What's your tip(s) for surviving the cesspool of Hotel booking websites?

[N860CR]

What are the benefits of booking a hotel through a TA vs direct? I can't think of any but happy to be informed.

Saves you trolling for the best price. Agents generally have access to significantly better rates. Not for all hotels, but for plenty of them.

 

[RealtimeY]

I've found Google Maps to be a pretty good "aggregator aggregator", and usually shows the direct hotel price too. I've typically found independent hotels to be little to no cheaper when booking directly, and Expedia/Booking.com always win out quite significantly when combined with a cashback deal.

 

[lovestotravel]

So basically, there is no universal best way of booking a hotel. Everyone swears by their own method and will probably not be convinced otherwise.

Personally, I am a fan of Shopback. Today they have 24% cashback at Expedia.

14% or 15% it seems

 

[aikman]

14% or 15% it seems

It is 14% for everyone with an extra 10% for Westpac cardholders.

 

[Franky]

Except sometimes for indy hotels - when you don't want a direct relationship. Then it comes in handy to have a third party that chases the refund (or book via PayPal which achieves the same effect).

I had one bad experience with a hotel booked on Expedia, and I ended up getting money back from Expedia over it. Hotel reception wouldn't even admit there was a problem (room was booked Ocean View, but was more of a glimpse from the toilet window only).

It really depends on the hotel though. I almost always book direct.

I seem to recall Fawlty Towers copping the same problem many years ago...

 

[Quickstatus]

Fawlty Towers

You mean Basil's hotel reviews?

 

[lovestotravel]

It is 14% for everyone with an extra 10% for Westpac cardholders.

View attachment 324312

Which was not stated in your original post

 

[JohnK]

I do quite ok with 2-3 star properties in Thailand. Use a combination of Agoda, Trip, Expedia etc and pay careful to promotions etc.

This month I stayed in a $37/night hotel in Pattaya

- Trip.com had Thailand promotion of $50 off for $100+ spend so booked 3 nights for $111
- BP/Qantas $50 voucher so booked 2 nights for $74
- Agoda $5 cashback so booked 1 night for $37

So in total 6 nights for $117.

 

[sqrt()]

I'm booking a lot of IHG while I'm still diamond, so pretty much always direct. Guarantees you get status benefits too I suppose.

I've had some good luck with their price matching where I've gotten something like 50% off their published rate because an aggregator had it cheaper. However, you have to have already booked the lowest IHG rate - which is often not refundable - to be eligible for a price match.

 

[RooFlyer]

Question for the Shopback and Cashbackkers. Do you get the hotel you want, ie would prefer to book if everything else equal, or do you end up taking a hotel across town ( for instance) from where you otherwise would have booked?

 

[SydneySwan]

Question for the Shopback and Cashbackkers. Do you get the hotel you want, ie would prefer to book if everything else equal, or do you end up taking a hotel across town ( for instance) from where you otherwise would have booked?

Yes I get the hotel I wanted.

 

[RooFlyer]

Yes I get the hotel I wanted.

I assume that's yes to the second leg of the question?

 

[Seat0B]

Sometimes the aggregators are good for convenience. Many smaller independent places in Japan and the Middle East don’t have English web sites or what they do have is not clear and is confusing to understand. Booking.com has been great for that situation and often provides the booking confirmation in both English and the local language. Assuming they say the same thing of course! My Japanese is sufficient to check the big stuff like check in date, number of people, price and meals included and on those things, it was an accurate translation. My Arabic is limited to shukran and a few numbers, so could have said anything really and I would have been none the wiser. However, handing over a print of the booking in local language was very well received everywhere I went.

 

[SydneySwan]

I assume that's yes to the second leg of the question?

Clearly the first!

 

[RooFlyer]

Clearly the first!

Oops ... d'oh! . Could have sworn the answer was just 'Yes' - but clearly not when I replied!

 

[TheRealTMA]

Question for the Shopback and Cashbackkers. Do you get the hotel you want, ie would prefer to book if everything else equal, or do you end up taking a hotel across town ( for instance) from where you otherwise would have booked?

Yes. Shopback just sits on top of the actual booking site, such as Booking.com. Login to Shopback first then chose booking site, or, install the Shopback widget into browser and it pops up to tell you there's a discount available on the site you have accessed.

 

[RooFlyer]

Yes. Shopback just sits on top of the actual booking site, such as Booking.com. Login to Shopback first then chose booking site, or, install the Shopback widget into browser and it pops up to tell you there's a discount available on the site you have accessed.

Ah, right. I've just installed CashRewards thingy but haven't started using it yet.

 

[RealtimeY]

The other major benefit of cashback is that they apply to chain hotels too, so you may find it's worth getting 24% cashback, but losing out on the status benefits, points, etc.


If it's your first time using cash backs, here are some tips:

• If you use an ad blocker, turn it off first
• Know what room/rate you want first, and then click through the cashback website/app and book it all in one go without leaving the website.
  The longer you spend browsing for a room, the greater your risk of clicking onto another website and inadvertently invalidating the cash back
• If unsure, make a refundable dummy booking first to familiarise yourself with the process. You should get an email or notification directly from Cashrewards/Shopback telling you the expected amount that you will receive. (This may come in the day or two after booking)

 

[RooFlyer]

If it's your first time using cash backs, here are some tips:

Thanks! The one thing I have done is turn off the 3-5 e-mails a day notifying me of some offer or another. I won't be chasing things; if there is an offer that comes up when I go to a site, fine, but I have a low tolerance for the e-mails.

 

[ricco]

A screen shot from the booking.com partner hub. Cause for concern?