Is this a reliable website. I know they're huge but there is a thread in frommers for travellers to beware of this website.

I found this thread after I had booked a London hotel with them. They were the cheapest I've found but now it could be that londontown.com may be cheaper. Do hotels.com rates include the 17.5% VAT in London?

Do they refund right away when you cancel the reservation...just in case...

I think Hotels.com is ok. The cancellation policy may vary at times so you have to read the information carefully. I doubt they cinclude th e tax on the disaplyed rate. When you go ahead to book, that's where it usually pops up. Again, you have to read the information provide on the website carefully.

Personally, I always check the rate directly with the hotel. I'd say 90% of the time you can get the same or less when booking direct, although it is worthwhile comparing prices on the various booking sites. Sometimes they do have specials that are quite good.

If you are booking a hotel in london I highly recommend priceline - one of the best cities for it. I scored the 5* hilton waldorf for $100USD in July.

I don't know what the thread on Frommers says and don't feel like going to look, but sometimes people complain about things because they don't read the rules before booking or just factual things they could know in advance before buying. I've never heard anything terrible about hotels.com, I think it has been around a long time and is a wellknown company. I have checked it and never found their rates the best, and wouldn't use it myself, but that's just based on the prices. It sounds like you booked with them and didn't read the policies.

If you found something cheaper on londontown, I would definitely book there, but if you are already booked on hotels.com, isn't it moot at this point? I thought you had to prepay on that site and have some penalty for any cancellation, regardless of time frame (eg, a minimum of one night's stay penalty). I'd never use them but I won't prepay hotel rooms nor accept any cancellation penalty like that in a market where it isn't the norm. If you can cancel without cost, and londontown is cheaper, why not switch? To me, it's the bottom line. I've used londontown and had no problem with them, so can recommend them, and you don't prepay.

As for the VAT, you'd have to ask them. A lot of websites do not include the VAT for London hotels in the main price quote, I've found. Londontown doesn't, for example, but notifies you about that if you read the statements carefully. I think hotels.com is not as clear and you may have to call them or email or something to get clear on that. They also quote in USD while londontown is in pounds, so you have to know how to convert rates to compare.

We used hotels.com to book a hotel in London this past fall. We were satisfied.

Read the fine print in the agreement so that you are aware of any and all charges. Taxes and fees are calculated and added in at the end. The full amount is immediately charged to your credit card. There is a $25 fee for changes and cancellations.

At the time we booked, hotels.com had the best rate I could find for the specific hotel we wanted. Booking directly with the hotel was not cheaper. We did have to change the reservation. Hotels.com waived the $25 fee without my asking.

Are they the cheapest or the best? I don't know. I do know that they worked fine for us.

I second Priceline. I recently got the 4* Crowne Plaza at LHR (late arrival, early departure next day) for $54US + taxes. Last year, I stayed there--booked at hotel's website--and paid $200US, including taxes.
Priceline is great if you do your research.

If you don't mind gambling about where you are going to stay then Priceline and Hotwire are great sites.

If you want to know exactly where you will be then hotels.com seems as good as any. They are simply a discounter used by hotels to move unsold rooms and often at prices below the hotel's own published rates.

I've used them several times both for the US and Europe and they have always delivered exactly what they said they would.

Their cancellation policy is very clear IMO and as I recall you are advised to be aware of it <b>before</b> you click on the &quot;complete transaction&quot; button.

I used Hotels.com many years ago with great success, but haven't used them at all (though I do shop there) since discovering Priceline - especially for London.