How to find a room to rent on September 1st when many places are 'sold out' on National Day September 2nd

Contact the hotel directly to reserve a last minute room.

With online booking channels reporting full bookings, calling the hotel directly is still an effective way to go. Last-minute cancellations can often give you a chance to keep your room. Negotiating directly with the manager or front desk can also increase your chances of success. Some guests even say that calling directly can yield results up to 85% of the time.

If your hotel is fully booked, get on the waiting list to get priority when cancellations happen. In the meantime, book another hotel with a free cancellation policy to avoid being caught off guard. You can also negotiate a higher room type if your standard room is full.

Flexible negotiation:When contacting directly, don’t be afraid to ask about different room types. Maybe the room you want is sold out, but the hotel has a higher-end room that’s not listed yet, or a VIP suite.

With an unlimited budget, you can negotiate an upgrade to a higher-end room or add-on services to convince the hotel. Some high-end hotels even keep 1-2 “backup” rooms that are not sold online for the hotel owner or VIP guests at the last minute.

Leverage relationships in the travel industry

In addition to booking directly, you can go to a travel agency or a large tour company such as Vietravel, Saigontourist, HanoiRedtour. These units often reserve room blocks for group tours and can resell unused rooms.

If you have connections within the hotel, take advantage of personal contacts. Managers or internal staff can sometimes be flexible in their support. Regular guests are often given priority when rooms become available due to cancellations.

Exploiting “vulnerabilities” on OTAs

Each hotel allocates rooms to many different OTA channels, so rooms may be sold out on Agoda but still available on Expedia or Trip.com. Using aggregator search engines like Google Travel, Trivago helps you compare easily.

In addition, less popular OTAs such as Mytour.vn, Vntrip.vn or international platforms such as Priceline, Ctrip are also places where you can find vacant rooms. In particular, Facebook groups for renting homestays and serviced apartments in Hanoi are also flexible channels during peak seasons.

Alternatives: serviced apartments, homestays, hostels

If traditional hotels are fully booked, you can turn to homestays, serviced apartments or mini hotels. Many beautifully designed, fully-equipped homestays listed on Airbnb still have available rooms.

In addition, modern hostels and dorms in Hanoi's Old Quarter such as Little Charm and Hanoi Buffalo Hostel have private rooms or dorm beds, providing temporary accommodation at cheaper prices. Apps such as Go2Joy also allow last-minute bookings of motels or mini-hotels.

Use premium booking services and insider privileges

When budget is no object, take advantage of premium concierge services and under-the-radar membership perks:

For the wealthy, concierge services from luxury credit cards (Amex Platinum, Visa Signature, Mastercard World Elite) or 5-star hotel membership programs such as Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, IHG Rewards can open up additional opportunities.

High-end networks like Virtuoso or AMEX Fine Hotels & Resorts often reserve certain rooms for special guests, even when the hotel announces “full availability.”

These units have their own network and international relations with 5-star hotels. Often, they can have a room available that guests usually do not see.