Post COVID-19, the best hotel deals can usually be found using a booking site, even if some hotels encourage you to book directly with them. Booking sites are convenient, compare hundreds of options for any city and offer, in many cases, free cancellation.
All of the sites, be it Booking.com or Hotels.com, claim to offer the best prices. But they can’t all offer this, so there are some limitations and things to watch out for.
What is the best hotel booking site?
When it comes to ease of use and flexibility to cancel, Booking.com is likely to best the best option. However, you can, in some cases, save more by quoting the Booking.com price to the hotel directly and arranging a better deal.
Why is Booking.com regarded as best?
International reviews by consumer institutes such as Which? (UK) and Choice (Australia) continually favour Booking.com for its positive user experience, clear pricing and cancellation policy display and easy two-step booking. While there’s no way of stating with certainty that Booking.com provides the most superior reservation experience, it does, in the majority of cases, offer the best user experience, customer support and accommodation selection options.
Alternative websites: Trivago, TripAdvisor and Google Hotels have the widest range of hotels and rooms (but may not offer the best deals)
Trivago, TripAdvisor and Google Hotels are unique in that they compare prices from other hotel booking sites. Because they compare the likes of Booking.com, Expedia, Agoda, Trip.com and the hotel’s own prices, they have a wider selection of rooms and prices. If you use Trivago, TripAdvisor or Google Flights to see prices for your dates, you can then compare results, like-for-like, and sort by price, user rating on any of the sites they display.
Warning: Be careful to check that the deals displayed all include the same core features such as breakfast (if offered), cancellation policy and room style. Some cheaper options may say ‘budget twin’ vs ‘standard twin’, which can mean you get an inferior room.
How do hotel booking sites work, and what are the differences between the likes of Booking.com and Expedia etc?
There are two main types of hotel booking sites, known as ‘booking aggregators’ (i.e. Trivago, TripAdvisor and Google Hotels) and ‘booking services’. In summary:
- Booking aggregators: Just like Google is a search engine, aggregators show you the options available by different booking services. They effectively ask sites like Booking.com and Expedia for the hotels and prices for your given location and dates. Booking aggregators don’t take your money – instead, they send you to the booking service that you select. If you need to make any changes after you have booked, you must deal with the booking service you booked with.
- Booking services: These are sites like Booking.com or wotif, which offer rooms and prices but don’t link to any other website. If you need to change or cancel the booking, you can do it directly with the website you booked with.
Be aware: Expedia and Booking.com own the majority of the market. Expedia purchased wotif in 2009 and since 2018 it has looked and functioned exactly like Expedia. In the interests of knowing who you’re dealing with, the following brands are owned by Booking.com and Expedia.
- Booking.com: Agoda, HotelsCombined and Kayak.com
- Expedia.com: Trivago, travelocity and several more.
Are the prices all the same, or are there differences?
Every hotel booking site aggressively advertises their ‘lowest prices’ and ‘largest number of options’. We believe this is mostly accurate as hotels share their data with as many booking sites. They do this to maximise bookings by being in front of as many people as they can. This means that the price you see on one website will be the same or very similar to another.
Our test:
- When we searched hotel specific hotels in Queenstown, Sydney and London, setting the currency to NZD, and found that all the deals were the same or within dollars of each other. Given the competition between the Expedia and Booking.com groups, this didn’t surprise us.
- When you make a reservation, most websites either charge you upfront, or, for ‘free cancellation’ offers you won’t pay anything until you check-in.
- Bonus tip: To maximise savings, you may want to book in the local currency as use a zero foreign exchange transaction fee debit card or credit card to secure the booking.
Secure the best hotel deal in four easy steps
Searching for a hotel, comparing and booking follows a set process. We reveal how to get the best deal and never overpay.
Step 1: Use two booking sites to find a place to stay and zoom in a convenient locationWe searching by city, we suggest using Booking.com and Expedia to find a range of hotels. The best hotel booking sites let you view locations on a map – local transport is meaningless if you don’t know an area; it’s all about location.
The best map functionality is, in our view, provided by Booking.com. A good booking site will list prices, review score, a photo and special promotion (if applicable).
Step 2: Know how to order the research results while comparing pricesEach booking site has its own way of ordering results, but you can choose your preference – ‘review score’ or ‘price – lowest to highest’ are popular choices. Despite the ordering, it’s hard to know what the ‘best’ hotel is – this is not a limitation of a booking site. Hotels, like many things, are judged subjectively by reviewers which is no science.
There simply is not an answer on any website as to what the ‘best’ hotel in Brisbane for $150/night. Nor is there a ‘top’ hotel in London for $200 a night. Picking the right hotel for your needs comes down to looking at the location, room amenities and price.
Know this: ‘Free cancellation’ can, but not always, cost more than ‘non-refundable’. In such cases, you take a risk that if you need to cancel, for whatever reason, you’ll lose the value of the booking. Think carefully about what you can afford to lose should a disaster strike.
Top tip: Whatever booking site you’re using, look for the sorting tool at the top – you can then compare with purpose knowing how the results are ordered. Be aware the prices may not be in NZD, so check the currency (usually displayed on the footer).
(Optional) Step four: Make additional considerations before you bookTo make sure you’re not left disappointed about your accommodation, our list of considerations outlines what’s important when using a hotel booking website.
1. Customer support – this was tested to the extreme during COVID-19 when those with reservations found their hotel booking website fantastic or useless when it came to getting support. Those who shine: Booking.com has an extensive range of support options – phone, e-mail and contact form. It’s a similar situation for Hotels.com and Expedia. Those who may leave you in the dark: TripAdvisor, Google Hotels and Trivago are far more difficult to get in touch with – you can forget about calling them. This is because they act as aggregators, not booking sites, so any enquiry must go to the hotel website you booked with.
2. Amenities listing – booking websites that comprehensively list what each hotel provides are far more helpful. This means you are fully aware of the check-in and check-out times, pool and fitness centres, airport shuttle, onsite ATMs and money exchange facilities. Accessibility features are clearly displayed by Booking.com, making it friendly for everyone of different mobility levels.
3. Reviews – Booking.com, Hotels.com and Expedia only publishes verified reviews by people who have booked and stayed at the property. TripAdvisor, by comparison, publishes reviews posted by anyone.
Conclusion: Do hotel booking sites offer the best deals?
Yes and no. They are an excellent resource to give a general idea around pricing. However, tourism after COVID-19 is very much a customer’s market. With bookings so low, many hotels like to avoid paying 15% to 20% commission to the likes of Booking.com and Expedia. For this reason, if you’re prepared to make an effort to price compare and then contact the hotel directly, you can almost certainly get a better deal by way of price and/or additional inclusions like food credit, breakfasts and late check-out.
The only risk you’ll have is if you prepay and the accommodation provider later goes out of business. With a booking site you’d be fully protected, but booking direct would force you to sort it out between your credit card company/bank for a chargeback. Travel insurance does not cover the bankruptcy of a travel service provider.