I'm wondering if there's someplace to find out about all the various travel websites - what they are and what they do (and what they aren't and don't do, too) -- Priceline, Hotwire, quikbook, orbitz, expedia, hotels.com, easyclicktravel, etc. Which of them (besides Priceline bid-for-travel and Hotwire) are "auction" sites, where you might be limited to 2 people in a room, or might get the room next to the icemaker, or the garbage dump, or with the balcony overlooking the parking lot, and which are not? Which are discount sites, and which are not?

I know about Priceline and Hotwire, but can't really distinguish among the others. Are some of them just on-line travel agents that book hotels at the regular rates? Are some consolidators that book left-over/odd-lot rooms?

Thanks.

one of the best ways to narrow down your options is to use sites like www.kayak.com and www.sidestep.com which search several engines (orbitz, cheaptickets, etc) at once.

Wikipedia has an ok overview:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travel_search

In terms of hotel reservations, it basically just varies on the contracts various websites set up with particular hotels. Various ones can have different prices for the same exact hotel room. Last minute deals are also based on negotiated rates.

I know all about Kayak, etc. I'm not asking how to search for hotel rates. I'm asking for an explanation of which sites (including the ones that come up when you use Kayak to search) are just on-line travel agencies selling rooms for the hotel (the way traditional travel agents do/used to do) and which consolidate unused rooms and sell those at a discount? Of the latter, do they all pay for the rooms they purchase, or do they only pay for the room (at a "wholesale" rate) once you've bought it through them? In which cases are you likely to get the "worst room in the house" and in which is that not the case, since you're basically paying the regular rate?

I do know sites like Expedia, Orbitz, CheapTickets etc only get a fee for the flights. They add that fee to the cost of the airfare, and it's usually $5-10 per ticket. So technically, they "earn" less per booking than old travel agents used to. I'm not sure if any discounters for hotels exist, besides the ones where you bid and therefore win at the cheapest rate at the hotel that has the most availability and is offering to lower the rate the closer it gets to the travel date.

dmlove: It's difficult to answer your question in the traditional manner of "consolidators" or "left-over" rooms. It's the new world of the internet and is daily evolving.

Sites like Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz are basically mega-travel agencies. They will list a "discounted price" which may or may not be any better than what you can get directly from the hotel itself. I remember reading an article several years ago when the hotels disliked the bookings they got from these mega-agencies because these agencies would get up to 25-30% of the hotel rate. Some hotels were LOSING money at that time but they didn't know what to do about it - somewhat like each hotel is a small consumer and at the mercy of a gigantic agency that could dictate terms. The hotels have been trying, with varying success, to develop their own websites and to establish their own pricing structure and not have these gigantic middlemen dictate their pricing nor get such huge agent's fees.

Other sites, such as sidestep, are mega-SEARCH sites for travel. They get their money from advertising and from some travel bookings, but their ratings and their search functions are fair and are not affected by who is doing advertising on their particular sites.

Still others, like Priceline, are neither of the above. In the "Name Your Own Price" area, Priceline makes a small fee (which is included in their "taxes and fees" add-on to the final winning bid price) if the hotel accepts the customer's bid price. It sort of is like a "web portal" in bringing buyers and sellers together.

Priceline has recently instituted a feature naming discount prices, which makes it a mega-travel agency as well as a web portal.

You may/may not get a bad room when you bid for Priceline. Obviously the hotel would be nuts to give their best rooms to the guests paying the lowest prices. However, you can usually get a very decent room and that's because the hotels that participate on the bidding side of Priceline have a huge inventory of rooms. If a hotel can get regular or "discounted" prices for 60% of their 300-500 rooms, it can well afford to let out some rooms to Priceline's bidding customers. OR, it could be the dog of a hotel in a city and can't get any guests any other way (these are the ones to avoid).

As you know, the internet is changing every day and very rapidly. New travel sites appear, some disappear, some are bought, some evolve into another form.

As far as I know there isn't ONE place where you can get ALL the information you want. Maybe someone in the travel industry will be able to name a few sites.

Hope this helped a bit!

Helped a lot (both of you). Thanks.