TIPS

Below are a few tips for finding the best deal on your California vacation.

• First and foremost, when booking a hotel, always remember that you usually can get the hotel to either match the rate you've found on booking sites like hotels.com, Expedia, etc or give you a slightly better deal. (Also, just because hotels.com says there are no available rooms for a certain hotel doesn't mean they are totally booked. It means they likely have more rooms and specials but you need to call or email them directly.

•  Check out and sign up for Local Getaways. It's a great site that hotels give a special rate to for a specific amount of time...a lot of these deals are deeply discounted. They also have a great email newsletter you can sign up for to make sure you never miss any fantastic hotel deals.  

• Check out the city's "Convention & Visitors Bureau" website. Most of them have hotel details and things to do listed on their website and some even offer codes for hotels and/or package deals. (Just Google the city name with Convention & Visitors Bureau behind it.) 

• Remember that every hotel and destination has an "off season" where everything is usually cheaper. Do your research and consider visiting during the off season or even going during the week will get you a better hotel deal than you'd find on a weekend.