Directly through the hotel websites that I have loyalty status at. Not a very useful answer but, hey, it's wildly common among business travelers so I thought I'd mention it.
I don't know much about Priceline: it definitely doesn't seem to do much for Canada at least. But I just wanted to "+1" this. Living where we live, the Hotwire prices really aren't 'secrets' as we pretty much know exactly which hotels are which on that site.
Anyway, as a lark we decided to compare Expedia, at least, against the website of the hotel that we always would stay at and we were really surprised to find that it was actually cheaper on their website than on Expedia. And like you say, you get the bonus of loyalty points.
Hotwire may have been cheaper, but normally we found that booking through the hotel you would get Wifi and sometimes parking included, as opposed to paying for them separately and those things always evened everything out.
The only time I found this not to be true was when we were booking the hotel on the day that we were planning on staying there... that kind of timeframe has always been cheaper to book through Expedia etc.
Back when I was a consultant on the road, we'd talk to the sales manager at the nearest Hilton (most of us were HHonors guys) and negotiate a group discount for the team. Even in metro areas we could generally get below $130 a night with perks thrown in.
Plus, they'd book all our reservations for us. We just cancelled the weeks we didn't need as we went.
I'm curious if there's a lot in it for them; for example, if you book through some third party, are they paying 20-30% in fees to the booking site to get you in the door?
Yes on sites like Expedia commission can get as high as that and hotels hate that. They'd rather actually talk to you and get to know you while you book and give you a discount than see you book online and them have to pay a high commission.
Not only that, but they have a significant markup on rooms. So if they can fill rooms otherwise empty they will be happy to cut the margins - because it is all extra money! Also, it means you'll probably come back next time.
I've come about face on this approach; which is what I always used to do. Now I find a shortlist of independent hotels via booking.com or lastminute, and then contact them directly for deals.
Usually you can get a higher quality service for a better price than chains.
One tip, though, is to barter - especially if you're travelling midweek. I've got some excellent deals (including free evening meals, room upgrades etc.) by bartering at short notice for rooms that otherwise the hotel wouldn't fill.
The best deal I got was a full suite, several free drinks, and free breakfast at a 5* London hotel for the price of one of their basic rooms.
It may be convenient to book through a service like Hotwire, but before you book with one of those services, always call the front desk to see if you can strike up a better deal than just what's offered on Hotwire. Not sure why, but hotels seem to appreciate it when you just go straight to them, but that's just my experience.
Whenever looking for hotels in an area I check the TripAdvisor reviews. I usually end up trying to call the hotel and booking directly, but recently TripAdvisor has been slowly rolling out pricing info directly on the hotel page from Expedia, Orbitz, etc. so I used that a few days ago when I booked a room for last night.
I believe this functionality has been completely rolled out in the mobile (iPhone/Android) app if you want to check it out.
(Disclosure: I work for TA, but in a different department. However, I was a TA user before I joined the company, and continue to be one)
I don't usually book in advance unless I know it's difficult to find a room in a specific area. Last time I remember booking a hotel, it was through Agoda.com (it's pretty big in Asia AFAIK).
In incognito mode of course!
Haha but seriously, the last few times I booked I did it through cashback websites like Quidco. Laterooms.com which is my prefered booking site also offers cashback via quidco, so it's basically win-win.
I'm a student, so I spend less than 5 nights a year in a hotel (usually to/from internships or conferences). If I'm driving, I don't pre-book, I just show up and get a room. If I'm flying, I'll use Hipmunk to find a cheap place and book there. The last two nights, I was driving and picked the hotel closest to McDonald's so I'd get a quick breakfast before hitting the road.
If someone else is going to be paying for the hotel, I let them choose and book it so they can choose how much they spend.
If I'm paying for myself I check hotel aggregation websites, and check prices directly with hotels I've stayed at before or that have been recommended to me.
Hopefully not off topic, but I use Airbnb. This matches my budget, but if I had more money I would still use it and rent full apartments.
I search the postal code of the place I want to be in the city (a combination of work location, downtown, neat area of city, near transit, etc.). Then I use the map to zoom on the area.
I filter by price and review. Usually find a well priced, beautiful booking with a good location within 2-3 minutes. Then I contact the host.
I've had good experiences doing business travel with Airbnb, but it can be disturbingly non-deterministic; it takes a long time to get confirmation for a room that you're already uncertain about, and there's always a fair chance that when you arrive the room won't actually be available.
British Airways (and I assume other airlines too) let you add hotels to your flight and book through that. It's probably more expensive but it's easier.
Usually on Hotwire. With a little Google savvy and sites like Better Bidding you can almost always find out what the hotel is before you book it and the savings can really add up (often 40% or more). It's also handy for last minute bookings with the mobile app, I have gotten a room while being in the lobby of a hotel before (at a ridiculous price).
The WeHostels App. If that doesn't work, then the Hotel Tonight app. And if that doesn't work, then booking.com. I usually book last minute, as you can probably guess.
63 comments
[ 3.5 ms ] story [ 111 ms ] threadAlso try http://www.hotwire.com for better deals
Case in point: lost my flight (because of airport issues), this was a sunday evening, so no one at the airport to help you book a hotel.
Grab my phone, booking.com, search for hotels at that airport, ok fee, etc, gets a taxi there
Night of sleep saved.
Anyway, as a lark we decided to compare Expedia, at least, against the website of the hotel that we always would stay at and we were really surprised to find that it was actually cheaper on their website than on Expedia. And like you say, you get the bonus of loyalty points.
Hotwire may have been cheaper, but normally we found that booking through the hotel you would get Wifi and sometimes parking included, as opposed to paying for them separately and those things always evened everything out.
The only time I found this not to be true was when we were booking the hotel on the day that we were planning on staying there... that kind of timeframe has always been cheaper to book through Expedia etc.
Plus, they'd book all our reservations for us. We just cancelled the weeks we didn't need as we went.
Usually you can get a higher quality service for a better price than chains.
One tip, though, is to barter - especially if you're travelling midweek. I've got some excellent deals (including free evening meals, room upgrades etc.) by bartering at short notice for rooms that otherwise the hotel wouldn't fill.
The best deal I got was a full suite, several free drinks, and free breakfast at a 5* London hotel for the price of one of their basic rooms.
You just need the balls to negotiate :D
Never book online if you can avoid it!
Seems kinda barbaric but search sites don't list all the hotels. (Google does a little better, street view also helps)
http://hotel.de
or the hotel's website if I've been there before (and they have a booking page).
They also do great cashback on Quidco regularly, and have their own loyalty program, so it's usually a great deal to go through them.
Google really has too many services for their minimalistic UI these days...
Their problem, as always, is they have no way to organize their interface. Google just simply (lol) isn't that good at UI design.
I believe this functionality has been completely rolled out in the mobile (iPhone/Android) app if you want to check it out.
(Disclosure: I work for TA, but in a different department. However, I was a TA user before I joined the company, and continue to be one)
If I'm paying for myself I check hotel aggregation websites, and check prices directly with hotels I've stayed at before or that have been recommended to me.
I search the postal code of the place I want to be in the city (a combination of work location, downtown, neat area of city, near transit, etc.). Then I use the map to zoom on the area.
I filter by price and review. Usually find a well priced, beautiful booking with a good location within 2-3 minutes. Then I contact the host.
If I can’t find a coupon, I research the hotels and prices on booking.com and then call the hotel to negotiate a lower price by booking directly.