jor

I recently used hotels.com to find the cheapest rate for three star hotels in Minneapolis. I found a great hotel at a great price and bookmarked it. Then I called the hotel directly and asked for their cheapest rate on that day. The prices were exactly the same.

I do not believe that hotels.com is ripping anyone off.

Keren

Thanks for your comments, Christina & ira, I guess I will try to call the hotel to make sure they have my reservation.
This will be my first ever phone call to a hotel where I will be trying to speak French. Wish me luck!

caroline_edinburgh

Message: >... hotel booking sites, ...are pure slime ...<

Message: >Might as well say the same thing about travel agents...<

I have to say I've never seen the point of travel agents, and I've been booking holidays much longer than I've been using the internet.

RufusTFirefly

caroline--some people might not have the personality, experience, or patience to research their own trips thoroughly. Travel agents can be very helpful to them.

gail

As with everything else - buyer beware. Most of us check multiple purchasing methods before buying major ticket items - whether it is travel-related or other. Depending on circumstance, sometimes service, price or convenience are most important - each purchase may have a different priority. I love to research vacations - and have found the best deal is sometimes on booking sites, sometimes on hotel or airline sites. Pays to shop around.

nanda_zrh

Hmm.. one thing I noted is the difference in room availability.

Sometimes for similar prices, the hotel would be "fully booked" but one could still book a room through travelocity or expedia. I always though that these sites may get a quota of rooms to sell.

I've never really used these hotel-sites except recently for my trip to New London. The prices for the radisson were significantly lower.

As mentioned previously, I also use these alot for photos etc..

jeffwill4you

We always uae Orbitz or Priceline for hotel rooms, even when we went to europe. With Priceline its kind of a crap shoot as to what hotel you get but we, got the Le Meridien Apollo in
Amsterdam for $135.00 per night for a very nice superior room that was listed on the hotel site for 225 Euro per night! In Munich we got the Le Meridien
at Oktoberfest time for $155.00 per night and the hotel site said sold out!
I don't think these sites are a rip off
I believe they do a good job.

Mary_Fran

I think Flyboy hit the nail on the head, with a very thoughtful post. I've frequently used sites like Venere, Travelocity, Bookings.NL, etc., to book hotels, but I always also check directly with the hotel to make sure I can't get the same or a lower rate, and even if it's just the same or even a bit more, I'll cancel with the booking agency and book directly with the hotel.

However, a recent experience I had with Charming-Spain-Hotels.com will make me leery of using booking sites.

We had used them to book Hotel Rector in Salamanca and Hotel Infanta Isabel in Segovia, two wonderful hotels we loved, on our trip to Spain last October, and we had no problems with those two bookings.

After we returned home, however, we were surprised to find a $187 charge on my sister's credit card from La Casa de Los Mercaderes, for a missed first night. We hadn't booked that hotel. We objected, and in response, the hotel e-mailed us a copy of a confirmation Charming-Spain-Hotels had purportedly sent us confirming a reservation. The clinker was the email address the confirmation was sent to contained a typo, so we never would have received it.

The hotel won't budge, and the credit card company says they can't help, so now I'm trying to persuade Charming-Spain-Hotels.com that the error was theirs and they should work out a resolution with the hotel that doesn't leave us out $187 for a booking we weren't aware of.

The problem here with the booking middle-man is that in the end, no one seems willing to accept responsibility for the error.

I'll be much more leery of using booking sites in the future, if at all.

Mary_Fran

P.S. I've sent a copy of this thread, with my complaint, to Charming-Spain-Hotels.Com, and I'm hopeful that I'll be able to come back to you and tell you that they were eager to rectify the error.

jor

caroline_edinburgh, If you get a lot of flack for your views, part of it is that there are lots of travel agents who frequent this board! And I am sure that they have a huge beef with do-it-yourself web sites that eliminate travel agents.

Giovanna

When planning our trips I try everything, evaluate the information and make decisions. I have found hotels.com generally to have higher prices than the other sites and have never used them, but wouldn't hesitate to if I found a bargain.

We usually do better dealing directly with a hotel, but at least these sites put you in the ballpark for prices, which I find very helpful.

The fault I find with all these sites, particularly when trying to book a package (air and hotel), the hotels they usually suggest are in the outskirts of cities or far removed from the places you wish to visit. I found this particularly true when we visited Denver last April. I was born there and although a tourist there now, I was able to determine that the first hotels that came up were out in the boonies! We ended up in a hotel in downtown Denver on the 16th Street pedestrian only area which was perfect for us, but it was not booked on any of the hotel booking sites I visited.

Christina

good luck Keren on the phone call. If it is 3* or above, there should be no problem with languages.

What is the hotel? Sometimes I can find private email addresses, but there shouldn't be a problem booking an Atel hotel on their own website.

kswl

Message: Message: >... hotel booking sites, ...are pure slime ...<

Message: >Might as well say the same thing about travel agents...<

Not sure I'm ready to consign all sites and agents to the slime pit, but I also have noticed that the sites are consistently higher than calling the hotels directly---sometimes as much as 75% higher. Yes they are in business to make money, but their advertising says "lowest prices available," "rock bottom rates," "cheapest rates from us," etc. , and that is almost always a lie. Their advertising is slime, I'll grant.

Travel agents? Any time (two trips) we've used a travel agent we've found better rates on our own---too late. Won't plan to ever use one again. (Especially our upcoming trip to Alaska this summer--don't ask!)

Keren

Hi Christina,
The hotel is the 3* Prony in the 17th, in the same area as the Banville which has been discussed here on Fodors. I like the area very much and have walked by the hotel once, it looks over the pretty Place du Marechal Juin and in walking distance to an excellent restaurant I ate in 4 months ago. I don't think the hotel has a Website, but had no problem making a reservation on Atel-Hotels.com (thought it to be very user friendly) and will call the hotel just to make sure they've got my reservation.
Thanks.
Keren

Christina

hi Keren

That hotel looks nice. Actually, they do have their own web site:

www.hoteldeprony.com

(which also takes you to http://www.hoteldepronyparischampsel...es/1/index.htm)

Their email address is:
[email protected]

If you want to call to confirm the reservation, that's a good idea. Actually, I prefer to confirm by email so it is in writing--and if it were me, I'd try to confirm by email and if that didn't work, by phone.

Keren

Christina, thanks so much.
But I have to ask you this - how on earth did you find that website? there's nothing on pagesjaunes.fr.
I will e-mail or call them just to confirm my reservation. Had I known they had a website, I would have tried to book directly with them instead of with Atel. But no harm done, anyway.
Thanks again.
Keren

Christina

You're welcome, it was easy.

Actually, I don't use pagesjaunes much to find email addresses, I don't think it's very good for that.

I found that on the Paris Tourist Office web site in their hotel section, they generally have the best contact information for hotels. However, I also use Google a lot for searches and that address comes up easily in a google search if you just type in "hotel de prony" in quotes in the search box. It's the ninth listing down the page.

jor

kswl, "I also have noticed that the sites are consistently higher than calling the hotels directly". Did you read my post, or don't you believe me? Are you a travel agent?

Keren

Hi Christina,
Your advice was a good one. The hotel doesn't have my reservation! I've made it 8 days ago on Atel-Hotels.com but the hotel didn't get any notice of it.
I just e-mailed Atel and am waiting for their reply. If I don't hear from them I'll cancel my reservation and reserve directly with the hotel (or with a different one, I have a few more options).

savannah300

Sorry, I can't really agree with you on this point. I've booked through Hotelclub.net several times and Expedia and never had a problem and got the lowest rate for the hotel I wanted. However, I have also checked directly with the hotel or the hotel chain and went with whatever was cheaper. Right now I've noticed that some of the hotels are offering better or comparable deals than the hotel booking sites . . . maybe they want to compete. But, I've always been satisfied with the sites I've used and never felt ripped-off by them.