How to book your hotels for the best prices?

[ivinsfan]

My American Express bill tells me, because the Travelocity charges for the two plane tickets are separately billed (one charge for each ticket/passenger)and are explicitly designated as plane tickets with the ticket number, itineraries and such included. There is a third Travelocity charge on my Amex bill representing the hotel portion.

That's interesting because Expedia use just the total with no breakdown. I can back into a hotel price by looking at ticket price the day I book,but I don't know if Expedia gets any price breaks from the airlines.

 

[brett]

Our experience is that the best prices have been either through opaque booking sites like Hotwire,etc, on bidding sites like Priceline, or directly through the hotel or the hotel chain. This is, in our experience, very city centric. The latter especially if you book for three nights, pre pay, etc. We have had some great deals through Accor, Marriott, Hilton, Melia, etc. We make a point of belonging to their clubs. This often results in an additional discount.

We do use Expedia,Booking.com etc. to look at hotels however we always first try to book direct either with the hotel or with the chain in Europe or Asia. This inevitably results in a lower price, a better room, or additional benefits such as breakfast or parking. For smaller properties we always ask if there is a discount for cash. Not unusual in Europe to get a 10 percent discount for cash IF we have booked direct.

 

[ivinsfan]

Marriott has a really good best price guarantee as well. 25% off any price lower then Marriott.com. I used to have really good luck with this but it seems as though they have tightened up and it's harder to find lower prices on line.

 

[Gumby]

As the Romans used to say, Caveat Freakin' Emptor.

Yes, it was a relatively inexpensive reminder of that timeless wisdom.

 

[brett]

We spent time in Costa Rica last winter. In one area we arranged a hotel for two nights.

We decided to stay in the area. We looked up other acccommadation on tripavisor and booking.com on the next beach down from where we were staying. Noted the prices. Then we drove over to one of the places on our shortlist. Spoke to the owner, had a tour of the rooms. Made it clear that it was a cash deal for four or five nights.

Bottom line, price went down by about 40 percent and we got an upgraded room as compared to what was offered on booking.com. Plus, we knew exactly what we were getting...no surprises. Right down to the specific room We even tested out the internet prior to doing the deal. We have done this several times in various locations. We are flexible travellers and we often decide to stay in one place for longer....or leave earlier than we anticipated.

We often phone, or email as well. Ask directly for their best price based on type of room etc. Most places are very happy to provide discounts when they do not have to pay large commissions to the booking engines. And in smaller family run hotels an 'off the books' cash transaction can be very attractive.

 

[ivinsfan]

Booking.com and Expedia can be a double edged sword for these family owned properties. The commissions can be high. We favor a small family owned resort on the beach in Playa and one year out of the blue they offered a 80 a night price for early winter which included breakfast and dinner. We booked it ASAP. At dinner one night we were talking to a Canadian couple who booked the same deal. A couple who visited every year at the same time (for like 20 years) tended to book early. They were paying 180 a night and were not happy. They went right to the front desk and had a talk to the manager/owner.....they got their bill adjusted, not sure how much got taken off.

 

[audreyh1]

I just learned a good lesson about Travelocity. Over Labor Day weekend, we flew out to Missouri for a wedding. As I have done before, I booked the plane tickets through Travelocity. They offered a "package deal" with the plane tickets and a hotel. Since all the hotels out there are virtually the same, I took them up on it.

When we got back home, I saw on my credit card statement that the hotel had charged us for the stay, which they shouldn't have done, because it was prepaid through Travelocity. I called Travelocity and they got things straightened out in a day, with the hotel giving me an offsetting merchant credit. So kudos to them for that.

But here's the catch -- the charge directly from the hotel was $20 less per night than what I paid Travelocity. The lesson? Always check the price of the hotel on their own website before you take the Travelocity package "deal."

Yeah - I never book through Expedia or Travelocity, etc., because sometimes something goes wrong with the reservation being lost, and they rarely have a better price than going directly to the hotel anyway, so it's simpler to cut out the middle man. Only in a few rare circumstances have I used them because they had availability while the hotel did not have it directly. And then I always confirm my reservation with the hotel.

Oh yeah - and I learned years ago to book flights directly with the airlines. Things like changing seat locations can be done anytime and is free. And if there are problems with flights - so much easier to rebook.

I always double check package deals. It's rarely a deal if you have other access to discounts.

 

[RobbieB]

Me too.

I book flights with the airlines and hotels with the hotels.

I don't want to save any money, I want things to go right.

I don't deal with middlemen, I go straight to the source.

 

[Chuckanut]

Booking through the hotel is a great idea especially with the smaller, family owned hotels. The booking agencies take a huge percentage of the rent in return for their service. By booking directly, you help the small guy stay in business and often they will toss in some extras. Or, if a small room or a superior room are both open they will give you the superior room and let the booking agency people have the small room.

 

[audreyh1]

When I booked a hotel in Vienna, DH and I read several reports of hotels "losing" booking.com reservations, or moving booking.com customers to a sister hotel.

Not very scrupulous. But something that can happen if they aren't happy with the middleman.

 

[braumeister]

I book flights with the airlines and hotels with the hotels.

I don't want to save any money, I want things to go right.

I don't deal with middlemen, I go straight to the source.

Same here. After a few unpleasant glitches with places like Travelocity and Expedia, I've been booking everything direct for years. The small amount of money I might save isn't worth the peace of mind.

 

[Bamaman]

We usually research rooms at Booking.com--filtering the search from cheapest to most expensive. Then we look for properties that have customer ratings far above other properties in the same price range. We have never received a bad room and saved substantially. This for international travel mainly.

If rooms were very expensive in the market, we would contact the hotel directly and ask for their best lrice--not using a booking website.

 

[brett]

There have been a few occasions when we have gone to the hotel web site only to find that there were no rooms available. Yet we were able to book on booking.com, amona, etc. Led us to believe that sometimes these third party sites actually pre buy blocks of rooms.

We have also had the situation, very infrequently, that booking.com was less expensive than the hotel. This happened at a fairly large hotel in Nha Trang, Vietnam.

We were extending our stay in the area. We went to the hotel, looked at the rooms etc, then wanted to book for three nights. The desk person gave us a price that was considerably higher than booking.com. We asked for a price match and she said no. So, right there at the desk I pulled out my ipad, logged in to booking.com and reserved the same room, same hotel for about 25 percent less than the front desk rate. Go figure.

 

[audreyh1]

I couldn't get direct availability at the hotel I wanted in Salzburg once without paying upfront, but cancelable reservations were available via booking.com. So I took that route. Later, when we were sure of our plans, I went back to the hotel and their pre-pay specials were still available, so I booked that and cancelled with booking.com.

We have stayed at a couple of smaller inns that don't do direct bookings but send you to booking.com

However the inn/hotel prefers to handle it....

 

[Scuba]

Yeah - I never book through Expedia or Travelocity, etc., because sometimes something goes wrong with the reservation being lost, and they rarely have a better price than going directly to the hotel anyway, so it's simpler to cut out the middle man. Only in a few rare circumstances have I used them because they had availability while the hotel did not have it directly. And then I always confirm my reservation with the hotel.

Oh yeah - and I learned years ago to book flights directly with the airlines. Things like changing seat locations can be done anytime and is free. And if there are problems with flights - so much easier to rebook.

I always double check package deals. It's rarely a deal if you have other access to discounts.

I agree. I tend to book direct also. If you have to make a last-minute change, you can deal directly with the airline or hotel vs going through a middleman.

 

[Red Badger]

Me too.

I book flights with the airlines and hotels with the hotels.

I don't want to save any money, I want things to go right.

I don't deal with middlemen, I go straight to the source.

+1. And to quote Hank Hill, "Yup."

 

[ivinsfan]

Same here. After a few unpleasant glitches with places like Travelocity and Expedia, I've been booking everything direct for years. The small amount of money I might save isn't worth the peace of mind.

I've booked a couple of bundle deals for Playa Del Carmen in August for travel in early Mexico and literally saved enough to get free plane tickets. That's more then a small amount of money...never had any problems, but also had the peace of mind that it's kind of low season and I wouldn't have to worry about ending up on the street.

 

[brett]

We sometimes do last minute AI's that include air/hotel/food. Not always, just when we feel like we want a quick getaway with zero planning involved. Usually 7 day trips and with a typical departure mid week vs weekend.

We scan the offers to pick up a good offer at a good property. Not a bargain if the property not what we want. We are in a position to leave within 24 hours of hitting the buy button though usually it is two-four days.