Tips for price shopping hotels in Sydney?

[Jleno]

Hoping AFFlyers might be able to share the ways in which they search for best prices for hotels in Sydney (but anywhere else for that matter).

My approach is usually a combination of the following:

Aggregator sites (hotels.com, tripadvisor etc) - most of my search begins here.
Hotels' own websites - most of my bookings come from here after scoping out aggregator sites. Typically hotels will match prices on aggregator sites (though not always) but seldom be any cheaper than aggregator sites
Credit card brands online (eg Amex, Mastercard, Visa) - rarely do I ever find best prices from here.
Credit card concierge (eg ANZ/NAB credit card concierge) - almost don't bother with these.
Airline websites (eg Qantas website when booking flights) - again, rarely do they have better prices than aggregators.
FF points - almost never cost-effective.
Hotel points - this is sometimes a gem but usually requires a significant amount of points / high status with the hotel rewards program.
Travel agents - gave up on them ages ago unless it is a complicated package of travel and accommodation and even then it's rare they'll beat doing it yourself separately when looking at cities (possibly worth exploring for resort).

It seems like generally the aggregator sites will generate the lowest prices.

Does anyone have any other suggestions on other methods which they use which has been good for finding lowest prices for a particular hotel (eg rather than finding the cheapest anywhere, its about how to find the lowest rate for a particular hotel)?

 

[Dr Ralph]

hotels.com is usually my go to, especially if I'm short on time.

At the very worst using this site means that I get 10% back for future purchases.

 

[bsb]

Just go to Tripavisor

 

[donovan301]

hotels.com is usually my go to, especially if I'm short on time.

At the very worst using this site means that I get 10% back for future purchases.

My best experiences have been thru doing price researching thru tripadvisor, Hotels.com and others...

The contacting the hotel directly in normal daytime business hours and discussing options available, sometimes I have had cheaper prices, but more often have been upgraded room or have had extras bundled for the online price.

Direct communication is king I say....and they often save their transaction percentage that these websites charge them.
Also good to sign up to their loyalty scheme...shows that you could be a prospective new longterm customer.

Anyways, that's how I find the best outcomes to be gained.

 

[get me outta here]

Don't forget that many hotels have a 'best rate guarantee' Look at the hotels own site that you are interested in to see what they potentially offer.

 

[clazman]

Always found the hotel direct has the best price and the choice of all room types

 

[Mattg]

I usually compare hotels using an aggregator site, then see if it's available through Qantas Hotels or Agoda for the QF or VA points respectively. If it's the same price, I'll book with QF/Agoda. If QF Hotels is charging more, I'll do a price promise claim and (hopefully) earn even more points.

Having said that, has anyone done a mystery hotel booking, e.g through Wotif? Apparently these are supposed to save you a fair bit of money, but you can never really be sure what you're getting...

 

[moa999]

And many chains are now providing discounts to Hotel Membership programs if logged in and booking through their own portal,
or via easily accessible offers (eg. Hilton USA Olympic team codes)

as well as not giving benefits/ or points if you book through the online channels

 

[Jleno]

Thanks for all the various feedback.

One thing that doesn't make any difference is logging onto the various different websites using VPNs to not show it originating from Australia. It makes no difference.

Interestingly after I booked my QF internal domestic flight QF sent me a $30 off voucher code which would have taken $30 off a $200 a night Hilton Sydney room (their lowest price). Too bad I had already locked another hotel in and couldn't cancel without losing my payment. One to learn for next time.

 

[gaz0303]

Just read this on flyertalk about hotels now being able to offer cheaper rates over the phone. Does this mean we should now do a web search then make a phone call direct to the hotel to try and get a lower rate?

 

[OzEire]

Booked the Pullman Albert Park (flex) direct with Accor site. I had found the same room about 35% cheaper on QF hotels so after a quick screenshot I got the discounted rate (and 10% more for Accor's BRG) ... Not bad for about 5 mins fussing with screenshots and online forms.

 

[doctau]

Having said that, has anyone done a mystery hotel booking, e.g through Wotif? Apparently these are supposed to save you a fair bit of money, but you can never really be sure what you're getting...

I can usually figure out which hotel it is, or at least narrow it down to a few. They tell you the suburb, star rating, and some of the available facilities - so you can just go to the search page and enter that data