Booking via consolidators v B&B or hotel itself?

Consolidators add complication. When something goes wrong, the hotel points to the consolidator, the consolidator points to the hotel. For Paris, always book directly with the hotel. You do not gain anything when using a 3rd party to book. Special offers sometimes appear on the hotel's own website that are not found elsewhere.

For booking chambres d´hôtes, I use one of the following:

http://www.fleursdesoleil.fr/
http://www.cheznous.com/
http://www.gites-de-france.fr/
https://www.charme-traditions.com/
http://www.vmfpatrimoine.org/

Thank you, Tocard, for that clarification! Yes, I can see that complication arising! Plus I noticed the B&B's room rates were considerably lower and there were add-ons available, like car parking, not otherwise available to me. So with that, I am going to change at least the B&B reservations I have. My only concern now is possible confusion due to the fact I will ultimately have two reservations, on the same dates, in my name, albeit one canceled. Hmmmmm. I will need to think about this.

THANK YOU!

As someone who lives in hotels full time, I have had lots of experience booking all types of hotels. I've also worked in hotels.

If possible, I ALWAYS book direct. The more hands involved, the more complictions possible. The more hands involved, the more people the hotel/B & B owner has to pay. In fact, booking through a third party actually makes your chances of a screw up even more possible. (I know of one instance where an older couple booked a "double" room through a third party. The third party actually booked one of the hotel's quirky "bunk bed" rooms for this couple because it was cheaper and could sleep 2. Imagine their surprise when they showed up for a double, and got bunk beds. Luckily, the hotel wasn't full and they were moved to a regular double room." )

By the way, one of the worst things you can do is book a large chain hotel with a third party. Why? They have sophisticated reservations systems and know exactly what's going on. They are also more likely to give you upgrades, nicer rooms, freebies if you book direct. And I've seen many third party reservations lost between the third party and the hotel.

Plus it depends on which third party you book thrugh. Some are like a travel agent and charge the business owner the standard 10% fee. Like Booking.com. Others like Expedia "negotiate" a price with the hotel. With them, you are not booking with the hotel. You are booking a room with Expedia and any changes need to be done through Expedia.

If you truly want to help the small business owner, book direct. Or, they may suggest who to book through.

Every hotel site says they will match anyone else's rate, so shop around and then book direct. No layers!

We always book direct whenever possible, especially with a B&B or a family owned hotel. The small business owners that we have spoken to have said they appreciate direct bookings so they do not incur the booking agency's fees. Oftentimes they may add some type of small perk to people who book directly. I have also found Airbnb to be more expensive as opposed to booking the same property through the management company. Case in point, many beach properties in South Carolina are professionally managed through a company and those properties can also be found on Airbnb or VRBO. Booking through the designated company has saved us hundreds of dollars. It pays to do your research. If you do have a problem with the booking, then you are only dealing with one entity to try and resolve the issue. We've heard that referred to as "one throat to choke". LOL

The only time I have ever had a difficult problem with a booking was when I did it through a consolidator. The consolidator takes no responsibility and the hotel didn't want to solve the problem because we didn't book through them. Adding a layer is adding one more way for the business to ignore your issues.

I just switched over my reservations, and they all very much appreciated it and made that clear. Thank you all! Lesson learned.

You won't regret it. If something does go wrong it's always better to book direct.