So when booking a hotel, esp on short notice, without Internet, always ask for price on phone as against walking in and inquiring. Even if you are right outside.
This is because on phone you can inquire dozens of hotels and they know that, so they offer more competitive prices, where as in walk in, they know that you are kind of not going to just walk out after hearing a price. (that also makes you look "cheap", so thats another factor).