Booking hotels online...

Eve Bulloch · 16th August 2009, 10:16am

Can someone recommend me a good, reliable website for doing this? I'm looking to book a night in the centre of Nice (France) next weekend and want to compare prices and locations. Ta much.

JZY · 16th August 2009, 10:20am

uk or abroad?

Eve Bulloch · 16th August 2009, 10:21am

Quote:

Originally Posted by JZY

uk or abroad?

Oh yeah, edit!

broken · 16th August 2009, 2:11pm

I've stayed in a few Best Western hotels & they're nice.
http://www.bestwestern.co.uk/Find-a-Hotel/

the.definitive · 16th August 2009, 2:14pm

www.travelsupermarket.com is really good for comparing prices, m'dear.

frostbitejunkie · 16th August 2009, 2:37pm

www.laterooms.com

Gives you a list of all the hotels in the area, price per night, distance from city centre, star rating etc. I always swatch on there for good deals, then check the hotels own website out etc once I find one that's a good price.

Yorgo · 16th August 2009, 2:51pm

Vouch for laterooms here.

Check out www.tripadvisor.com

It has review from literally last week to months ago, with photo's of other travellers exploits and an overall rating. You can then search for the hotes on the site through about 15-20 different agents.

G

Eve Bulloch · 16th August 2009, 4:02pm

I got one from laterooms, cheers guys!

frostbitejunkie · 16th August 2009, 4:23pm

Good-oh, I like them

caitlinjae · 16th August 2009, 10:07pm

Bit late but booking.com is usually the best shout. It has the most hotels and I find it a lot easier to use than late rooms.

HOWEVER.

All these sites charge the hotels money for every booking, so it is always beneficial to use these sites to find a good hotel then see if the hotel itself has its own website where you might get it cheaper. Also, a few hotels we stayed in in Italy gave us a cheaper rate if we were paying in cash (normally 5 euros off per night), but this was only offered through direct correspondence.

triggerhappy · 16th August 2009, 10:18pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by evilglamcaitlin

Bit late but booking.com is usually the best shout. It has the most hotels and I find it a lot easier to use than late rooms.

HOWEVER.

All these sites charge the hotels money for every booking, so it is always beneficial to use these sites to find a good hotel then see if the hotel itself has its own website where you might get it cheaper. Also, a few hotels we stayed in in Italy gave us a cheaper rate if we were paying in cash (normally 5 euros off per night), but this was only offered through direct correspondence.

Unfortunately, you're not right there.

Yes, booking.com and laterooms charge the hotels money, but we are not allowed to add that to the cost. The hotel has to give laterooms and the like its cheapest rooms. The commission is around 15%, but that is built into the cost. If you go directly to a hotel's site and see £100 for a room, the same room will cost £100 on either of these sites but the hotel will only get £85.

If hotels could undercut laterooms or any of the others then these sites wouldn't exist. Not saying they wouldn't do it, but they won't be on either site for long if they do.

i_am_blip · 16th August 2009, 10:26pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by broken

I've stayed in a few Best Western hotels & they're nice.
http://www.bestwestern.co.uk/Find-a-Hotel/

+1

caitlinjae · 16th August 2009, 10:27pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by triggerhappy

Unfortunately, you're not right there.

Yes, booking.com and laterooms charge the hotels money, but we are not allowed to add that to the cost. The hotel has to give laterooms and the like its cheapest rooms. The commission is around 15%, but that is built into the cost. If you go directly to a hotel's site and see £100 for a room, the same room will cost £100 on either of these sites but the hotel will only get £85.

If hotels could undercut laterooms or any of the others then these sites wouldn't exist. Not saying they wouldn't do it, but they won't be on either site for long if they do.

Actually, we stayed at the H10 Citta Roma hotel in Rome and I got a MUCH better deal from it's website. Legit, 50% off for the first night. I tend to book on the hotel website anyway, as I know about the commision and stuff and that way even if you're paying the same the hotel itself gets more money.

Also, hotel websites might offer addition deals like dinner, bed and breakfast, superior rooms or just board rate without breakfast or vice versa. At my hotel we only ever advertised a few of the rooms on booking.com/laterooms and they were generally the more basic rooms. It certainly can't do any harm checking it out at any rate.

triggerhappy · 16th August 2009, 10:32pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by evilglamcaitlin

Actually, we stayed at the H10 Citta Roma hotel in Rome and I got a MUCH better deal from it's website. Legit, 50% off for the first night. I tend to book on the hotel website anyway, as I know about the commision and stuff and that way even if you're paying the same the hotel itself gets more money.

Also, hotel websites might offer addition deals like dinner, bed and breakfast, superior rooms or just board rate without breakfast or vice versa. At my hotel we only ever advertised a few of the rooms on booking.com/laterooms and they were generally the more basic rooms. It certainly can't do any harm checking it out at any rate.

Absolutely, but thems the rules for any of the third party internet booking sites. Anything you're offering cheaper will eventually get flagged up and they'll stop listing you.

(Honestly, I spend huge amounts of time making sure our 33 hotels stay within the rules since a huge amount of our business comes from TPIs)

I'm Your God Now · 16th August 2009, 11:37pm

Nice?

S'no bad.