Better To Book Hotels Directly or A Booking Site?

[easysurfer]

I don't travel that often but lately have been making more trips.

I've been using hotels.com for years because of the simplicity of their website. That is until they started tinkering (you know, website improvements) with the site's look and made it hard to follow. So, I switched to Booking.com for now.

I haven't been booking directly at the hotels because don't like having to enroll in an account for each hotel. But today I realized, Booking.com doesn't honor discounts like from AAA or AARP. So, following the money, if I bargain hunt I could get a cheaper stay going directly to hotel. (Of course, then that reservation won't build up for future possible hotel discounts at Booking.com).

What approach do you use? Do use a service like Booking.com or hunt and peck making reservations directly with each hotel?

 

[njhowie]

You should check both. I've found roughly an even split when I can get a rate less expensive on a third-party site vs. the hotel's own website. One or the other may offer a special deal not advertised on the other, last minute discounts to unload unsold inventory, or a hotel's own Best Rate Guarantee. On the hotel's own website, many times you'll find rates that are only available to the hotel's own members, or may provide better or more flexible terms...for cancellation and/or later checkout, for example.

For AARP, I believe the only places you'll find those discounts will be on the hotel's own website, or expedia-aarp.com

 

[Ronstar]

I contact the hotels directly. I will never use booking.com again. I had a problem switching a reservation to a different date using booking.com and luckily the hotel owner switched it. IIRC, booking.com would not refund me for the date that I wanted to switch from.

 

[FindingForward]

I always book direct with hotels and airlines: it's well worth the few extra bucks - and most of the time, it's the same or better price as using a middleman.

If something goes wrong, I want a direct relationship with the end provider of my service - cuts red tape, finger pointing, etc. Plus, hotels tend to be more receptive to pleasing more profitable customers. Booking sites take a big cut off the top and pay hotels a cheaper rate for your room.

I used to use them, but that was many years ago.

 

[athena53]

I use the hotel site. If something goes wrong you don't have multiple entities pointing fingers at each other.

I belong to the Hilton, Marriott, IHG (includes Holiday Inn) and Best Western programs- occasionally I rack up enough points for a free night (more so for Hilton, my primary program). I can ignore their e-mail pitches. As far as I know you don't need to belong to the loyalty program to book on-line with them- it's just more convenient because they store some of your information.

The bargain rates on third-party sites can have more stringent cancellation rules - the lowest rates are typically pay up front and no refund for cancellation. Typically you don't get loyalty program points, either.

 

[Jerry1]

I haven’t had any issues but I’ve read about them when you book through a 3rd party so now I go directly to the hotel. I’ve never had to sign up for anything to book a room. I did sign up for Hilton and try to go a Hilton hotel when the price is right, but never found it to be a requirement in order to book a room. Maybe to get the best price, but that’s different.

I do use Hotels.com to do my research to find a hotel, then I book direct.

 

[braumeister]

If you're actually looking to save money on travel, I can't think of a reason not to join the hotel clubs. I've had countless free and deeply discounted nights from using points, and I don't really see any downside.

 

[donheff]

I am a direct booker as well. I know a lot of people love the booking sites but they own the reservation when something goes wrong. I prefer to deal with the place I will be staying in.

 

[audreyh1]

I always book directly via the hotel website or app. Too easy for screw-ups through a third party - yes, it happened in the old days. Over the years I’ve found which US chains I prefer (just 2), and so I have their apps and use their loyalty programs. I almost always use my AAA discount which in addition to better rates, usually gives me a decent cancellation policy. We’ll occasionally use other hotels and I just use their website plus AAA discount. I generally find booking directly gives me the best price, doesn’t cost more.

It been a very long time, but I had experienced a couple of times where a larger US hotel listed no availability but you could still book through a third party site. I suppose some rooms had been allotted to the third party. One time an overseas smaller inn in a very popular area with low availability directed customers to book through booking.com so I did, and a larger overseas hotel in a popular area only had pre-paid available directly, so I used booking.com for that which did allow cancellations. I think in that case at some point I switched to pre-paid or maybe some non-prepaid rooms became available. Europe is trickier but I am usually able to book directly without pre-paying for the rooms.

For finding hotels - google maps gives a nice map view of hotels in a given area letting you see prices along with locations. In popular/resort areas I often look at TripAdvisor, especially in Europe, but I have never booked through them, but go direct. Occasionally if I’m having difficulty choosing I’ll look at booking.com and/or hotels.com.

 

[prudent_one]

I have read (and enjoyed) so many stories on reddit from people who work front desk in hotels that I will never use a third-party site for reservations. The big takeaway for me is that the hotel does not consider you a customer. You are the customer of the website you used. The website paid the hotel. So if you as the person staying there want to change something, don't count on it, the hotel will likely say "call the site you paid, we're not authorized to change anything."

Then the person from the website will call the hotel to advocate for you, but the hotel doesn't necessarily care.

Unless the savings are tremendous, I would just book directly so you have flexibility if needed.

 

[easysurfer]

For awhile I found myself happy with Red Roof Inns so just booked through them. Until I stayed in one Red Roof Inn in a town where probably was where the drug addicts and hookers stayed (but who am I to judge? ), so I decided shouldn't just blindly pick any Red Roof.

I may do a combination of both. Use Booking.com's search then after there book directly from hotels to get my AAA/AARP discounts and benefit of booking directly. More work on my part, follow the LBYM approach.

I do like Booking.com's search filter where I can search based on positive reviews + low price. Kinda hits the sweet spot for me. Filtering on low price alone brings me some of the dumpy hotels. On positive reviews alone brings me to "I didn't travel to just pay for fancy hotels" feeling.

 

[Aerides]

Hotel site direct. I search Google to find places, but I end up booking directly as it is often cheaper and better.

I'd much rather get a loyalty upgrade, early check in, and points, than save $20.

 

[audreyh1]

For awhile I found myself happy with Red Roof Inns so just booked through them. Until I stayed in one Red Roof Inn in a town where probably was where the drug addicts and hookers stayed (but who am I to judge? ), so I decided shouldn't just blindly pick any Red Roof.

I may do a combination of both. Use Booking.com's search then after there book directly from hotels to get my AAA/AARP discounts and benefit of booking directly. More work on my part, follow the LBYM approach.

I do like Booking.com's search filter where I can search based on positive reviews + low price. Kinda hits the sweet spot for me. Filtering on low price alone brings me some of the dumpy hotels. On positive reviews alone brings me to "I didn't travel to just pay for fancy hotels" feeling.

If you look for hotels nearby using Google Maps, they have star ratings and reviews right there when you click on a place. It’s easy to detect a yucky hotel.

 

[COcheesehead]

We book direct. Get the discounts, collect the loyalty points. We always end up with free nights which outweighs any third party discount.

 

[easysurfer]

When booking direct, doesn't managing all the user ids/passwords get cumbersome? In the past when I tried was getting cumbersome for me as I each place has there own website and want you to use their app.

Using a place like booking.com the different hotels are all at my fingertips.

Or am I over thinking?

I'm now leaning towards booking direct but book only through computer as I don't want all the different hotel apps.

I'm old fashioned in that I print out reservations and work of paper copies (the easy way) instead installing apps then swiping and tapping on phone.

 

[audreyh1]

Some low sensitivity passwords like hotel logins I let Safari and/or iOS remember the passwords for me. The hotel probably doesn’t even require you to establish an account, as they will give you a confirmation/reservation number.

You don’t have to ever use an app for booking, the hotel website is fine.

I find the hotel phone apps handy for checking in ahead of arrival and receiving and using a digital key which lets me bypass the front desk entirely. That’s a different aspect than booking.

 

[Rianne]

I'm a gold member of hotels.com. Also planned a 3-week vacation to Eastern Europe through them, excursions and extras. In Budapest, we were unhappy with the apartment we rented through hotels.com. I called them from Budapest and they reimbursed me directly to my credit card. When I cancel, I'm reimbursed quickly.

I've earned many free nights booking with them. I'm not advertising for them, I've been happy and their cancellation policy has been fair. I'll see properties on Hotels.com and see the same property on VRBO much more expensive due to the fees. The excursions in Prague, Vienna, and Budapest were exactly as described. And for a good price. I was able to secure places with kitchens, W/D, and other amenities we wanted.

Just my experience. I do agree booking directly with the hotels has its advantages.

 

[Midpack]

You should check both. I've found roughly an even split when I can get a rate less expensive on a third-party site vs. the hotel's own website. One or the other may offer a special deal not advertised on the other, last minute discounts to unload unsold inventory, or a hotel's own Best Rate Guarantee. On the hotel's own website, many times you'll find rates that are only available to the hotel's own members, or may provide better or more flexible terms...for cancellation and/or later checkout, for example.

+1. That's what I do too. There are differences in points, cancellation policy, etc. so I just check both when I am booking anything. Now that you can do it online, it's almost no effort to check both.

 

[Plantman]

I check the third party sites first and then the hotel's site to compare prices. If they are close I book with the hotel's site. Sometimes you can get a much better price on the third party sites. For example, I stayed at the Holiday Inn Times Square in February for $72/night on Priceline while the IHG price was $125/night. I have only used the better known ones like Priceline, Expedia, hotwire, and Booking. I have never had a problem using those companies.

 

[marko]

I was living in a nice hotel in Oslo Norway and after a few weeks they informed me that they could not renew my reservation for two days, but after that I could return. "Sorry, but you have to leave"

I booked those two days through Hotels.com and got to stay. Didn't get a bt
better rate, but I didn't have to move.

 

[easysurfer]

Looks like I'll have to put in extra effort. No one size fits all site .

Recently I stayed at a place where hotels are higher priced than I wanted to pay. Looking at booking.com. Then I went to hotels.com and booked at a hotel that wasn't even listed at booking.com. Place was good enough for me and not a total dump.

 

[Montecfo]

I am a member of all the reward programs, but use 1 or 2 most times.

But as others have said, your best deal can be anywhere. So I use kayak and google to find ideas, especially focused on my preferred hotel groups. Then I book where I get the best deal, though favoring booking direct. If it is a long stay I will sometimes call the hotel and ask them to match directly a rate from a 3rd party. Sometimes they have a policy to match, which can give you best of both worlds. I read reviews carefully also as we tend to be picky about certain issues and of course dislike surprises.

I do not find that AAA or AARP yields better deals than say senior rates offered by hotels themselves, but they will in some cases I am sure.

One thing I have noticed a lot is that cancellation policies can vary dramatically. Third parties often have tougher cancellation policies than the hotels directly, but not at all times. I hate being locked in so I research that also.

My most iron clad rule is I avoid using booking.com as I have found them impossible to deal with when there is any glitch.

Hint: if you have a premium credit card it may offer you "status" at one of the big chains. Many of the other chains will match that status if you ask them to. This can provide more points, better rates and other perks.

 

[pacergal]

I call the hotel directly and book. I want a person to talk too and a name! Frequently I will mention "I saw a room on (booking website) and wonder if you have any better prices?" More often than not, I get a better price.

 

[retire48in2018]

I traveled extensively while working - earning millions of airline miles and hundreds of thousands of hotel points over 20 years.

Booking.com, Expedia.com and others had too many bad experiences-usually related to travel changes, hotel overbooked, etc. I’ll never consider Expedia again, period.

I changed to directly booking (usually through the apps). Perks are nice - directly entering room (digital key card), and not having to go through front desk. Easily checkin early (through app). Cancellations much more generous - even more than written in policy, automatic through app or calling to front desk.

Rates were comparable to booking.com, but additional discount available direct (AAA, AARP, industry specific, etc) through app only. Website strangely not always as good as app. Options in app - like additional pillows, fridge, additional cot in room, etc - not available in booking.com or website.

Also - longer term loyalty- like free upgrades, or in nicer hotels - access to executive suites, free hor dourves, free cocktails, free meal coupons - were only via direct booking and some of these are unpublished niceties.

 

[COcheesehead]

When booking direct, doesn't managing all the user ids/passwords get cumbersome? In the past when I tried was getting cumbersome for me as I each place has there own website and want you to use their app.

Using a place like booking.com the different hotels are all at my fingertips.

Or am I over thinking?

I'm now leaning towards booking direct but book only through computer as I don't want all the different hotel apps.

I'm old fashioned in that I print out reservations and work of paper copies (the easy way) instead installing apps then swiping and tapping on phone.

We use three major chains: Hilton, IHS and Wyndham. With those, you’ll likely have all the options you need so keeping tracking of logins and passwords is easy.