Cheapest Hotel Booking Websites? The Unofficial WSO Hotel Booking Thread!

haha you made a new account just to ask this? must be a pretty important trip!

and just so you know, i've been shot down at the front desk by princeline before but ALSO i've been done once by expedia as well. some rep from expedia referred me to roomsurge as well and said it was a new concept and service.

in the past i've used kayak, orbitz, and hotwire.

haha yeah VERY IMPORTANT TRIP hahaha. just using up some vacation days and going with my girl to mexico

thanks for the tips thus far.

all sites are the same, most of the time because it's USUALLY up to the hotel to provide inventory and pricing so there isn't much of a marginal difference but SOMETIMES you get that awesome deal and heres what i use...

hotels.com expedia tripadvisor roomsurge

all 4 above are the same, i've heard with roomsurge being the new guy in town and combining the other 3. so now im switching to roomsurge in place of hotels, expedia and tripadvisor.

i also use oyster which sometimes gives some different perspectives on a hotel that roomsurge doesn't.

okay kids, time for a lesson in online travel agencies. for the tl;dr version, to avoid inventory issues, use booking.com.

priceline.com and expedia / hotels are on a Merchant model - i.e. you pay the travel agent and they pay the hotel the rate less a discount (commission). Hotels don't like this but it's been the norm in the US for a long time now.

Agency - sites like Booking.com and Venere use agency model; this is cost plus, where the hotel pays the agent after you stay, a percentage of what you pay. the upside to you of this model is that you pay at the hotel. the upside of the merchant model is sometimes you can get a better price.

Booking.com is nice.

and Roomsurge.com came out a year ago i think? i think they're an expedia subsidiary and they've been pretty legit thus far in giving me random bells and whistles that other sites don't give you, like their current 20% discount off room food delivery. i've been making a new account each time and ordering food at my hotels haahaha

What about an honors program of some kind? I have Hilton Honors, but usually stay at their other branches (double tree, hapton, etc.) and they are priced pretty well. Also, this will give you Hilton Honors points and I have my United mileage account linked so I get miles each stay as well.

I've always either used Hotels.com or Hotwire.

In the old days, Hotwire was the most fun because they wouldn't show you where you were staying until after you'd paid. I got to experience some lovely ghettos I would've otherwise missed.

Check out an iPhone app called Hotel Tonight, basically hotels dump inventory at the last minute that would otherwise go unsold. Very convenient to use. Also Booking.com Tonight is the same thing, but with a broader selection.

speaking of roomsurge, i heard they got in trouble once for this shit lol

http://roomsurge.com/banned_commercial_2.php

I use hotwire almost exclusively because they have the best deals on un named 3-4 star hotels. You find out the name after you book.

The trick is there are sites like betterbidding.com which allow you to enter the amenities displayed in Hotwire and you can pretty much figure out the exact hotel you are booking before you pay for it. Worked like a charm for me on my last biz trip. Paid $62 a night at a 3start in So-cal.

This time around I used AirBnB to book a nice looking condo, I'm traveling next week so I wont know how it is til Isee it.

i honestly like hotwire

Look up the prices online and then call the hotel they can usually beat the price and they are less likely to fuck you

I use www.tablethotels.com for ideas on new hotels to check out... Some real gems in there... It's great for when you're tired of the cookie cutter chains like Four Seasons/ Ritz / Starwood, but don't want to risk staying somewhere that isn't high quality.

I've used booking.com a few times, but I generally know where I want to stay so don't need to search beyond the hotel's website.

Wow that blows, the company should be covering all travel expenses.

Kayak is the best.

Go to ebay and type in Wyndham. Half the price of a hotel and they're condos (kitchen etc.)

You can actually skip the post itself if you want (though I wouldn't because it's well written). My comment is towards the bottom and refers to some of the negative things happening with Kayak right now.

If you can go through whoever books your corporate travel for your own trips you'll get crush rates and can avoid bullshit. I've wanted to try Airbnb for a while now, never got the chance, but if you're not NYC based it could save you quite a bit in Manhattan.

If you're travelling more than a couple weeks, pick one chain and join the loyalty program. For personal travel, you might want to get a hotel-branded credit card as they usually give you a few free nights when you open it.

We also wanted to try Airbnb in New York, but from what I've heard the most short term rentals are in general illegal, actually those offering them may know pretty well that this is the case. Last week we booked a room in NY for July through reservationcounter, I'll give you feedback after the vacation. It's actually the first time I use this portal.. Did anybody try it before?

Am I the only one here who uses Travelocity? Have never had an issue (knock on wood). Also used AirBnb once and it worked out well, have another one booked in NYC for 4th of July weekend, can't wait!