discount hotel bookings
 

Can anyone advise of any discount hotel booking companies, via the internet or otherwise, for hotels in the south florida area. They should be reliable and safe for on-line bookings.

We used travelocity for our hotel in NYC over thanksgiving week and were quite happy with our hotel and definitely the reduced rate. We actually were able to get a room at a corporate facility that we could have never booked directly. The only problem with booking online through one of these agencies is that you have to pay in full at the time of reservation. And since you pay directly through the company and not the hotel, you can't argue with the hotel if something were to go wrong. We also used an online booking to go to Las Vegas last year and so far have had good luck with these service companies.

I've used two different services. The best I've found is Quickbook, which I've used 5 or 6 times. With this service, you don't have to pay in advance. You just pay at the hotel as if you had booked with the hotel directly. I've also used hoteldiscount.com. They are also good, but payment must be made in full in advance.

I have found that it pays to search all of the discount hotel services that you can find in order to get the best rates. But once you settle on the place you want to stay, contact the hotel directly either on the internet or by phone and check their rates. More often than not, their direct rates will be the same or better. If they quote you higher rates, tell them the rates you have been quoted. I have had very good experiences doing this. Travelocity is my discount hotel search engine of choice.

I've used expedia a number of times and have checked with Travelocity too. So far expedia seems better. I also call the 800 #'s for the hotels and ask for any specials. I've had no difficulties with Expedia. Looks like Hoteldeskrate.com is really advertising a lot tonight.