Booking hotels

BOOKING.COM IS THE WAY TO GO OR AIRBNB.
THEY BOTH HAVE REVIEWS FROM PAST CUSTOMERS.
IF THE PRICE IS RIGHT AT THE TIME YOU SEE IT THEN BOOK IT.
IT CAN BE CHEAPER TO BOOK LATER WHEN YOU KNOW DEFINITELY THAT YOU ARE GOING
BECAUSE YOU GET A CHEAPER ROOM GENERALLY FOR ROOMS THAT YOU CHOOSE THAT YOU CAN NOT CANCEL.

Here are a couple of recent threads about VRBO with comments both positive and negative. I've used them in Paris and various places in the US without issue. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/experience-with-vrbo ; https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/vrbo-or-home-away-booking-scam

I do like to use booking.com but I don't get excited when they say rooms are going fast so you better book now. They (and other booking sites) usually just have a limited number of rooms at a particular hotel or b&b so even if they sell out of the rooms they have you can usually try another site or the hotel's own website and find available rooms.

However, in your case it may be that it's too early to book at some of the places you are looking at. I don't usually get too eager to book until about 5-6 months out at the earliest, usually more like 3 months out. Especially at this time of year, some places may not be releasing their available rooms until they decide on next years rates. I wouldn't worry about it yet.

The only time I would be concerned is if I was looking at a place that was very popular at the time I planned to go (like Oktoberfest in Munich or Venice Carnival) or if the place had a limited supply of hotel/b&b rooms nearby that always filled up early,

I usually use Booking.com filtering my search from low price to high price. Then I look for properties in my desired location that have substantially higher customer ratings than others in the same price range. I've never been disappointed.

I too have used AirBnB a couple of times. I just don't like how they charge for the room on front end when I may not be going on the trip for another 6 months.

I think booking.com is a good way to narrow down to a list of candidate hotels, by location, amenities (we look for an elevator), and price range. Pay no attention to the hype about how rooms are disappearing 9 months from now. When you have some candidates, check them out on Trip Advisor and Google Earth's "street view" feature. Then go to each hotel's own website for rates and availability.

Many hotels (though I don't know specifically about London) won't start taking reservations till maybe six months beforehand. If this is the case, you may find websites showing no availability. That doesn't mean they're full, it means they're not booking that far into the future. Check back later if you like a place, but don't let it go too long. I'd guess about four months out you should be able to get whatever you decide you want.

We've had good, though limited, experiences with VRBO in Europe and the US. We think about apartments (flats in Brit-speak) if we're staying for a week or longer, hotels usually for shorter stays.

You may get more specific useful info on the "England" board if London is your focus.

Booking.com is a good place for consumer reviews as (supposedly) only those who booked through the site can post a review. When it comes to actually booking I go to the hotel site. I've found the consolidators often have fees you don't see until late into the booking process, so the savings are illusory. Also, and this seems common based on what I read, the few times I did use a consolidator the room I got was not satisfactory, or there was a problem with the reservation. VRBO- we have used it to rent apartments in Hawaii, France, Montenegro and have not had a problem. However, due diligence is in order. Be sure you can contact the owner, watch the reviews, make sure deposits are recoverable.

Thanks for the great information. We will be in London for about a week, but then on to Paris.

For Europe, I like using www.hrs.com as they have a generous cancellation policy.

I book most first-time hotels with booking.com. I think hotels, etc., release their rooms to booking sites when they want to.

I have had two situations where the booking.com customer service people saved the day for me, so I would say there are benefits.

It is a good idea to look at the various reseller sites such as TripAdvisor or Booking.com as a way of getting a feel for places and reading some customer feedback. Remember though that reviews tend to fall into two categories - the people who loved it and the people who hated it; the people who have moderate opinions tend not to write reviews.

Once you've found a place that you like the look of, it's best to go ahead and contact the hotel directly through their own website - that way the hotel does not have to pay 20-25% of the cost of the room to the reseller. Small hotels especially will appreciate those who have had the good sense to skip the middleman.

You can read what Rick has to say on this topic here.

Booking.com is notorious for leading you to believe hotels in your destination are "filling up fast". Don't fall for it. Sometimes hotels only give a portion of their rooms to booking websites to be booked out. When Booking.com has booked all of their allotted rooms at a particular hotel they'll tell you the hotel is sold out. Probably not true. Either call or email the hotel directly.

Booking.com lists "on our site" after the numbered rooms available; I don't see this as misleading or notorious. True, they give the "filling up fast" notice, but with percentages, so if 64% means you should book now, it's up to you; I don't panic until it's in the 80s.

I use Booking.com, most popular in Europe I read last year, and hotels.com. I check the reviews on those sites and Trip Advisor for information. I usually just book with the booking provider, but on a rare occasion I'll go to the hotel. I've never had an issue, and if I do, I figure I'll sit in the hotel lobby until they decide to do something with me, like find me a room somewhere...

Our past six years have included two or three overseas travels a year. My process for selecting a hotel. or Bed and Breakfast is to use multiple sites to collect information prior to booking.

First, many of our trips include either an ocean or river cruise with a lengthy land tour (usually self planned, not a paid tour). The cruise critic website under boards includes geographical locations, like specific countries in Europe, South America, Australia, Asia, etc. People frequently post their hotel experiences, both good and bad. Also, if I have a guide book of the city or country, I look for recommendations on lodging.

Second, after studying the geography of each city where we will stay, I determine advantages of location near sites or public transport so as to find a hotel that is most advantageous to our touring the city and east of transport from an airport or port.

Third, I run a Kayak search for hotels or B and Bs for the city and screen based on price range and location. I compare with TripAdvisor (TA has a great map feature that allows you to run a search for lodging and pull up a map. The map has the locations of hotels. You can place the cursor over the hotel and a price will show up).

Fourth, I narrow down selection to 5-6 hotels and read many reviews from TA and other sources. I focus on specific negatives that may lead to rejection of the hotel as well as positive specifics.

Fifth, I select the hotel and an alternate from the 5-6 based on all the information above.

I have found that using Kayak is a great way to run a price search from several on line booking firms and you can check reviews easily of more than one.

We have generally had excellent results using my process. Hotels are best in Asia and large cities, B and Bs are usually the best in smaller cities or towns. Sometimes I pick a particular hotel or B and B when I haven't decided in advance that I want a hotel or B and B.
Examples, the hotel that I picked in Tokyo was perfect. It was the Hotel Metropolitan Marunouchi. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g1066443-d653033-Reviews-s1-Hotel_Metropolitan_Tokyo_Marunouchi-Chiyoda_Tokyo_Tokyo_Prefecture_Kanto.html
That hotel is located at the north end of Tokyo Station. Tokyo Station is on the direct Narita Express rail line from Narita Airport, allowing us to save on an expensive taxi fare from the airport. Also, it was convenient to public transport for touring the city. The hotel had excellent ratings and reviews and the price was great at about $175 per night. The hotel was mentioned in a review by another traveler.

On our trip to Porto, Portugal, I booked the absolutely best B and B ever. It was the InPatio Guesthouse, a 5 room B and B newly renovate in modern decor. The proprietors were amazing and very helpful Breakfast was amazing and special. All for 95 Euros per night. Location was perfect in the city near the river.

Another example, I was looking for a hotel in Miami, near the airport where parking was free or included in the overall price of one night there. My search showed that the expensive five star hotels were way overpriced and only a few hotels had free parking that met my criteria. We were planning a cruise from Copenhagen for 28 days with a 6 day land tour and arriving back in Miami on the cruise ship. So I considered hotels near the cruise port or elsewhere in the city. Still, there were only a few by the airport that were around $100 to $125 per night. The reviews for all were mediocre. However, after reading a lot of reviews, I discovered one hotel that was undergoing extensive renovation. The negative reviews were usually before the renovation or that the renovation had somehow affected their enjoyment of the hotel. That hotel was the Holiday Inn Express, Miami Airport. We drove to Miami, stayed in the hotel the one night. Had a great dinner at the Cuban Rest. and the room was new and staff friendly.

We have booked from AirBnb, VBRO, booking.com and through the independent hotel sites. I generally use the above sites to research the places. I only stay places that have lots of reviews. However, I have seen places on an unnamed website that had nearly 600 reviews, but when reading through the reviews, they were all posted on the same day each week at roughly the same time by different reviewers. I thought this was suspicious and did not look at it.

Yes, I have used google street view to checkout the neighborhoods.

I use booking.com a lot.. Here's why. We typically travel for 3 - 4 weeks, staying at several different places. It's very convenient to have all my reservations in one place, and it's super easy to change or cancel reservations on booking .com. I also like the instant confirmation. When I first started using them, I did get a bit misled by the "only 1 left" or "fully booked" messages; but now I know how to interpret those. You can run into a similar problem with hotel and b&b's own sites. If it's autumn and you want to reserve for the following spring, they may show no availability. That's because the prices have not yet been set for the next year.