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Every day is a school day in the ‘travel hacking’ world and last week I came across something I’d never heard about before: Accor Hotels (Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure, Ibis, etc) offer very useful day rates and you can book them easily online.  You can book hotels for 3,6 or 9 hours for blocks in the morning, afternoon or evening.

I was looking for a hotel in Singapore for a family member to rest in after a long flight that arrives at about 7:30am local time. If it were me travelling, I’d normally just take a chance and hope I could check in early, but as it’s family, I wanted something guaranteed this time.

I already knew Hilton offers day rates online, but there was nothing really suitable available. There are air-side transit hotels at Changi Airport which might have worked, but collecting luggage looked like it might be an issue and I wanted to keep hassle to a minimum. The Crowne Plaza at the airport was a possibility too, but booking with Accor was cheaper and the preference was for something in town rather than at the airport.

I haven’t had chance to spend much time looking at what the rates are like more generally, but 6 hours from 9am at the Novotel Clarke Quay set me back about £80 including tax.

Bottom line

Accor’s day rates aren’t necessarily a cheap option, but sometimes you need to guarantee that a room will be ready when you want it, and the convenience of being able to book easily online is great.

Hat-tip: Slightly inexplicably, my Mum (seriously!).