I find it a little strange that if I look at a hotel site direct it may be full & also full with Expedia that a site like hotels.com shows vacancies. Is this right, am I safe booking through agencies and which are the best and any to avoid.Being BRitish we usually book direct.Thanks in advance for any help.
Kathy

My suggestions for hotel bookings is to check prices on www.biddingfortravel.com and book on Priceline. I have never had a problem w/ any of my reservations. The prices have great.

All the big agencies like Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, Quikbook, lodging.com and Hotels.com are fine. As mentioned above, The best way to save $$ entirely is by using Priceline. Depending on where you are going you can still price hotel alone through online travel agencies like funjetvacations.com. There there are also vacations through the major airlines (you do not have to book air also in most cases)- try Delta, American, etc. vacations. And lastly, you can download www.travelaxe.com which gives you competing rates from agencies all over the US - this wooks very well too. Welcome to the states.

I've never used Priceline, but something about it makes me really uncomfortable (just like how if you book a flight, it won't give you the details until AFTER you've paid).

I'd stick to the biggies, Orbitz is my favorite, I've NEVER had to book a room directly through the hotel bc the rate i was given on orbitz was signficantly discounted.

Many of the online agencies have room block allocations. For example, the hotel blocks 10 rooms a day for hotels.com
These rooms are sold to hotels.com for around 27% less than the lowest published rate. Hotels.com then marks up the rate and offers the room on thier website. These "merchant" hotel offerings are always prepaid... you pay hotels.com because the hotel bills them for the rooms.
Anyhow, hotels.com might hold on to some of the inventory based on demand. When the hotel sells out they can sell the rooms for more.
But most of the online merchants are not really good at yield management.
Odds are there is a room left on hotels.com because no one has booked it... that simple.

travelbug - Priceline isn't for everyone, but it is a great place to get hotels for many cities! You don't know the details until after you book, but you do know a lot. If you can handle the uncertainty, you often stand to save a lot of money.

khcatsuk - If you do choose to book through an online agency (and the biggies mentioned above are certainly safe), just give the hotel a call or email a few days later to confirm that they have a room reserved in your name.

Have used 3: Express Hotel Reservations,
Hotel Kingdom, Priceline.

Express Hotel Res.; do not pre-pay. Billed at end of stay. Books hotels in NYC, Chicago, Los Angeles only.

Hotel Kingdom; You pay a 10-15% fee at booking, and the fee is deducted at check out from the hotel.

Check cancellation rules - both good for the above.

Priceline; Bid by area, you win, you own. No refund, cancellation, changes, and pay at booking. Visit www.biddingfortravel.com to learn how to bid Priceline, and what hotels in area you want to stay. Some real good values, but read the limitations...i.e single bed, no suites, no kitchen facilities etc.

This traveling stuff is fun!