I almost always book directly with a hotel if it's in a country where I speak the language. I do my internet research first, then call the hotel and see if it can give me a better offer. Almost invariably, it can. The chance to speak in person with hotel staff and get my questions answered ahead of time is invaluable, as is the "goodwill" it usually seems to engender in advance. I always ask them to email me or fax me confirmation, which I print out and bring with me as assurance I've got the room.

Expedia and priceline are very powerful in the hotel booking business, they control about 80% of the online market, as a result in their contracts with hotels they will say things like the hotel cannot offer a lower price than they are offering and that the last available room is allocated to them to sell.

Personally I only book direct with low cost hotels such as premier inns or if I have received a great deal through being a frequent guest.

I use hotwire or priceline religiously and I've never been disappointed, the deals have been great as I've never had a hotel which I couldn't work out which one I was getting.

Another old post resurrected for commercial motives.

I have always preferred booking directly but am planning a trip to Puglia in small hotels. All required 30% deposit by bank transfer to book directly. All had same or better rates on booking.com which require no deposit. I called or emailed the hotels , discussed room choices, asked questions and then booked online.

We usually deal directly with the hotel. However, I take a very strong except to Bob's declaration about those third parties adding no value.

Why? Because hotels use those third parties to move inventory they cannot sell and often that inventory is significantly discounted in order to move it.

No value to that?