Chances are good that you're paying more for your hotel room than the guest down the hall. Follow William J. McGee's advice for finding the best price, and never again pay top dollar for top-tier accommodations

With luxury hotel rates soaring, a six-night stay at a five-star London hotel costs at least $3,000 these days. But travelers who know where to look can still find steep discounts on sumptuous accommodations. Jerry Ross, a Connecticut tennis pro who regularly bids in travel auctions on the Luxury Link Web site, recently scored a six-night stay at London's five-star Savoy hotel for $1,800, including daily breakfast for two. He also bid on and won a Jamaican resort vacation for $2,500 that he estimates was worth $8,000.

The idea of luxury bargains is oxymoronic, to be sure, and even some travel specialists say that no such beast exists. "You can find added value and low-season rates but not really luxury bargains," says Valerie Wilson, whose eponymous Manhattan travel agency specializes in ultra-high-end hotels. But with a little legwork, Condé Nast Traveler turned up significant savings—we would even call them bargains—at a number of luxury properties around the world.

Sometimes scoring a discount can be as simple as picking up the telephone and speaking directly to someone at the hotel. When we called the Bellinter House, outside Dublin, to inquire about a rate on its Web site, we were offered a 30 percent discount and told by the reservationist "not to pay any attention to the prices on the Web site—they're all rack rates." Similarly, we turned up excellent values by using an "aggregator" Web site such as Kayak, which allows travelers to compare the prices a hotel is offering on dozens of reservations sites. But in general our research clearly shows that online travel auctions deliver the best values, with savings of up to 50 percent.

The Best of the Web
Caution: Online travel auctions can be addictive—but they can also save you a small fortune. Many sites that claim to sell luxury travel to the highest bidder, however, aren't worth the trouble of registering. There are two notable exceptions: Luxury Link and Andrew Harper. Both sites offer auctions as well as specially priced travel packages, which usually include a long list of extras—from activities such as golf, tennis, and massages to meals and fruit baskets. These extras can be pure gravy when the price of the entire package is less than you would pay for a room alone.

But beware that some "extras" aren't extras at all: For example, breakfast may already be included in the regular room rate. On Andrew Harper, we found a "special travel value" at the Cambridge Beaches hotel in Bermuda—a five-night stay that included a picnic lunch, a moped, and a massage for two for $3,800. The price for the room alone was $2,675 on the hotel's Web site (and just $2,050 on Kayak). When we calculated the value of the amenities, we got a figure of about $225—far less than the $1,125 difference between the Andrew Harper package and the price for just the room. But don't write off packages entirely: They can be great deals when they include otherwise pricey pursuits like golf, tennis, and water sports.