Third-party aggregators? Never? Sometimes? Always?

Car rentals have occasionally been cheaper (or even much cheaper through DiscoverCars.com, a third-party outfit from Latvia, of all places (although their Website doesn’t go into that much detail). They’ve been in business for 13 years, and we’ve known about them for five. Rented twice through them, but then have additionally rented directly with Noleggiare, an Italian company we first booked through DiscoverCars to use. Price has been a paramount factor for us when renting, so if the rental company is well-known, established, and well-regarded, but a third-party company can get us a better price for their car, it’s a win-win-win. We’ve booked directly with the rental company the vast majority of the time, but that’s mostly because the direct price has been the best.

AutoEurope, which seems to have devout fans on this Travel Forum, has never worked for us. We almost used them a couple of years ago, but when wrapping up the booking transaction, their insurance demands complicated the arrangement, and it was cheaper and less-complicated to go another route.

One potential pitfall of going with the very cheapest company that a third-party company offers is that it’s a real fly-by-night operation, with lots of negative reviews and suggestions that they scam customers with bogus damage claims, or provide inferior vehicles.

Huge, corporate hotel, airline, and tour companies aren’t necessarily trying to get you their best product for the cheapest possible price, but why add a third party to the mix? Mom-and-Pop B&B’s, however, or private guides, don’t need to be paying a commission to a third party, if you can find them another way. I feel better booking directly for those.

I try to avoid 3rd party sites. But, sometimes there's an exception.

Always direct for airlines. I use Google Flights to find airfares and schedules. One time I couldn't duplicate the American Airline fare directly on AA's website, so I used the Google Flights option "Book with American" and it took me to AA's site and saved me $300.

And I have used Trainline when having issues with SNCF.

For hotels. I prefer booking directly and I'm willing to pay a bit more if necessary. I have used booking.com once for a Skye cottage as there was no way to book directly with the owner.

I prefer to book tours and experiences directly with the operator. But, just this week I booked 2 tours with Viator since AX was offering a $40 credit for each booking. I did vet the tour operators before booking with Viator.

While I try to avoid it, there are occasional exceptions.

You have to separate flights from rooms in this analysis.

I never use third-party aggregators for flights. Way too many ways less than optimal (and far worse) outcomes can arise. So never - saving a couple bucks is not worth.

I use Booking.com often for rooms. Never had a problem, and booking.com has actually been quite helpful as an advocate when a hotel itself has been a problem.

I almost always book directly. A few cases where I have not:

1) Trainline when my credit card got rejected by the train operator. I prefer to book directly with the train operator but sometimes the train operator’s websites are bad or they reject certain U.S. credit cards. Pre-pandemic, I gave up on SNCF after multiple tries and just booked with Trainline. On my last trip to France in 2023, SNCF worked fine. I always try the train operator first.

2) Some small properties don’t have their own booking site. I’ve booked through booking.com and other sites for these.

I heartily concur with Hank’s two points.

In addition, as an often solo traveler now, there’s times when activities will only allow reservations of at least two people - very annoying. So, I have to search the same activity/company through various sites to hopefully find one that will accept adding a solo to a group event, i.e. food tour, city bike tour, etc. Sometimes those end up being a third party that will allow signing up one person for a group activity.

Very much agree with other posts, never 3rd party for airlines but we use Bookings quite a bit. Many of the type of properties we look for can only be booked this way but when possible we do try direct. Sometimes it is also easier to pay via Booking as some small places do not have capacity to take credit cards if you book direct. If you use Bookings a lot you do get bumped up to Genius level and savings can be substantial.
We also have had luck with Booking customer service when there was a problem with a lodging compared to Air BnB where they were less than helpful (not helpful), we never use them.
Trainline can also be helpful when you are booking a trip that crosses countries and the country specific train lines do not allow for booking between countries. Trainline also allows comparison between train and buses and I often view that to see the names of the bus lines and then book direct when possible.

Agree totally. High percentile use for accommodations. Booking.com has proven really effective (no more janky European websites!) and I lean on it more and more.

Never for flights anymore. My big discovery was finding flights direct that wouldn’t even show up on aggregate sites. That, and couple incidents getting saved by United gate agents earned my loyalty.

I do like Trainline - familiar App, easy to use, minor commission cost. My husband has often suggested that booking directly is the way to go, and a few times he’s been sitting next to me on a train with his direct ticket, while I have my Trainline ticket. Lately, I’ve gotten both of our tickets, so it’s one less thing for him to need to do.

It depends, but booking directly is almost always the way to go (airline, hotel, car, tour/guide), but occasionally price or convenience changes that.

I'm not sure why my experience has been different, but every time I've compared prices on Booking.com and the hotel, I found that the hotel is cheaper. I'm just curious if those who booked on Booking.com are actually checking the final price, because the one thing that I found is that the hotels give you the absolute final price, which includes all taxes (city taxes, VAT, etc). Booking.com does not. You will find additional taxes/fees in tiny print at the bottom that says a certain percentage of VAT and/or city taxes will be added, but you have to do the math yourself.

The other thing I found is that in many cases, when you book directly with a hotel, you will get perks and/or discounts. For example, during my recent trip to Iceland and Scandinavia, there were quite a few hotels that gave me 15% to 20% discount for booking directly. Some offered free breakfasts, one hotel in Reykjavik gave us two free welcome drinks when we got there, along with a 20% discount and early check-in. My hotel in Paris last year gave us breakfast for only €5 rather than the regular €15.

Sometimes you have to sign up for their rewards program, but it's almost always free. A hotel for an upcoming trip to Germany is giving me a guaranteed early check-in, which I chose from about four or five options. So those usually make it worth it for me to book with the hotel.

Of course, there are times I book with Booking.com, and I do admit it makes it easier to keep track of. Booking.com has always been good about refunding promptly when cancellations are allowed and getting in touch with me if I have any issues. That said, the recent slew of scam issues arising with Booking.com has made me think about that. and I no longer keep my credit card information on their website. Regardless, I still prefer booking directly and will keep on doing so.

I should also add that I would not be averse to using something like Trainline, but I prefer booking directly with the rail companies if at all possible.

I book often through Hotels.com as I get a better deal with the cancellation policy. Occasionally, a hotel will have the 48hr cancelation policy with base rate, which ends up cheaper than Hotels.com (I know it's owned by Expedia now, but I still use Hotels.com).

A while back I had to use Orbitz to book flights within South America as the airlines website was a pain in the neck and didn't take my American credit card. I don't even know if Orbitz is still around!

Also, I had to use Booking.com last year to book a Riad in Morocco because the official website had issues.

I have used GetYourGuide on a number of occasions. So far, it's all worked out quite well. I usually look up reviews for the actual service provider to see if it's a reputable company. And often I double check price/availability with the service provider. And I find that GetYourGuide aggriates all the possible tour options where my google searches did not.
Also I have had good luck with Booking dot com, specifically with last minute bookings (was able to get a family room at the Old Ground Hotel in Ennis for 4 nights, over a weekend in July, a week before our arrival.)
With that said, I generally book directly through the service providers (Hotel, train, tour company, etc.)
Happy travels!

Mardee I have whatever the highest status is on booking dot com, and that tends to confer pretty good discounts on some number of hotels that come up in the search. It's not a good rewards program though, you don't earn credits or free nights generally. But 10 to 25% off the room happens a lot