Hotel booking sites for China (Shanghai) - best one?
 

I am much confused by the different websites available:
E-long (www.elong.net)
China Hotels.com
Asia-Hotels.com
Asiarooms.com
www.hotelclub.net (same as www.nongasia.com)

It looks like all these sites require that you pay the entire amount upfront, once the room is confirmed. It also appears that sinohotel.com is the only site that says you pay when you check in (except when booking hotels in Hong Kong)

If that is the case, it looks like sinohotel is the best bet. Their price also is fairly good.

For all you China hotel experts or frequent users: can you provide some comments on which sites you prefer? Thanks so much.

ttt

I used sinohotel.com in May this year to book a room in Shanghai. The rate was very good and we paid at the hotel at check out. They also have a US toll free number that you can call 24/7. Agents in their Beijing office will answer the call. They are very efficient in confirming the reservation by email or answer your questions.

I would definitely use their service again if the price is right. I know others who used this website with satisfactions.

I used elong to book the Mason Hotel in Shanghai - did not have to pay in advance, paid the hotel directly on checkout.

On a 3 month trip around China we found Ctrip to be very good too.

normally I book hotel on elong or http://english.ctrip.com via a phone call and pay at check-in. try the phone number shown on the page. I am sure they can speak English.

In shanghai, after trying several hotels, I would like to strongly recommend Howard Johnson All Suites Hotel and Shanghai Peace Hotel.

During my stay in China,we booked The PeaceHotel, Sheraton Suzhou Hotel & Towers, The Gloria Plaza Hotel Beijing through http://www.86hotels.com . They offers a large choice of hotels,and its reservation team can speak excellent English . My order had been treated quickly.At each hotel my reservation have gone smoothly.The hotels are all very nice and the rate is very good.

Thanks to all.

It appears that:
- Ctrips, Asia-Hotels, Sinohotel (and maybe Elong) are the only ones that do not require you to pay the full amount once the room is confirmed. You pay upon check-in, or check-out.

- they only allow you to book up to ~2-3 months in advance. I am just worried that if I wait till 2-3 months before leaving for my trip, the hotels that I want to stay may not be available.

- all the other ones, like Expedia.ca allow me to book way ahead (I was checking on the April/May 2007 which is ~6 months ahead), but I will have to pay the full amount right away. Also some do not even allow cancellation, or some have penalty assessment

So it is still a toss-up!

Why don't you try Name Your Own Price on Priceline? You do have to pay up front, but the cost should be much less than through the other sites that you mention. Check first on BiddingForTravel.com to see what hotels may come up in the cities that you are interested in, and the winning bids in those cities.

Thanks for the suugestion for Priceline. I am not a big fan because I do want to choose which hotel I want to stay.

That's why before the travel, I always do extensive research on hotels: locations, amenities, reviews, price. I also much prefer the off-beat hotels rather than chains.

I recently booked my China hotel reservations through Expedia and PrecisionReserfvations (also known as Agoda). Had very good luck with both, shop around the prices change daily.