here’s the kicker, I put in like “60 days” for the stay. Hit search. And BAM. The prices that popped up were just… wow. Astronomical. It felt like they just took the priciest nightly rate and multiplied it by sixty. No smarts, no deals for booking longer. My jaw kinda dropped. I thought, “This can’t be right, there has to be a better way to do this.” It was clear these sites weren’t really set up for people like me looking for a temporary home, more for the quick tourist trip.
Changing My Search Game
So, I started to play around. I figured, okay, maybe searching for the entire two months at once is just confusing the system. I tried breaking it down. What if I searched for 30 days first? Or even two-week blocks? This actually started to show some different results, sometimes slightly better rates, or different types of places like serviced apartments that didn’t show up in the super long search. It was a bit more clicking, a bit more effort, but at least the numbers weren’t making me want to run for the hills immediately.
Then I started really looking at the filters. Some sites have an “extended stay” filter, or you can look for places with “kitchenettes” which is a lifesaver for long stays. But honestly, a lot of them are pretty basic. You can’t really tell them “I’m looking for a monthly rate.”
Jumping Between Different Engines
I didn’t stick to just one site. I must have had five or six tabs open, trying the same search on different hotel engines. It’s funny, they all kind of promise the same thing, “best deals,” but for long-term, the results could be all over the place.
- One engine seemed to be better at finding apartment-style hotels.
- Another one would occasionally throw up a decent guesthouse or a smaller hotel that offered a long-stay discount if you squinted hard enough at the details.
- And some, frankly, were just useless for anything beyond a week. They just kept showing me the same expensive downtown hotels.
The trick, I found, was not to trust any single one of them completely. I used them more like a starting point, a way to get a list of potential places.
The Real “Hack”: Going Offline (Sort Of)
Here’s what really made a difference. After I found a few places that looked promising on these search engines – even if the price for the full duration was still a bit scary – I’d take the name of the hotel and do a separate search for their direct website or phone number. This was key.
I’d then either call them up or shoot them an email. I’d say something like, “Hi, I’m looking to stay for about 8 weeks, starting around [date]. I saw your place listed on [search engine], but I was wondering if you offer any special rates for longer-term stays?”
And you know what? More often than not, they did! Hotels, especially smaller ones or apartment-hotels, are often willing to negotiate a bit for a guaranteed long booking. The rates they offered directly were sometimes way better than what the big search engines showed. It’s like the search engines are great for finding who has rooms, but not always the best at getting you the actual long-term deal. They’re built for volume and short stays, that’s their main business.
What I Actually Ended Up Doing
So, my process became this:
1. Use 2-3 major hotel search engines.
2. Search in blocks of 2-4 weeks to see a wider range of properties and initial price ideas.
3. Filter heavily for things like “kitchenette,” “apartment,” or “suite” if available.
4. Make a list of potentials.
5. Crucially, contact the hotels directly. Explain I’m looking for a multi-week or multi-month stay.
6. Compare the direct offers with what the search engines quoted. Usually, direct was better or they could offer perks.
It was a bit more legwork than just clicking “book” on a website. But for a long stay, the savings or getting a much better-suited place (like one with a small kitchen and a bit more space) was totally worth it. The search engines were a good tool to identify options, but they weren’t the final step for me. They just don’t seem fully optimized for someone trying to book a temporary home for weeks or months on end. They’re getting there, some are better than others, but you still gotta be a bit savvy.
