I was a hotel secret shopper and here are my tricks for getting a free upgrade

A MAN who worked as a hotel secret shopper has revealed his tips for bagging free room upgrades.

Dan Shapiro would get paid to review luxury hotels without staff knowing.

While in the role, he worked out a number of tricks that made staff more likely to improve his accommodation.

His first tip was to pretend to be a secret shopper, by making note of small details obviously when talking to staff.

He told : "Look at somebody's name tag conspicuously - like if you want to make yourself look like a secret shopper.

"Conspicuously look at their name tag and then write something down. You might get an upgrade out of that."

Secondly, he suggested being as polite as possible.

He said: "Just be human and speak genuinely. You can always ask for a room upgrade.

"So if you're just kind of cool about it, they'll probably help you out."

Shapiro's third piece of advice was to always call the hotel direct, instead of booking through a third party website - even if the deal looks better elsewhere.

This advice has been backed up by other travel experts, with Shane Lambert, a former hotel managerrevealing on : "A lot of hotels punish people for booking through third-party sites.

"They don’t like paying the commission and would rather you booked with the hotel directly.

"The consequence is that you get the worst room within the room category you book a lot of the time."

Meanwhile, a hotel owner has revealed how guests can get a free upgrade on their room.

And a former hotel worker revealed how you can always get a free breakfast to take from your hotel.

For the biggest bargain, book hotels on a Friday night to save money.