Websites that allow you to book hotel now, pay when you check out....

Why don't you just reserve your room directly with the hotel? If you book directly with them then you pay when you checkout.

Why would you want to use some 3rd party booking website ANYWAY unless you're getting a super good low cost deal??

I have used booking.com many times with no issue.

I also book directly with a hotel or B&B if I want to pay on checkout. Never used Orbitz or Travelocity for a hotel.

I have always used either booking.com or reserving with the hotel directly. All the hotels I have booked directly either didn't require anything to reserve so only option is to pay when you check out or they required a credit card to reserve but don't charge it until you check out. A lot of booking.com listings have two options - pay now at a lower rate, or pay when you check out at a slightly higher rate - and they require a cc but don't charge it until your stay.

@Kira
Most all booking sites, and the hotel's own site typically give you two rates:
-One rate which can usually be canceled a day before arrival.
-A lower rate which requires pre-payment and can't be changed or canceled.

Go with the first option and always read the term and conditions of the reservations.

What Michael S. said. I use booking.com often, just be sure you check for info that your card will be charged (some properties do that, but not many).

I've used both booking.com and hotel.com with no issues, and paid when leaving the hotel. I've never had an issue with either one.

Also, many hotels (chain and indie) will offer a AAA (or similar national auto club) or AARP member discount rate that will bring down the 'reserve now,, pay at checkout' rate to somewhat around the price of prepaid non-refundable rate. My AAA card pays for itself on hotel discounts that way every year.

I agree with Tim, book directly with the property. Don't use booking websites.

I've spent about 150 nights at 46 properties in Germany in the last 15 years, and not one was booked through, or even found on, a booking website. Most were found using a town's own website.

A few places I've stayed have also been shown on booking websites. Once I paid 1€/night more by booking direct, once I paid 2€ less booking direct vs a booking website. Usually it's the same price. Twice I have paid substantially (~20%) less by getting a package deal not offered on the booking websites.

But I have found that booking websites only represent the more expensive properties in a town, those that can afford the booking website's commission (often 15%), whereas there can be two to three times as many properties on the towns website, usually the less expensive, intimate, family run places I really want to stay in.

You can check for availability and reservation policies on booking.com and then go to the hotel's own website to book.

There might be some good "last minute" deals, but London seems quite popular for Christmas so lots of places are pretty well booked up.

The only time I used a booking website, the hotel had no record of my reservation for a standard room when we showed up. We ended up with a better room at a lower rate, thanks to the front desk staff.

Lee seems to travel a lot in Germany.. and so has great experience in that area.. but I have likely spent more nights in Europe. .. and generally have never had an issue with booking.com. I DO book directly with some hotels... as not all are on booking sites.. I find them via personal recommendations.. on forums and from friends.. and since they are invariably small .. they do not use booking sites. However.. I still use a booking site to book other hotels and have found some great deals. . and on occaison even better then direct with hotel bookings.

I am budget traveller too.

So there simply is no definitive answer .. booking sites serve a purpose and can be good deals.
Booking directly is great for some hotels, some do offer special rates.. and some simply are only available if booked directly.

Hundreds of nights tell me that one should use ALL the tools and resources the internet provides us with.

Checking vacancies on booking.com - not a reliable thing to do on ANY 3rd party booking website. Those booking engines only have information on the rooms they were actually given to sell by the hotel. Booking engines may or may not have access to all of the rooms a hotel has. Therefore if you want to be sure a hotel has vacancy (evening if booking.com or hotels.com says no rooms available) just ask the hotel directly.

Tim, booking.com has an info message something like: "Only five rooms left on our site", so I think they are transparent enough in their claims. They used to include the hotel's email address with the listing, but I guess so many people checked for hotels and then contacted the hotel directly that they stopped listing email addresses. They are a business, after all. The one time I had a problem, they resolved it within minutes.

Checking for vacancies on booking.com may not be comprehensive---it will not produce a list of ALL hotels with rooms available----but it definitely is reliable. They will show a list of hotels, BnB's, etc. with rooms available and the booking policy---whether prepayment is required or not. Often the same property will have both---a low prepaid price and a slightly higher "pay later" price whichnis what Kira is looking for. And you can filter results by neighborhood, price range, and other criteria.

It is a great timesaver. Kira is leaving for London in two days and probably does not want to spend half a day or more checking individual websites based on recommendations received here. She asked specifically about third-party websites that allow one to check for credit card reservation policies. I suggested booking.com as I have used them in the way I described---check there then book direct. I suppose Orbitz and Travelocity would work too but I have no experience with them---I like the functionality of the booking.com website.

Even the hotel's own website may not give complete information. Some hotels, especially small family-owned ones, use booking engines or software that do not accurately reflect complete availability. Example: In 2012 I found a very nice small hotel in the Dolomites, specifically in Santa Cristina in Val Gardena, for our next visit there. I put the Dolomites into our 2013 trip itinerary between Germany and Venice. But the dates we planned (late September) were later than what the Villa Martha website showed as their operating season. I assumed they closed for their own vacation at this time, like many other hotels and restaurants in the area (some lifts close at this time as well). So I used booking.com to check for places that would be open, and lo and behold! there was Villa Martha with the dates we wanted showing as available. So I emailed and explained that the website would not take the booking, but I wanted to book directly rather than on booking.com. Mateo was very gracious and we made the booking for three nights. We were practically the only guests but it was every bit as nice as we had read. I would never have thought to contact them had I not seen the listing on booking.com.

I do not view booking.com as the Evil Empire like some here do. Yes, they charge the hotels a commission for the booking. So some places make only a few rooms available for booking through the third party agent, to limit the number of commissions. But they do get advertising out of it, so apparently they deem it a good business practice.

I think if you like to book with the hotel directly, that is fine. But the alternatives are very convenient. I've used hotel.com booking site for about 16 years and have had no issues, have found small lovely little places on the cheap, and have immediate results. (Booking.com I started using more recently as it was so highly rated in Europe.) I fully compare all sites and reviews, and even the hotel site, but I gave up going directly unless there was a personal review I had received which made me really want that particular hotel. I love other aspects about travel planning much more than a really specific hotel. And as Kira is in a hurry, the immediate feedback is important. If there was a hotel I really wanted and it was listed as full, I would consider calling, but likely would just book another hotel online instead of making it more difficult on myself.

PS. Oh, and I love that the 10th night is free for your average payment on hotels.com.

While I've occasionally booked directly with hotels in France, I've used Booking.com (and I think Hotels.com) many times, and never had a problem. Often the rate is lower than listed on the hotel's web site, and the process is pretty simple. On the other hand, many hotels have no way to book on their web site unless you call or email. It's simpler to instead book on a 3rd party site. However, when I stay at my favorite little hotel in Bordeaux, I just send them an email and they hold a room, with no credit card requested.

I've found a few very nice places (the Park Hotel in Nuremberg, the Neotel in Stuttgart, and the Days Inn in Leipzig) purely by surfing booking sites.