Accommodation websites: what are your recommendations?

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frankv

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#1946052 24-Jan-2018 14:29

Just did a South Island road trip, mostly not pre-booking anything.

Booking.com, etc are good to find places with vacancies. If you then contact the motel directly, you can sometimes get lower prices. Sometimes you get higher prices, in which case mentioning that their vacancy on booking.com has a lower price got a reduction.

Best place we got wasn't even on the Net! We found Bannockburn Vineyard Cottage listed on a local map provided by the Cromwell iSite.

frednz

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#1946270 24-Jan-2018 20:10

frankv:

Just did a South Island road trip, mostly not pre-booking anything.

Booking.com, etc are good to find places with vacancies. If you then contact the motel directly, you can sometimes get lower prices. Sometimes you get higher prices, in which case mentioning that their vacancy on booking.com has a lower price got a reduction.

Best place we got wasn't even on the Net! We found Bannockburn Vineyard Cottage listed on a local map provided by the Cromwell iSite.

I think if the motel quoted a higher price than was available on Booking.com, I would be inclined to make the booking through Booking.com so that they earned some commission from the deal. I'm not sure what commission rate Booking.com charges motels, but perhaps someone would know the answer to that?

Incidentally, last time we travelled around during a period of 30-degree summer days, few motels had "proper" air conditioning (e.g. heat pumps) and some didn't even have fans, so it pays to ask at this time of year if they have air conditioning before booking.

yitz

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#1946281 24-Jan-2018 21:11

I believe in New Zealand it's usually around 15%.

Apparently in Europe it can be a ridiculous proportion like 30%.

Oh and I heard on tv that Trivago is quite good a site :-)

nakedmolerat

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#1946289 24-Jan-2018 21:21

timmmay:

We booked most of our honeymoon with Expedia, and many holidays. Sometimes we find things there and book directly with the hotel if it's cheap.

I always book with Expedia. If you find it cheaper directly from the hotel, give expedia a call and they will refund the difference AND $50 voucher per night. I have collected a few hundred bucks by doing it lol.

Also, if you book through them, the stuff it up, they will give you a nice accomodation to stay. Haha. I remember booking $80 room, end up staying in a $450 room per night!

Batman

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#1946307 24-Jan-2018 21:43

timmmay:

We booked most of our honeymoon with Expedia, and many holidays. Sometimes we find things there and book directly with the hotel if it's cheap.

And some other times, expedia was cheaper than the hotel's website!

sbiddle

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#1946312 24-Jan-2018 21:54

I only ever book with hotels directly on their site. It ensures you get the best price and more importantly (for somebody like me who has status with both Hilton and IHG) that benefits such as upgrades, free WiFi etc apply.

The exception to this has been trips to Japan where some local sites have had better pricing than places like booking.com but navigating Japanese websites has been a nightmare so I've booked through 3rd party sites.

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Dunnersfella

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#1946317 24-Jan-2018 22:09

I use Booking.com for work, a lot.

It's handy but misses a few features.

Tagging 'favourites' and 'I wouldn't go back' would be good, but sadly it's missing.

Even as I type this I'm sitting in a Quest Apartment, so I suppose I travel a lot...

Booking from my car on the side of the road is super simple via the app, especially when I have a change of plans.

Some places do try to get you to book direct in order to avoid paying the Booking.com commission, I'm not paying, so I'm not overly fussed. However if it saves you money it's cool. BUT with all the extra things you have to think about when traveling, sometimes simplicity wins over price.

I do wish they'd send me fewer e-mails though!

pillmonsta

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#1946335 24-Jan-2018 22:56

My parents travel overseas around 4 times a year and Campervan down South once a year. They use both AirBnB and TripAdvisor extensively.

Edit: updated TA link.

jnimmo

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#1946393 25-Jan-2018 08:22

I used to use Booking.com but always Hotels.com now; I don't think I've ever found better prices on the same hotels when I've compared at the time of booking.

I like their option to pay now or pay at the hotel (I usually pay at the hotel unless it is a work trip, or if the hotel has a credit card surcharge you can usually get around paying through Hotels).

The rewards are good with 1 night free after staying 10 nights.

You used to sometimes get slightly better pricing on mobile but I think generally these days they have an equivalent discount on desktop anyway

Just filter their promotional emails off into another folder as they get tiresome (or unsubscribe).

Had to contact their support once as I accidentally booked a hotel around the wrong way (dates were wrong and I chose non-refundable, I don't usually go for those options) and they were able to sort out for me still even though not obliged to.

trig42

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#1946397 25-Jan-2018 08:45

There are only really a couple of the aggregators. Expedia owns a whole heap (including hotels.com and Trivago). Priceline owns Booking.com and Agoda (and a few others too).

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