Anyone tried using this site and had good experience with it? I normally book hotels direct. Are there different search sites that are better?

I've used them 3 times with no problem, then again I have heard that some people have had issues with them.

If you search for a hotel on Tripadvisor they have a 'Quickcheck' button that compares the results from the booking websites - hotels.com is one of them.

Always check them along with other individual and composite sites - despite their ads, have never found them the least expensive way to book a hotel. But if they ever were, I would feel comfortable using them.

I've used them in the States as well as in Europe without problems. Be sure to read carefully cancellation policies, terms of use, etc. It has been my experience that more often than not the hotel is paid for in advance.

I find it a good way to enter a city name and find an approximation of the rates by those hotels as well as what hotels are available. Then I book direct. So far I've never found a rate on hotels.com that I couldn't get direct from the hotel (or often even better) so I've never booked through them. I'm not even sure if the cancellation policies are more strict through hotels.com.

Booking in Europe, I've had good luck with www.travelnow.com

I think they may be associated with hotels.com in some way

I went on hotels.com today to book a hotel at the Philadelphia airport for 4/22 got a rate of $129 but when I went to the hotel web-site and asked for an AARP rate, I was able to get the hotel for $119. I would check the hotel web-site as well as calling their 800 number to compare prices.

induway, you must check different cities than I do. Usually when I check on hotels.com it includes almost all hotels in that city -- from the chain motels to the high end resorts to the boutique hotels. About the only thing I don't usually see there are the little family owned B&Bs.
For example enter San Francisco. I'd be hard pressed to think of a hotel that isn't listed there.

I've used Hotels.com a few times, and have never had any problems. Once I've seen what the price they offer for a hotel I'm interested in is, I'll check the hotel's website directly. Sometimes it's offering a similar price, but sometimes it's quite a bit more than what Hotels.com offers. If it's similar, I'll book it directly, so that I can cancel if I have to, but if not, and I'm sure of my dates, I'll go with Hotels.com's lower price. Once I was trying to book a late planned spring vacation trip to Orlando for my family, and when I called the Hard Rock Hotel directly, I was told they had no rooms available - but I was able to book what we needed for the dates we wanted on Hotels.com.

I once booked thru hotels.com, because it was a better rate than thru the hotel directly. But ususally the hotel directly has some special deal. And a couple of times I've found better rates thru Expedia. I may try Priceline next time for a major city like San Francisco.

I think the answer is to shop around and to keep shopping.

After I book rooms, I keep checking back to see if I can find a better rate, and sometimes I do. On a recent trip to Caliornia, I booked a room at $169 and later canceled that booking in favor of $139--both rates on the hotel's web site.

More recently, by checking back a few times, I saved even more per night on a room I booked in Marbella, Spain.

This procedure pays off when booking at larger hotels, but not at smaller places, such as B&Bs and little hotels on the sea shore.