Does anyone else find that hotels are cheaper on something like booking.com rather than booking direct?

[rookiemere]

Just a bit of a muse really.

I'm currently booking hotels for a trip and often use something like booking.com to find out what's available and then check the hotels own website. I know that hoteliers have to pay commission to the third party so I'd rather they got the money directly, plus sometimes you get a better room if you book directly.

However pretty often it's more expensive to book directly, which makes no sense to me. Anyone else found this or can throw some light on why it is ?

@ValerieDoonican what a lovely treat.

I've never found that - the very few times I have rung up directly, the person on reception can't price match or do anything for me.

We tend to find the direct price is usually just the same as the agrregator one, so we don't feel we're overpaying. But we don't travel all that much so not really a scientific survey!

I think Booking.com charges the hotel a fee for facilitating the booking so it costs the hotel more than what you pay. Same with other sites like holiday lettings. We booked a house last summer and loved it. Owner lived nearby. He told me if we ever wanted to rebook to contact him directly and he would give me a better price as he said he didn't have to pay fees.

I think Booking dot com charges the hotel a fee for facilitating the booking so it costs the hotel more than what you pay.

With respect, it can’t cost the hotel more than the payment made by the guest, or the hotel wouldn’t offer the room, would it? If it were going to make a loss.

Do you mean the opportunity cost, as in the hotel could have sold the room to the guest directly and made more than if the room had been sold via Booking dot com at the same price? Because it would save on the fees?

Well, yes, but that’s what the aggregator sites are for. Hotels are on those sites to be seen. You might not know of the hotel unless you’d seen it on the site and as a guest I wouldn’t be bothered checking six different hotel websites.

The difference between selling the room direct and selling it via Booking is enough such that some hotels and chains will bump you if they sell the room direct. That’s what happened to me, on three separate occasions. Two were with the same chain. They admitted that it was the policy of their own central booking team to bump guests via aggregator sites if they managed to sell the room direct. More profitable for them.

I usually find the booking website offers a cheaper rate but will often check the hotel as usually it may be a tiny bit more but often include breakfast and/ or wifi included, bottle of fizz on arrival or a better choice of room. If not I stick with the booking website.

The main advantage of booking.com is that it works excellently compared to all of the other booking websites and is easy to navigate. Price wise, it depends on whether you will be paying charges for using your bank card, whether the hotel's own website is reliable to book through (not always a given) and whether you can build up bookings to benefit from gold level discounts.

I’ve only used booking com a few times, I have had issues with the hotel not having the booking despite me having the confirmation. I tend to use hotels com as you get a free night after 10 stays. I do check the prices on the hotels own website and do occasionally book direct if I can get a better deal, but that’s not often.

I almost always use Booking (sometimes Expedia) and have never found the hotel's website to be cheaper.
As pp has said, I also want the flexibility offered by these sites that the hotel direct won't offer.
It's only the chains like Hilton/IHG etc where I book direct because I have reward points.
I'm sure the hotel would prefer me to book direct with them, they're not daft, but while Booking is cheaper, I'll go through them. Never yet had a problem with either them, Expedia or Last Minute.

Same. After one particular mess I decided not to use them again.

If you want to know what can go wrong with booking hotels through online travel agencies, read this thread on Reddit.

www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromTheFrontDesk/comments/yh07lc/third_parties/

I'd always thought that by booking directly with the hotel that you would be allocated better rooms but twice now this definitely hasn't been what's happened.However we did manage to get the price of the room reduced when we disused with the manger about why we had issues with it,which just wouldn't have been possible with Booking.com.

I always check b.com and the hotel's own website and usually b.com is cheaper. However, the main reason I use b.com is that they almost always offer excellent cancellation terms and that's very important to us. For example, we were going to stay in a particular hotel a couple of nights ago and wanted to cancel due to a ferry change, with b.com no issue, with the hotel the rate was non refundable so we would have lost €€€s.

I find it cheaper. When you've booked through booking.com a few times you start getting discounts & perks too (I don't work for them, I promise).

I often book with booking.com if it’s a chain or outside a french or English speaking nation. But, tend to book direct with the hotel (and ask to match the rate), if it’s an independent - or I have a loyalty programmer.
I email rather than phoning though, just to have it in writing.

I've used Booking.com for years and get the genius discounts. Never had an issue yet - and in fact when we had last minute flight cancellations they managed to cancel the related hotel bookings with no penalties (even though contractually due) I always check though directly. Sometimes the hotel is cheaper direct, but the cancellation terms are worse - I prefer to have the option to cancel til last minute if possible. Last trip I did I booked directly with hotel as they had a huge discount if you were prepared to pay the first night up front, non-refundable for a weeks stay. I do have an Accor loyalty card so always book direct with them in France/Belgium for e.g. Ibis/Novotel/Mercure as I get the points. With DH and I travelling for work too they add up.

@MissAmbrosia good to know about Accor. We're having a few nights in France as part of a trip and it's one of the few websites where a) it was very clear to understand the cancellation dates and b) it was actually cheaper than booking dot com.

As well as Accor, I'd add Hilton. I'm going to visit DD at university this week and have 4 nights booked. One night free as I had enough points, and one night with £20 off. Last time I was in that hotel, when we checked in I was upgraded to "guest of the day" and so got a better room and free drinks and snacks at the bar. I don't use them that often- but I really rate them.

If its a small concern I always ring having searched the net for prices. Only looking for price match not any greater discount.

If its a big concern I check their website and book the cheapest as I'm not into haggling.

Last week I stayed for £66 instead of £79 cheapest on the website of a large hotel chain. It bought me breakfast.

The last three bookings I have made for accommodation have been cheaper going directly to the hotel website. Also the hotels offered extras when booking directly, such as free breakfast, and a car from the airport.

It's also much easier for the hotel to make changes to your reservation or offer you compensation if there's a problem if you book directly.

I book a lot of travel, and if the price is competitive I book through Hotels.com for their Welcome Rewards scheme.

Whether you're booking through an online agency or with a hotel chain, it's always worth checking for cashback on Topcashback or Quidco. Don't rely on it, it can be hit and miss, but a nice bonus if you get it.