Booking accommodations through Trip Advisor, Expedia , etc.
 

Can you give your experience booking accommodations through websites like Trip Advisor , Expedia,
Etc.. Any advice of dos and don'ts. I usually book directly with motels and hotels, and tried but they have no openings. The travel websites , like Trip Advisor , are showing open rooms for the dates I am traveling. Thanks for any advice.

I've had the same experience as I look for possible accommodation and I have a theory. Particularly when the dates are next year, I've found that the hotel or guest house may show full while booking.com has rooms. I suspect that the property in question has simply not begun taking reservations for the period, such as next spring. If I were serious about booking with the property itself, I'd contact them by phone or email if possible and inquire. If by that means they could take the reservation and the price was as good or better, then I'd book. Otherwise I see no problem with booking on the 3rd party website. Especially if it can be cancelled without charge, not paid in advance, if you find as good a deal or better on the property website later on, if they do begin taking bookings.

I agree with everything MmePerdu has said.

Booking directly with hotels, I have not encountered a booking error in thirty years.

I have also used booking services from time to time without a problem, but I have noticed others having difficulties checking into hotels because they did not book directly.

HTtY

I have used booking websites half a dozen times or so in the last two or three years without any difficulties whatsoever.

I do prefer booking directly with the hotel, but when that's not possible or the rates on their website are worse, I don't hesitate to book through another website.

If I don't book directly with a hotel, I use booking.com which I've used both in the US and in Europe with never a problem.

I like booking.com because you can see the cancellation policy immediately as you are comparing hotels, without having to drill down further etc. Also they make it easy to keep track if you make multiple bookings and you can just log in, see a list of all your upcoming reservations and cancel one or whatever you need to do.

I like booking.com but only after I've done all of my own research. Not all hotels participate.

Thank you all for your comments on my question!

Expedia is easy. Make sure to check the terms of your rate, but otherwise, it isn't exactly a huge risk. If they have the rooms and the hotel website doesn't (likely due to a bulk sale to travel agents), then go for it. I haven't actually used Tripadvisor, but I'd assume the same goes for them.

If you do book with Expedia, you may consider signing up for their rewards program. It isn't terribly lucrative, but it is free, so why not?

Just to clarify, I've used Expedia, Travelocity, Hotels-dot-com and Booking-dot-com. No problems with any of them. I prepaid occasionally, and that worked fine, too.

I have also used Expedia, Hotels,com, Booking.com, and several others. I haven't ever encountered any problems.

I've used Travelocity, Expedia, and Orbitz for several years and never had an issue. The one thing I have noticed is that depending on the hotel, the rooms offered through booking sites sometimes seem to be less desireable than what you might get booking directly through a hotel's site (next to the elevator, next to a restaurant, etc). That is certainly not the case in every booking, but just something to mention.