Do you prefer booking directly or via third-party sites?

[Beer_budget]

Hotels I almost always book first party, for status benefits, better flexibility, and simplicity. I make an exception for Amex Travel to book The Hotel Collection if the city we're in has poor/no IHG or Accor options, or they're not in the locations we want, and Qantas Hotels is surprisingly good for country motels with the added benefits of points earn and a working online booking platform.

Airlines are first party unless their refund and rebooking policies give me the ick (looking at you, Lufthansa) in which case I will check Amex - those can be specific fare classes not available through the airline, and sometimes the fare conditions are better than booking direct. Our upcoming LH bookings were, additionally, significantly cheaper through Amex than direct.

I do not trust booking.com in the slightest.

 

[elanshin]

I would say though, despite lots of preferences to book direct, i often search aggregates first to see if theres massive differences between multiple options before going direct.

I will weigh up 3rd party vs direct if there's big discrepancies in price. (Like a couple of days ago there was uncapped Klook 25% cashback - that's a very real big difference on hotel prices).

 

[Pushka]

The only thing I never do is use a Travel Agent. Yes, I might miss out on something but at least I have full control and don't have to wait for them to deal with it. Had a bad experience years ago and never used them again.

 

[prozac]

Hotels I almost always book first party, for status benefits, better flexibility, and simplicity. I make an exception for Amex Travel to book The Hotel Collection if the city we're in has poor/no IHG or Accor options, or they're not in the locations we want, and Qantas Hotels is surprisingly good for country motels with the added benefits of points earn and a working online booking platform.

Airlines are first party unless their refund and rebooking policies give me the ick (looking at you, Lufthansa) in which case I will check Amex - those can be specific fare classes not available through the airline, and sometimes the fare conditions are better than booking direct. Our upcoming LH bookings were, additionally, significantly cheaper through Amex than direct.

I do not trust booking.com in the slightest.

FWIW I found LH almost impossible to contact in Europe when I needed to. Never again.

EDIT: On the flipside back in 2020 MsProzac was caught in Dublin when the Beast from the East swept in stopping all public transport and basically shut-down the city. I contacted Etihad on fb and they remained in constant contact with me whilst I was on fb chat to her as she was being driven (privately) to the airport. They kept the boarding gate open until she arrived and checked in. I believe it was the last flight our of Dublin that day.

 

[Beer_budget]

FWIW I found LH almost impossible to contact in Europe when I needed to. Never again.

We had to rework the whole itinerary (change of dates and routing) and I was on the phone for less than ten minutes total with Amex to make those changes. Only cost was a small fare difference. 10/10 would not book LH direct again

 

[Disco]

We had to rework the whole itinerary (change of dates and routing) and I was on the phone for less than ten minutes total with Amex to make those changes. Only cost was a small fare difference. 10/10 would not book LH direct again

Yes, similar in sad circumstances where there was a legimate reason for some discretion. No consideration from LH.

 

[prozac]

Yes, similar in sad circumstances where there was a legimate reason for some discretion. No consideration from LH.

And the hostesses in Y+ were cough. Sh!7 attitude.