Have you ever had to book a hotel at the last minute and wondered why you felt like you were getting a great deal? Sometimes this is not the case, but if you know what you are doing you can get a very hot deal on a hotel at the last minute. Here are a few tips to help you with your lat minute hotel deal. The first thing you need to know about the hotel industry is that certain hotels cut their rates when they need to fill a few more rooms and others will not due to their reputation. The higher priced hotels seem to be content with leaving a few rooms empty on any given night instead of dropping their rates a bit in order to fill the rooms. Others are more than willing to cut their rates, sometimes as much as in half, in order to fill the vacant rooms. This only makes sense because they don't make money from empty rooms. The next thing you need to know is that if there is a big event in the area, then you are going to have a lot of trouble finding a last minute hotel. Plus when there is a big even, for example a Notre Dame Football game in South Bend, Indiana, the hotels tend to raise their rates and as they book more rooms they will continue to raise their rates because they know their area is going to be flooded with thousands of people in need to a hotel room. They will milk this for every penny they can. So if there is a big event going on where you are traveling to don't expect to get any kind of deal. So remember that if you are booking last minute you should shop around for the hotels that will drop their rates a little to fill the rooms they have vacant. Also know that if there is a larger and popular event in the area, then you will have a lot of trouble finding a hotel room and even more trouble finding a deal. Make sure to negotiate or at least ask for a better rate because some hotels will give you one if you ask. Like Accor , it offers last minutes hotels: up to 60% off!