What travel sites do you use for booking hotels. | GTAMotorcycle.com

What travel sites do you use for booking hotels.

sburns

sburns

Well-known member
Hey riders.

Just curious what sites you all use for booking hotels? Seems all the big players have bought up all the other sites. When you think you are avoiding one, you are actually on another site they own. Expedia (hotels.com & orbitz), Priceline, and Bookings.com (agoda) etc.

I would like to stop using these sites or at least find other sites to do price comparison and availability.
I know I can book directly with hotels, but not always the best price and takes more time to compare.
 
What I usually do is look up the place I am going on Google maps, "find nearby", select hotels, and it gives locations and prices, frequently on several of those travel websites, then I pick the one I want and book directly.

Usually it ends up being same price or close enough to not matter, but booking directly avoids absurd cancellation or rebooking charges and headaches (found that out the hard way).
 
I always book directly with hotels, cat rentals etc...
I find you can get better deals occasionally, plus I have corp discount rates through work I can take advantage of
 
I used to use Expedia religiously for both personal and business travel, but then I had a bad run with them where they screwed me over on 3 consecutive trips. I was using them on average of 13-14 times a year so I called them to sort their **** out and make it right. They refused so I used up my points, which meant I had a few free trips, and then dropped them. Now I tend to do what BrianP does and book directly with the hotel. For the sake of a few dollars it’s just easier to deal with the hotel directly. There’s also more of a chance of complimentary upgrades. (Same goes for booking direct with airlines)


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when riding I use booking.com if it's only one night stay

stop for lunch, guess where I'm gonna end up based on google maps
then search out hotels in that location with booking.com app on the phone
make the booking, punch the address into the GPS and enjoy the rest of the ride
I know it's not the way to get the best price, but It's reliable and quick - no phone calls

for longer than a day I like VRBO and air bnb if I have more of a regimented trip
 
Katatonic said:
I used to use Expedia religiously for both personal and business travel, but then I had a bad run with them where they screwed me over on 3 consecutive trips. I was using them on average of 13-14 times a year so I called them to sort their **** out and make it right. They refused so I used up my points, which meant I had a few free trips, and then dropped them. Now I tend to do what BrianP does and book directly with the hotel. For the sake of a few dollars it’s just easier to deal with the hotel directly. There’s also more of a chance of complimentary upgrades. (Same goes for booking direct with airlines)
Click to expand...

Yes been there too.. ugh I've used them for years and years.. but more recently had a bad run with them, now looking for alternatives. It's hard though as their site works well, easy to navigate, and is fast.

@Brianp - yes this is a great idea. I just found this out as well. I may explore this option a little more to see how I can make it work for me.
 
I search the web then call the hotel and ask to book the room directly at the best price I found. If you travel alot, get a black Visa (Privilege) or AMEX Platinum card -- many hotels perk you up when you checking using one of these cards.
 
I look at expedia and travelocity and check direct booking. If I'm going for work or a conference often the host agency has preferred housing at close hotels at a rate that's hard to beat, I'll use that.
In the US, AAA which is CAA, here in Canada, often has significant discounts at hotels that you can only get booking direct, wont work on expedia ect. But its reciprocal so you get the AAA rate with a CAA card. And for some reason you have to ask, they dont seem to publish it.
If its work I'll only chase discounts so far, time and convenience are worth something. Holidays I'll put some effort into it.
 
Hotwire....then use a site that helps you identify what hotel it is you’re looking at. Usually end up saving a fair few $$$. Expedia if I need something specific.

Hotels these days for me are places to set up before or after a flight and so I don’t really care too much about them except they need to be near the airport. Everything else is VRBO or AirBnB as the value is so much greater than a hotel. I just booked an entire 2 bedroom house in the Costa Rican jungle, 10 mins walk to the beach on AirBnB for half the price of a room in a hotel in San Jose.

Work: I go where I’m sent but it’s usually something like an Intercontinental so I don’t complain.
 
I do the following when traveling alone:
A few hours from where I know I'm going to be spending the night, I take a look at what deals are available on hotelcoupons.com and will often find prices better than any other site or what the hotel would offer me directly.

Example would be Super 8 motel in WV wanted $75/night when I called them, which was about 10$ cheaper than normal. I checked hotelcoupons.com and they had a deal going for $55/ night for the same location. Called the Super 8 back and they said no problem - they would honour that rate.

For non riding trips it's Airbnb all the way!
 
shanekingsley said:
I do the following when traveling alone:
A few hours from where I know I'm going to be spending the night, I take a look at what deals are available on hotelcoupons.com and will often find prices better than any other site or what the hotel would offer me directly.

Example would be Super 8 motel in WV wanted $75/night when I called them, which was about 10$ cheaper than normal. I checked hotelcoupons.com and they had a deal going for $55/ night for the same location. Called the Super 8 back and they said no problem - they would honour that rate.

For non riding trips it's Airbnb all the way!
Click to expand...

If you’re sure you know which hotel you are looking at then Hotwire lets you do the same thing. The smaller the city/town the easier it is to work out which hotel it will be. You can often book the hotel through the site while sitting in the lobby. Just in case some people reading this don’t know what Hotwire is, it’s a clearing site for hotel rooms. You can book by area in the place you want to stay and choose what star of hotel you want. You only get the identity of the hotel after you book.
 
jc100 said:
If you’re sure you know which hotel you are looking at then Hotwire lets you do the same thing. The smaller the city/town the easier it is to work out which hotel it will be. You can often book the hotel through the site while sitting in the lobby. Just in case some people reading this don’t know what Hotwire is, it’s a clearing site for hotel rooms. You can book by area in the place you want to stay and choose what star of hotel you want. You only get the identity of the hotel after you book.
Click to expand...
Yup - that sounds exactly the same.
 
Stayed a couple of days at a hotel in Buffalo and booked through their head office. When settling up the manager told us that we would have gotten a better rate if we called them direct because they have to pay a commission of the bookings from head office.

Has anyone used Expedia etc prices to lever a better rate?
 
I call the front desk of the place I want to stay.
All those booking sites are BS as far as I'm concerned.
"Finding" me a price that's $2 or $3 lower isn't really too impressive.
 
booking ahead is of course, usually a better strategy
several times I've showed up to check in with no rez
been given a crap rate, go back to the car and get on booking.com or whatever
make the booking, and go back inside to check in

I've also used the free lobby wifi more than once
to get a lower rate than offered at the desk
 
thats funny, and quite sad, but mostly funny. And would be a real source of annoyance.
 
yeah

it's kinda the same as my take on auto parts stores
go in, wait your turn for service
while the clerks take 15 phone calls right away
folks at the counter and those waiting are ignored

I have also grabbed my phone and called the store
and had a conversation with the guy 3 feet away
on the other side of the counter
 
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