How to Save Up to 60% on Hotels in Argentina

How I Managed to Pay 60% Less for a Hotel in Argentina

Over the past year I've driven more than 40,000 kilometers around Argentina and Latin America and stayed overnight in all sorts of places: from tiny rooms in the middle of nowhere in the mountains of Jujuy to luxury boutique hotels. As you know, pricing in Argentina is never straightforward. Just recently, for instance, I paid 60% less than the price I was first quoted. Want to pull off the same trick? Here are the hacks!

Hack #1 — compare every possible booking channel

Compare prices. Booking.com, the hotel's own website, WhatsApp, and the front desk will all quote you a different rate per night. Most often WhatsApp gets you the cheapest price, but that's not guaranteed.

Hack #2 — ask about discounts for cash and transfers

Cash or card? Always ask if there's a cash discount. Tiene descuento para efectivo? Pro tip: right after that, ask if you can instead pay by bank transfer. Chances are they'll still give you the discount, but you won't have to burn through cash, which isn't exactly easy to withdraw once you're far from civilization.

Hack #3 — use your foreigner status and ask about IVA

Juggle your passports. By law, Argentines get hit with an extra 20% IVA tax. Foreigners can pay with a foreign card tax-free, but often nobody actually checks which card you're using. Always ask whether the quoted price includes the tax or not.

Hack #4 — check who gets the better price: locals or foreigners

Juggle your passports even more. In some places prices for Argentines are actually lower than for foreigners, simply because that's how the owner decided to do it.

It's simple — a bit of Spanish and some healthy haggling

As you can see, it's dead simple: five minutes of friendly conversation in Spanish, and you're profiting!