I'm looking at several sites and their prices all seem to be the same for the rooms with possibility of last minute cancellations (a couple have slightly lower rates but cannot be canceled at all).
I've never booked with Hotels.com and seldom have found their rates to be good. But particularly for Shanghai (the Salvo) and Beijing (Kapok) they are as low as anybody and don't charge any cancelation fees (as opposed to $15 charged by Agoda and I'm still unable to figure if that is for the entire stay or per night).

Any reason NOT to book with hotels.com?

Incidentally these rates are roughly half of what I'm finding direct from the hotels, but it is now almost 6 months in advance. I have found numerous posts for both these hotels saying there are huge savings by booking them in advance. (I'm looking at around $80 a night for both of them.)

I like to go with Expedia or Orbitz. Main reason being you can sometimes find online coupon code to get 10% or $10 off per night. But the down side is, for Orbitz, by using the coupon you can't refund your booking.

One of the things that concerns me is some confusion mentioned on numerous reviews about what was included and not included or even rate quotes when booked through a booking agency. More than one person has complained that after booking with Expedia and having their paperwork with them, they were still charged for things that were supposed to be included (breakfast and internet seem to be the most common ones).

When I look at the Salvo Hotel in Shanghai, for example they show identical Twin Business Suites for the same dates. One shows internet being complimentary and the other does not -- I can find no other difference, including cancelation policies. Yet the free internet rate is exactly $55 a night MORE than the one without free internet. Ironically every reference I find to the hotel suggests that internet is free in ALL rooms. What is THAT all about? If I book the rate that is $55 less a night, how much am I likely to be charged for internet -- or nothing?

Meanwhile, Expedia also shows it is $16 more to reserve a King Business Suite, while Hotels.com (and Agoda) shows the King to be the same price as the twin.

That middle paragraph above all referred to the Expedia site, by the way, in case that was unclear.

It's been a while since I used hotels.com, but in the past I had good expereinces with them. Read all the fine print, make sure you know what is included.

I've had good luck with agoda - no problems with any of my bookings.

In Thailand, I often use www.sawasdee.com and have had good luck with them.

Also check asiarooms.com

With all of these, check as to whether tax and service is included - as that's a substantial amount.

I had to admit I've not been impressed with expedia or orbitz for Asian hotels.

I am surprised to hear that. I've used Expedia to reserve rooms in Japan, Europe, Hong Kong and Guangzhou many times but never ran into any problems. I have to admit that one time when I reserved room and breakfast for a Guangzhou hotel via Expedia, the hotel did not know breakfast was included. I got the key and asked them how breakfast worked. The staff looked at my printout to verify and input into their system.

So far I like Ctrip.com. According to you know who, it should have prices that are close to the best you can get. I, like you, like to plan in detail. I started planning a year ago and believe it or not, it is one month away and I have not made many hotel reservations and no internal flight reservations. I am still waiting for another week or two before I try. I still picked my target hotels and approximate price for budget purposes. Someone else said to use travelzen.com but that is in $HK and introduces another currency. The consensus on this forum seems to be to use a Chinese based booking system.

I never use the hotel booking sites. I go to the hotels directly. In my experience hotel Internet-only rates are always cheaper than the hotel Web sites, particularly if you book way in advance (but there's no cancellation allowed). So I find your experience interesting. Hotel sites buy big blocks of rooms in advance so there may be savings because of volume. When all the rooms don't sell, they dump them on the last-minute sites.

I've never had a problem being denied services that were included as long as they were on the printout of my reservation. A simple e-mail to the hotel to confirm free Internet in all rooms would be illuminating, no?

I generally would agree with you LAleslie, but when I'm finding the lowest price on a dozen hotel sites almost double the prices for them on several booking sites, the savings really start mounting up.

I have already sent emails to two hotels asking for clarification on the free internet issue and neither responded with a definitive answer. One merely said, "yes there is internet service available in all rooms" and the other ignored that part of the question all together.
And for several hotels I've read numerous reviews (mostly trip advisor) that alternated between people raving that the rates all include free internet and others complaining at how expensive the internet hook up was.

Just curious, how did you decide on the Salvo? (I don't know anything about it)

The Salvo? Reading lots of reviews, a couple of recommendations, looking at pictures, considering the location, and finding a price well under $100 night. I haven't found anything else yet that seems better, but I'm still open.

Nice deal at the Salvo, only other one I can think of is The Bund Riverside but location is not as great as the Salvo. And you are a few blocks from the food/restaurant street Yunan Road.

yes, I had looked at the Bund Riverside at pretty much the same price -- but a small room and not the "suite" like the Salvo, and I don't like the location as well (I don't think), but then found many more really negative reviews particularly about cleanliness.

Have you checked out Tripadvisor.com for reviews?

I almost always book directly with the hotels. I did use hotels.com for last September's HNL trip, but price was not that impressive, and all of it had to be prepaid. I did NOT like that feature. Live and learn.

Yes, mainly it was TripAdvisor for reviews I was talking about. I'm well aware you have to do a lot of reading between the lines. One of my favorites was someone who ranted on and on about how a particular fairly inexpensive hotel just "wasn't worth it". I clicked on their name and found similar reviews about some of the top ranked hotels in the world.

I do feel more confident checking into a place with a confirmation including what's included that came from them, rather than from some booking agency.

I keep looking at other sites included eLong and Ctrip which seem to come highly recommended. But Ctrip seems not to book more than about two months ahead (they just show my hotels not available for 5 months from now. And both of those have rates WAY higher than Agoda and several other sites. I'm sort of focused on the Salvo Hotel in Shanghai and the Hotel Kapok in Beijing at this point.

I know some say to wait until close to the time or even after arrival, but I have seen several references to people who decided to stay an extra night or return for a second time a few days after their reserved dates and pay up to 50% more than their deeply discounted advance reservation. And frankly, the last thing I want to do in any city is arrive not knowing where I'm going to stay. And what's more when I check the type room I want -- sites show them not even available for numerous dates in the next month or two, so it seems if I want a King Business Suite at the Salvo for $83 for example, I should book it now, as I don't see any indication it's going to be cheaper or even available at all later on.

When I look at those Chinese based sites (I think that's what eLong and Ctrip are) even their rates for next week are quite a bit higher than Agoda's. Yet some posts suggest that they are by far the cheapest and the "only" way to go if booking in advance. What am I missing here?

I don't know that you are missing anything. There are lots of people who will tell you there is only one way to do things, only one booking agency to use, etc. I'd say if you've found a hotel and a price you like book it. I'm choosy about hotels and so I'll always book ahead to get exactly what I want. Might there be someone else staying there that is paying less? Probably. And are there people staying there who are paying more? Very likely. Does that matter to me? No.

Thanks Kathie, for putting it all in perspective. When some say to wait to get there and save money, I always wonder what they mean. If it were going to be $300 a night booked ahead, but $80 when you get there, I might agree. But if you can get a rate of something like $80 a night in advance at a really nice hotel, how much could you possibly expect to save by waiting?

I'm only so hesitant because I nearly always book directly with hotels and have always preferred that system, but when the savings seem so significant the other way, well. . . perhaps I'm ready for a change in how I do things.

You know, I always check both the hotels own website and the booking sites. In Asia, the booking sites often (not always) have much better deals in my experience.

BTW, a number of times I've had the opportunity to hear people walking up at hotels I'm staying at to try to get a good price. In every case, they paid a LOT more than I did. At the Strand in Yangon, the guys who were walk-ins paid more than $100 a night more for a single than we did for a double. They probably thought they were getting a deal because the rack rate is so outrageous!