Best hotel booking website?
Booking.com, who I used about 75% of the time for months of vacation throughout Europe. I'm sure some will think the website is a whore though...
http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/2012/11/30/jd-power-travel-website-survey/1735579/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+UsatodaycomTravel-TopStories+(Travel+-+Top+Stories)
James
Elizabethtown, Kentucky 12/4/12
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I'm sure they are reliable, but they are pretty aggressive. I booked a small hotel in the Dolomites with them, because the hotel website did not show dates for September yet. Then I realized I had booked the wrong dates, so I went to Booking.com to cancel. Free cancellation, fine but they wanted to know the reason, specifically "did the hotel ask you to cancel this reservation?"
Since then I get email ofers about twice a week, with specials geared to the locations I have searched (Berlin, London, etc.) but the "deals" are for travel in February, not in September when we are going (they know my dates because of the searches I have done). So it is approaching a bait-and-switch situation, and it is a little bit scary to see all these offers pop up from them when I am on Google or on other travel-related websites.
Also, while they usually match prices pretty well, for the hotel I chose in Berlin their prices were significantly higher than the hotel website price.
There is also the rumor that the hotel reception will assign better rooms to guests who booked directly with the hotel rather than through third-party sites. . . Just a rumor, but quite believable.
I am a www.hrs.com fan.
When I look at all the complaints on the Trip Advisor forums about booking.com and see there are never any about hrs, then there must be a reason.
I've used booking.com also about 75% of the time, and it's worked out great for me. I have compared it with prices directly from hotel websites, and find it's the same or cheaper. You often get the specific information you need (bed arrangement, free cancellation, breakfast, etc?) and it's a streamlined, one-stop place that works for me. Other websites might work great too, but since I always find what I need on Booking.com I haven't had a reason to shop around.
Back in the U.S. I used hotwire more, and the trip advisor hotel finding function sometimes, but I find Booking.com to be more streamlined and present more info and prefer it.
Everyone tells me I'm paying too much using it, but those people don't understand how booking sites work. Sure, the cheapest route is to say in a room in someone's private house. I don't like doing that. So if you're looking for real hotels or hostels, you're getting a good deal with a minimum of web research effort. I also find the reviewing system is a pretty good indicator of how a place will turn out. I haven't been unsatisfied with a hotel that got above a 7.8 or so.
I have used Booking.com and it's been valuable. While I prefer to book directly with accommodations, sometimes the price spread is just too much to ignore even after asking for similar rates. Also, Hotwire has worked very well for me in the U.S., just make sure you understand how it works.
I would be inclined not to trust any review on TripAdvisor. It seems there was a report referenced on this site that said about 10% of the comments on T/A were plants (ie, glowing reports put on by the properties themselves or negatives ones from competitors). Nevertheless, T/A seems to refer you to Booking.com.
A while ago, I did a comparative study of what I had actually paid for accommodations on three recent trips vs what I would have paid using booking websites. I stayed in 21 places for a total of 40 nights, all booked using town websites; only 3 places for 6 nights were what I would call a Privatzimmer, the rest were small, family run "hotels". Booking listed more of the same places (5 for 10 nights) where I had stayed than any other site; HRS only listed three. All but one of the sites were within a Euro what I paid (I think the booking sites contract with properties to not charge less for booking the same accommodations directly). However, at one place, I saved 56€ (~11 €/nt) by booking a package that was available on the hotel's website, but not on the booking websites.
Overall, I was able to find some comparable accommodation on booking websites in or near each of the towns where I stayed. In picking a comparable place, I used the same criteria that I used to pick the place where I actually stayed. Had I used Booking for all of my accommodations, my expense would have been 50€/night. With HRS, it would have been 48€/night. I actually spent 35€/night. Overall, I saved 500-600 Euro by not using a booking website.
BTW, in past trips I have avoided Privatzimmer whenever possible, taking them only as a last resort. But I have found the experience to be so much richer than more formal accommodations that I now look for them first.
It is really easy to spot the fake reviews on Tripadvisor. Just disregard them (and if you like avoid any property that appears to rely on them).
The reviews on Booking.com are generally viewed as more genuine as there is some control over who posts them (apparently you can only post one if you booked the hotel through that website and actually stayed, which is good).
As for town websites, in my experience you get a good complete list that way, but no reviews. And not all of them are available in English, so lots of people will be shut out if they don't speak or read German.
Lola is spot on about easily finding any phony reviews on tripadvisor. While I normally book directly with a lodging regardless of where I'm traveling, I always vet the place through tripadvisor reviews. If you know what you're doing, you will never have a problem, ever. I'm not sure how much I've used it...hundreds of times...never an issue and always exactly as expected..
I used booking.com for a trip this last September when the B&B I wanted in Cochem had a statistically insignificant number of reviews on TA to make a good decision (great reviews, just not enough). Booking.com had close to 100 for the place...9.3, so it was a winner. I still booked directly with the B&B...same price. Many reviews in Dutch & German, but Google Translate was good enough for me to get the message across.
I booked 8 or 9 accomodations on booking.com this past summer in France and was happy with every one. I had to cancel 2 of them because I changed my mind about them and had no problem canceling them on booking.com. Don't remember if I had to give a reason, but if I did I'm sure I just said I changed my mind. I always read the reviews on both their website and TA and compare them and when I book on booking.com I go for places with a rating of 7.5 or better from at least 20 reviewers. If I research on booking.com and then go to the hotels website and compare prices I will go with the lower one, which in my case was always booking.com.
I agree with Lola's comment on tripadvisor reviews ...
Tripadvisor has a feature that enables you to see every review and forum post a person has made. You just click on their name. This makes it fairly easy to sort out what reviews are likely legitimate vs what could be fake.
Speaking of TA rankings, you'll never guess what is #1 under the "Things To Do" category for Budapest:
Either it's a hidden "backdoor" gem not listed by any of the guidebooks, or the owners of the club up are up to no good;)
194 reviews of a shooting club-interesting! But most of the reviews are by Europeans for whom the opportunity to shoot a gun is pretty novel, I would think. As for the popularity, there is no accounting for taste.
As Laura mentioned, the key to spotting fake reviews on Tripadvisor is the reviewer's history. Unlike this website, you can easily check that outjust click on their name and you will see when they joined and a list of their contributions (other posts and reviews). A person with just one review and no forum posts is a "one-post wonder" and you disregard their review, especially if they just registered the same day.
I saw a perfect example of this last year when I was looking for a place to stay in June Lake, Calif. At that time the top-ranked place under "Specialty Lodging" was a little B&B type place called The Haven. Only 6 reviews, but 5 were stellar. And then I noticed that all 5 were by people who registered and posted that one review, never to return. So I passed over that place and went to one tried-and-true old standby in the area. Walked by The Haven and it looked pretty shabby; we were glad not to be staying there. It has since moved down in the standings, those five 5 reviews now diluted by ones that are more likely authentic (by reviewers with some history).
Either it's a hidden "backdoor" gem not listed by any of the guidebooks, or the owners of the club up are up to no good;)
Not necessarily "no good", but the tripadvisor ranking system, particularly for activities is definitely flawed.
I have participated in a number of activities and tours (a cooking class, Battlebus, Krakow walking tour etc.) where the guide has said something like, "If you enjoyed this, please leave a review on tripadvisor." There's no kickback or incentive. Often these are small businesses, and if I truly enjoyed the experience, I will write a review. However, I never write a review for a famous attraction.
On the other hand, the shooting club could just be forcing people to write reviews at gunpoint :)
I have posted dozens of reviews on TA, they are all quite real, anyone clicking on my name can see I have been a member there for many years, highly unlikely I would be a "plant" for any one hotel .
I always use TA reviews, and yes, I have spotted what I think are a few fakes but its so easy to see them that I don't know why people are so nervous about using the review section. I have personally booked at least a dozen hotels using TA, and have always found what I expected.
I don't normally use booking sites, but have over the years tried a few, hotwire( not for europe) priceline( not for europe) hotels.com and Venere. I had only one problem , it was with a hotel in Amsterdam booked one type of room based on information on the booking site, but on the hotel website I discovered that type of room was missing a very important feature , not made clear on booking site information., and I had used hotels.com, and found it difficult to clear up becuase I had booked through a third party. This was just this past summer. From now on I will just go back to booking directly.
BTW The missing feature was bathroom WALLS. Yes, thats right the room had a "private bathroom" ,, sounds good, but guess what, it was private to the room, but it was so modern and chic that the room was completely "open plan" meaning toilet about 10 feet from bed was right out in open, EW. This was clear on hotel website, but not on booking site. After some go around the booking site agreed to change the room description to be clearer.
I use booking.com a lot, and recommend it. I find it the easiest to use (personal preference), both as resource and for making the reservation. As for getting emails for deals for dates other than when you plan to travel, I think you can opt out of this. It's not booking.com's fault that they don't know your exact travel dates for every trip (and these are mass emails, not personalized ones); so even though I book some dates in July, they'll send me info for the next month or so - which would be very useful if I could get away. As for asking for a reason for the cancellation, I don't think it's mandatory that you give one; usually my reason is that my itinerary has changed. They may ask if the hotel asked you to cancel so that they can find out if a problem exists with the hotel that will affect other booking.com reservationists.
I tend to stay in places that get good reviews, and out of about 80 reservations so far, I've only had problems with three (that was my first trip and if I had read the reviews I would not have booked those hotels, in two cases; and in one, the hotel was overbooked but upgraded me to a 4-star sister property).
Lee, you make a good point, but there's another difference in our travel styles that may impact the results: you tend to stay in small towns. I tend to stay in large cities with a wealth of lodging options. Small towns tend not to be served by any online booking sites as well as large cities are.
When I do stay in smaller towns, I'm more likely to do the internet research to find small family-run hotels that have a nice webpage, and then cross-reference that with trip advisor, but it's a lot more research time invested than when I'm going to Munich, Berlin, whatever and can use Booking.com to book a great hotel in minutes for a price the same as or cheaper than the one advertised directly by the hotel.
Domestically I always use hotels.com if possible. I book through Chase's Sapphire Rewards link and earn 4 miles for every dollar spent. Also after 10 nights you earn a free night stay.
I book rooms for my husband, 13 year old and me and I am more comfortable booking directly with the property when booking international reservations so there is no miscommunication. One exception is that I used hotels.com to book an upcoming reservation at at the Sheraton at Milan airport.
I use booking.com quite a bit, but always check for free cancellation and free breakfast. I always compare their prices with the hotel's own website and maybe expedia as well. Booking's map is also very useful as we like to be centrally located.
If you belong to one of the chain hotels (Hilton, Best Western, etc.). the only way to earn points is to book thru the hotel's website so that might be consideration.
I own a small hotel in SW France. Most of our bookings come through booking.com. We like the system. For those who are not aware of how they work, we pay the standard 15% commission on what is booked through their site. However, if the guest clicks on the booking.com "button" on our web site to make a reservation, the figure s to 3%. Guess which we prefer! :-) In towns/areas where there is a lot of competition, hotels are encouraged to voluntarily increase their commission payments in order to "push" their property up the page of search results. As we have no relevant competition, we do not. I know of one hotel in a very popular tourist town near here that puts their commission payments up as high as 35% in order to increase occupancy. We have an 8.6 review score, which I think is very fair.
We are constantly bombarded with mail/emails from Tripadvisor offering us "opportunities" to increase our business and position in searches. When I was recently asked how Tripadvisor could help us, I asked them that we be removed from their system! They never do this.
Roger, this is good information. The RS philosophy encourages dealing directly with hotels when possible, as this provides more income to the hotel. Knowing that we can still use booking.com via your hotel site makes this easier.
I'll look for this next time. It's good that you didn't name your hotel, as the entry would have been deleted as "advertisement."
I have used Booking for, say, 90% of my reservations last year or so. I'm a satisfied costumer. These are the main factors I like about that particular website:
- it has ample coverage (both geographically and in terms of hotel selection on each city/area)
- straightforward interface that displays clearly the bed arrangements, prices, services that are/aren't included
- easy to cancel or modify (and very clear terms of cancellation) if needed
- nice mapping tool displaying prices in an easy-to-browse interface
- I never had any problem whatsoever with their reservations (hotel didn't get it, credit card compromised, something "lost in translation", ambiguous cancellation/refund/change terms etc.
So Booking has becoming my hotel reservation website of choice. Of course I browse other websites, but if the price is the same, lower or even slightly above (up to 3%) competitors, including the hotel's own site, I stick with Booking.
For what it's worth, Booking.com is owned by Priceline, as are Agoda.com, TravelJigsaw and Active Hotels. In the fall Priceline announced it was buying Kayak.com. At the time it said Kayak's operations would remain separate. I have watched Booking.com and Agoda.com for several years. Their Web pages are similar and the listings overlap somewhat (but so do many other sources). Agoda appeared stronger in Asia but that's just a guess based on comparisons made a couple of years ago.
Roger, great information. So if Booking.com encourages establishments to pay more to get your property pushed, we wonder if the "most requested" properties on top are those who pay more? Would think the ratings and reviews might be accurate but now questions if that "top rated" hotel really is the best or most requested, or just an establishment paying more to be designated as so.
JR - I won't comment on that question ... I think you need to make up your own mind on that ;-)
Regarding the ratings - I am 100% sure that they are an accurate reflection of what clients think .... but, not every client bothers to reply to the feedback request from BOOKING.COM. The feedback stays on their site for just over a year.
"So if Booking.com encourages establishments to pay more to get your property pushed, we wonder if the "most requested" properties on top are those who pay more?"
This isn't unique to booking.com. Check out orbitz, expedia, and any other you can think of. They all have a recommended page, filled by those places that pay for the advertising. A smart person sorts their hotel choices by ratings from customers.
There are many, many websites to use.
I also used Booking.com earlier this year, but also found accommodations on Hotel.com, Venere.com and AirBnB.com.
The big international sites like Expedia, Orbitz, etc. are also available and competitive.
You can also sign into the tourist bureaus in larger cities for lists of hotels and often make reservations.
I do look at TripAdvisor, but take the info with a grain of salt. It's just another good tool for local information.
Another active source of rooms overlooked is CraigsList.com.
If you can locate a potential place to stay, see if they're online. They can often beat the prices of big reservation services if booked directly on their websites.
I've booked through multiple websites. Most work as advertised. The only site I make an effort to avoid is booking.com.
I've had two times with booking.com where the hotel, on arrival, had no reservation for me. In both cases, I was still able to get the room I had planned on at the rate I originally booked. The first time, it was odd - the second time, the hotel staff said booking.com is the only one they regularly have that problem with. Now I actively avoid booking.com.
I've had problems twice with expedia.com. On one, the site didn't appear to complete my reservation - so I made it with a different site. When I checked my email, however, I had a confirmation from both. I called expedia and they fixed it. The other, I had discarded my reservation information before checking out of my hotel and flying home. The hotel insisted on charging me for breakfasts. I paid and called expedia when I got home. They fixed the problem quickly.
Because expedia.com has fixed any problems I've had, I have no problem recommending them but I don't recommend booking.com because showing up and finding no record of your reservation is about as bad as it gets - imagine if it were Munich during Oktoberfest?
@David: that has been not my particular experience. In most case on my recent (last 24 months) trips, hotels own sites' prices were similar to those charged by Booking and some other sites. Other times, not only was the price difference small, but the hotels' site didn't use an upddated encription protocol or had a bad interface for checking prices.
If that happens, I stick with Booking because it is a one-shop website for many hotels that I'm interested in. I'll personally always prefer Booking to a hotel's own website if prices are similar, but I recognize some people will disagree.
I agree with Andre on trying to book through the hotel's website, if there isn't a good price break for using another site. I'd rather the hotel get the money than have to pay a portion to the booking site.
Crash
Sindelfingen, Germany formerly Santa Rosa Beach, FL
Posts: 124
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I use momondo.com first, then, like Jo, hrs.com. After checking the price on those sites, I check their website if they have one, and compare. On booking.com, the hotel I stayed at in Hoorn, was 63 euro. On their website, 55. Then I paid in cash for the entire three days and got it down to 52. It really does pay to shop around.
Cheers.