Black Friday falls on 27 November this year. Cyber Monday is 30 November. Travel Tuesday, the day the travel industry invented for itself because the first two were already crowded, is 1 December.

Those are the dates everyone advertises. The actual hotel sale window is wider and starts earlier. Most of the big platform promotions run from around 20 November through 3 December, and the brand sales open a few days before Black Friday itself.

We look at hotel pricing data for a living. Here is what the November sales are worth, what the percentages are measured against, and which offers are worth setting a reminder for.

The 2026 calendar, in order

Black Friday hotel sales in 2026 run roughly from 20 November to 3 December, with the deepest discounts landing on Black Friday itself, 27 November, and Cyber Monday, 30 November. Travel Tuesday on 1 December is the day travel specific brands hold back their best offers.

The practical version.

20 to 26 November. Early access opens for loyalty members and app users. Discounts are real but usually a few points below the headline number. Inventory is at its widest.

27 November, Black Friday. Peak discounting on packages and resort stays. Also peak inventory pressure. Popular dates in popular cities sell out during this window and do not come back.

30 November, Cyber Monday. Historically the strongest day for hotel only rates as opposed to packages. Several major chains schedule their app exclusive rates here.

1 December, Travel Tuesday. Tour operators, cruise lines and a handful of independent hotel groups. Thinner for straight hotel bookings than the name suggests.

2 to 3 December. The tail. Unsold inventory gets repriced. Worth a look if your dates are flexible and you did not find anything earlier.

What the percentages are actually measured against

This is the part that gets skipped in every roundup article, and it is the only part that determines whether you saved money.

Hotel sale discounts are almost always measured against one of two baselines. Rack rate, which is the published maximum a property will ever charge and which almost nobody pays. Or best available rate, which is the flexible, cancel anytime price and which is typically 10 to 20 percent above the prepaid rate the same room sells at on a normal Tuesday.

So a headline of up to 65 percent off rack rates on a resort stay is a smaller number than it looks. And 30 percent off best available rate is roughly 12 to 18 percent off what you would have paid anyway with a prepaid booking in a quiet week.

That does not make the sales worthless. It makes the headline number the wrong thing to compare. The right comparison is the total you would pay in November against the total for the same room and the same dates in a normal week. Open both, in two tabs, and look at the final number including taxes and fees.

What the 2026 sales look like so far

Announced and expected offers, as of late August. These change, so treat them as shape rather than gospel.

Marriott is running a Cyber Sale at 25 percent for Bonvoy members booking in the app, with a stay window running through 22 February. That stay window is the longest the sale has ever had, which matters more than the percentage. A 25 percent discount you can use in mid February is worth more than a 30 percent discount that expires in early January.

Accor has 30 percent off US and Canada stays. 1 Hotels is running up to 40 percent in select cities. On the resort side, Sandals is at up to 65 percent off rack rates for stays of three nights or more with booking credits attached, and Westgate is at up to 50 percent off best available rate.

On the platform side, the large booking sites are running 30 to 40 percent off selected hotels and apartments, with the deepest cuts on package bookings that bundle a flight. Package discounts of up to 60 percent are real but apply to a narrow slice of inventory.

The three conditions that decide whether it is a deal

Stay window

A hotel sale is only useful if you can travel when it lets you. Check the stay window before the percentage. Sales that expire in January are competing against a period when hotel rates are already at their annual low. Sales that run into February or March are worth more because they cover a period when rates recover.

Prepayment and cancellation

Nearly every November discount requires full prepayment and is non refundable. That is the trade. You are buying a discount with the risk of your plans changing. For a trip already locked in with flights booked, fine. For a maybe trip in February, the discount is often smaller than the cost of being wrong. Our piece on prepaid versus pay at property rates works through the math.

Blackout dates

Read them. The excluded dates in a November sale are reliably the dates you want. Valentine's weekend, Presidents Day, half term, Lunar New Year, and any city hosting something. If your dates are blacked out, the sale is irrelevant to you no matter how good the number looks.

What we would actually do

Three things, in order.

Price your dates now, before the sales start. Write down the number. Without a baseline you cannot tell a discount from a repriced rate, and repricing ahead of a sale is common enough that it is worth guarding against.

Buy sale rates only for trips that are already certain. Flights booked, dates fixed, someone else counting on you being there. Everything else is better served by a flexible rate you can improve on later.

Do not wait for November if your dates are in December. This is the mistake we see most. December inventory in European cities, ski regions and anywhere with a Christmas market is already thin by late August. Waiting five weeks for a 25 percent discount on a room that no longer exists is not a strategy. Our Christmas market booking guide covers the cutoffs city by city.

One structural point. Sale rates are one time events on locked in bookings. Cashback applies to every booking, on flexible rates, with no stay window and no blackout dates. Book through Best and you get 10 percent back on the stay, year round. On a 1,200 dollar week that is 120 dollars, which is roughly what a good Cyber Monday discount delivers, without prepaying in November for a trip in February.

Questions we get asked

When is Black Friday 2026? Friday 27 November. Cyber Monday is 30 November and Travel Tuesday is 1 December. Most hotel sale windows open around 20 November and close on 3 December.

Are Black Friday hotel deals actually cheaper? Sometimes. Discounts of 25 to 30 percent off best available rate typically work out to 12 to 18 percent off the prepaid rate you would find in a quiet week. Price your dates before the sale so you have something to compare against.

Is Cyber Monday or Black Friday better for hotels? Cyber Monday, usually. Black Friday skews toward packages and resorts. Cyber Monday is where hotel only rates and app exclusive discounts tend to land.

Do Black Friday hotel rates get cancelled or refunded? Almost never. Nearly all November sale rates are prepaid and non refundable. Assume the money is gone once you book.

Should I wait for Black Friday to book a December trip? No. December inventory in high demand destinations is largely gone by late November. Book the trip and take a flexible rate.

Images: Hero by cottonbro studio via Pexels. Online payment via Pixabay. Hotel lobby by Max Vakhtbovych via Pexels.