What are your favourite hotel booking websites?

[pagingjoan]

A quick post:
I really love mrandmrssmith.com and designhotels.com

Perhaps a bit of a diversion from most of the websites listed here already, as the main attraction for me, is the style and quality of the hotels offered.
Both do offer benefits of sorts but maybe not quite what most of the posters are focussed on.

I've used both of them extensively and have never been disappointed.

 

[codash1099]

Just occasionally, you get an insight into the margins these sites operate on. On a recent booking, where I got what I thought was a decent price of $220 through hotelclub.com (and I get a 7% rebate from that), the hotel paperwork showed a rate of $166. That's not a bad margin, and no wonder hotels are happy to match the price.

Go direct, I say, at least 90% of the time.

 

[Alanslegal]

I see no reason to book through a third party website when staying at a hilton, starwood or hyatt property because direct is always lower cost + you get points that you don't when booking elsewhere.

When I was loyal to Starwood back in 2007-2012 most of my stays were after successful BRG claims, so in my experience third party websites had regular and often better rates than had I booked directly. It did mean I was spending more time 'searching' for better rates than directly but it worked well for me, including earning a free night at the St Regis New York in 2012 after Starwood held a promotion that if you found a better rate, the room was free. (They did terminate that promo after a few days because of the tens if not hundreds of successful $0.00 claims).

However if I don't have status with the brand I'll tend to shop a few sites then book where the best deal is - generally smaller hotels have specials that include free bfast/free wifi if you go direct because they can be paying 20%+ commission to online travel sites!!

Now I have zero status with anybody, I agree that if you shop around there can be good deals out there.

 

[Mr_Orange]

I use Hotelclub and combine it with my staff cash back scheme. It is the latter that really makes it worthwhile although Hotelclub rates are generally pretty good and the rewards enable you to offset the cost of future bookings. I always check against going direct with the hotel though.

The app on Android is good too.

I joined them back in the UK when they were known as Octopus Travel!!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I use Hotelclub and combine it with my staff cash back scheme. It is the latter that really makes it worthwhile although Hotelclub rates are generally pretty good and the rewards enable you to offset the cost of future bookings. I always check against going direct with the hotel though.

The app on Android is good too.

I joined them back in the UK when they were known as Octopus Travel!!

i think I remember octopus travel! but sad to say hotel club seems to be very expensive these days, at least the .au site.

seems I have $3.65 in membership rewards though

 

[Mr_Orange]

i think I remember octopus travel! but sad to say hotel club seems to be very expensive these days, at least the .au site.

seems I have $3.65 in membership rewards though

Fair enough. The winner for me is the 12% cash back I get.

 

[JessicaTam]

I do like agoda and airBnB. Works for me.

 

[vetrade]

I routinely search hotelscombined.com for the best prices from multiple booking sites and find booking.com is usually equal to, or better on prices. I like that they usually have free cancellation which means that if I find a better price later I can just cancel and book the cheaper one (sometimes the same hotel). I usually check the hotels' website too, especially to confirm room types and features, but the majority of the time IME they seem to quote more to book direct than 3rd party booking sites.

Have tried searching on Trivago in response to their TV ads and I do like their prominently displayed "happiness ratings" but have found they have a narrower selection of hotels and prices never seem better than elsewhere.

Have just booked an apartment in NY through homeaway.com - they guarantee the validity of the booking which is comforting (have heard tales of ppl paying for apartments online only to find the ad was bogus).

Used hoteltravel.com for a couple of bookings last year (their quoted prices don't include tax) - one went OK but the other in CUN frayed the nerves - after a long flight we couldn't check-in for 6 hrs because, although the hotel had the booking, hoteltravel hadn't paid them (we had paid in full 7 months in advance). Delay was because the hotel couldn't contact hoteltravel in Sydney until their office opened in the morning.

As a general observation it seems that if you have the time to plan your bookings well in advance the best prices can be had in the 6-9 month in advance time slot and sometimes in the 6-12 week in advance time slot (especially Aussie hotels) but many times I think it just comes down to luck that you happen to be looking when a deal pops up - one 5 star hotel in YVR I got a month ago on booking.com only had a window of about 7 days when the rates were slashed.

Hotwire.com sometimes has good deals but you don't find out what hotel it is until after you book - OK for smaller cities where you can work out what hotel it is from the description / ratings etc but generally far too "hit and miss" for me.

 

[vetrade]

Agoda is one of the booking sites which can extract the best discounts out of hotels by guaranteeing to book blocks of rooms all year round - especially in Asia. The benefit for travellers is that occasionally Agoda finds themselves with too many rooms in inventory which need to be off loaded quickly. Prices can sometimes be unbelievably cheap (around 30% of normal rate) if you're looking to book within 2-3 weeks of travel.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Agoda is one of the booking sites which can extract the best discounts out of hotels by guaranteeing to book blocks of rooms all year round - especially in Asia. .

Good point and yes I think it is worth noting that different booking engines can be better in different countries/ regions. Asia is different that Europe is different than Australia etc

Other points:

Always use a number of engines. Which is cheapest can be quite random..and often surprises. ie One hotel in Washington was $100 per night via Wotif when every other engine, including the hotel direct, had it for $400 a night...and it was a great room (or rather suite).

Bonus points specials can be worthwhile. ie Hotels where you canget 10 Amex MR Points per $ is worth cross-checking with. If it has a suitable hotel at comparable price the 10 bonus points swings it. Sometimes they have even been the cheapest.

Location, location, location is my main mantra.....and AirBnB is great for this. I will trade off features and/or price to stay where I think is the best location. What is best can vary markedly from being on a beach, great views, being near a Tube station....easy to get to London;s Theatre District etc. I normally try and stay were I can walk and/or public transport it to much of what I want to see/experience.

If booking a hotel, always check direct as well. Sometimes they surprise...and Accor for example have some great discount specials. In Italy I found much of our accommodation was best booked direct.

If your plans are fluid look for the booking engines that allow free cancellation.

 

[footy99]

Airbnb is my most common starting point now. I initially thought it was just for rooms in other people's houses but it's not.

For hotels:

Travelchinaguide is incredible in China for both accom and flights. Unless you are a timeshare owner, I wouldn't bother looking outside it.

Wotif I've found usually has the best deals in Australia and occasionally other places like Hong Kong and the US. There are always enough clues to know definitively what their "secret hotels" are (by design I'm told), and they are often massive discounts. But always double check with the tripadvisor list and website for that hotel to be sure (taking into account Wotif's booking fee).

And RCI has great bonus weeks deals for timeshare apartments if you are a member. India and China in particular offer amazing deals from time to time. The best I've got was a 4 star hotel in Lugu Lake, Sichuan for $59 per week over Christmas and New Years. But even the great MacDonald ones in southern Spain occasionally get discounted below $200/week.

 

[significance]

I used to like hotelclub for the rewards to be used against the cost of my next booking, but recently, I have found that the prices are high enough to negate the benefit of the reward %. I'm back to bookings.com or wotif or Serko (the govt travel agent site). Serko gives less info and fewer images about the hotels and has on one occasion badly misled me about the location of the hotel, so I am wary of it, though it is the easiest option since I'm required to book my flights through Serko. Booking directly with the hotels can be better, but I prefer not to take the extra time to track down their details.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

perhaps also worth considering that one of the favourites here - booking.com - often doesn't bill your card until checkout, even if your rate is entirely non-cancellable and non-changeable.

With the falling Aussie dollar, this may no longer be the best option if you have firm dates and want to lock in rates now.

 

[Mr_Orange]

With the falling Aussie dollar, this may no longer be the best option if you have firm dates and want to lock in rates now.

That shouldn't matter if you are paying in AUD. The contract is formed when they offer a price (in AUD) and you accept. If they choose to wait until later to pay and have to pay in a foreign currency that is their risk.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

That shouldn't matter if you are paying in AUD. The contract is formed when they offer a price (in AUD) and you accept. If they choose to wait until later to pay and have to pay in a foreign currency that is their risk.

My recent stay at LAX was quoted in AUD on the booking page but subsequently came through on the confirmation as a USD amount and was billed as such at the hotel. Their terms and conditions state the currency converter is for information purposes only.

If the site was a .au site then I would expect billing in AUD unless otherwise stated.

 

[gizzard]

I use a bunch of sites. Some that haven't been mentioned above:

Wego wego.com.au - it's like hotelscombined looking at a number of sites and can sometimes offer prices than are cheaper than going to those sites directly
Kayak kayak.com.au - along with hotelscombined will give you a very wide range
Webjet and RatesToGo are not my favourites.....unless there's a discount around which there often is on ozbargain
HotelClub/Visa Get more out of your stay with Visa - gives a 15% off Hotelclub if you have a visa card, of course

 

[burmans]

I use a bunch of sites. Some that haven't been mentioned above:

Wego wego.com.au - it's like hotelscombined looking at a number of sites and can sometimes offer prices than are cheaper than going to those sites directly
Kayak kayak.com.au - along with hotelscombined will give you a very wide range
Webjet and RatesToGo are not my favourites.....unless there's a discount around which there often is on ozbargain
HotelClub/Visa Get more out of your stay with Visa - gives a 15% off Hotelclub if you have a visa card, of course

The problem is that no one site seems to consistently have the best rates and then add coupons into the equation. I usually check on multiple sites, mainly as above but have recently added Travelpony, Rocketmiles to my list and still a big fan of AirBNB

 

[SamR]

I do my research on the sites of all the usual suspects but will usually end up booking direct. I don't often find a massive difference with the aggregators these days, so I prefer to leave out the middleman if I can. It's also much more conducive to nice little surprises like room upgrades if you go direct.

One site I have been looking at a bit lately is jetsetter.com. It's run by the same people who run Gilt and it's much the same concept - you have to become a member (it's free) and they do flash sales. It's quite a grab bag and you can get quite a mixed bunch of results, but they do have some genuinely interesting properties and if your dates are right you can pick up an excellent bargain.

 

[JohnK]

I use HotelsCombined to search but don't always click from their website as I cannot always apply the discount codes

1) RatesToGo for their competitive pricing and regular 20% discount codes
2) HotelClub for their competitive pricing and regular 10%-17% discount codes + 5% cashback discount as Platinum member
3) Agoda for certain hotels when I feel like a change

 

[Mr_Orange]

2) HotelClub for their competitive pricing and regular 10%-17% discount codes + 5% cashback discount as Platinum member

It used to be 7% and it was a very stealthy change. Think you still get 7% if you use the app as opposed to the web site. No good for me though as I need to use the web for my 12% cash back which, thankfully, far outweighs the additional 2% in rewards.