I know that you can book hotels on-line either through the hotel's website or through various booking engines like Expedia. My question is this, in order to book this way do you pay for the hotels at the time of booking? If you are staying more than one night do you pay in full?
Thanks for your help.

Try using quikbook.com. not as cheap as Priceline, but guaranteed reservations, and you don't pay until check in. and you can cancel w/o penalty according to the hotels regualr cancelation policies. they do offer some budget hotels where you do pay upfront.

I've booked many hotels and B&B's through their own web sites. The procedure is the same as booking by phone, or through a travel agent: you give your credit card info, which guarantees your reservation. You are charged at the end of your stay, or according to their cancellation policy if you fail to show up or cancel late. I've never had a problem, but be sure to review the cancellation policy carefully.

I think that sometimes when you get the really cheap rates on Expedia or Travelocity you have to prepay at the time of reservation. That is made clear before you book.

Just got back from NY. I had to book two separate sets of reservations. The first set I booked through Travelicity. I later found out about Quikbook.
I got the best Saturday night price through the hotel by saying I had the Entertainment card. Sunday and Monday was through Travelicity. I thought I got a good price compared to the hotel even with AAA or Entertainment so I booked it. But I did have to pay in advance and there was a $50 canelation fee.
I then found I needed to book another room for someone else so I tried Quikbook. The same Sunday and Monday night was even cheaper than Travelicity and no prepayment was necessary. It turned out that one of the nights needed to be cancelled and there was no problem.

It you have the time, you need to shop.

Thanks for the help. I appreciate it.

go to www.discounthotels.com
best prices you can get

I just used Quikbook yesterday. There is a $10 cancellation/change fee. You can also book via their 800 number if you don't want to put a cc# on line. Hotels in Las Vegas must be prepayed--other cities do not.

Here are 2 more places to do some comparison hotel shopping: placestostay.com and hotellocators.com when booking hotels (especially in large cities like NYC) it really pays to take the time to shop around, you'll be surprised what you can find!

I've looked at the prices on Travelocity & Expedia, compared them with other available discount bookings, and found that their no-cancellation policy isn't worht it.

On at least two occasions, I called the hotel directly and got just about the same rate T'locity and Ex'dia were offering, but with no cancellation penalty.

I have used Quikbook three times since Dec. and have never been charged a cancellation fee. I cancelled a room in Chicago in Jan. and was not charged. Is this fee new since Feb?

I'm not sure if the cancellation fee is new or not. I'm new to using Quikbook. The cancellation policy and fee(s) was listed under the reservations area. $10 for cancellations or changes more than 3 days prior to the reservation. For less than 3 days notice, the cost is one night. I verified this when I talked to the 800 number. It's possible that this only pertains to Las Vegas--the operator told me that was the only city in which reservations must be prepaid.