Booking Hotels via 3rd party

It's highly advised to book directly with the hotel, after doing your research on the various third-party sites.

I always book directly with the hotel. I've always found the price to be better, and sometimes you will get a reduced price for breakfast and other perks. I do look at booking.com to research and come up with a short list of hotels, but then book directly with the hotel.

This has been discussed a lot. I'm with the people who have not had a problem with Booking over many years/bookings, and like having all reservations in one place, together with easy cancellations.

Agree with Lin. We have done it both ways. The major have been directly with the hotel but have never had a problem either way. I just feel more comfortable dealing directly with the hotel.

Because we travel quite a bit and take long trips in Europe that can be complicated, I use Booking.com a great deal. As Lin said, I like having all of my bookings in one place and I like the liberal cancellation policy they usually offer. Once I have stayed somewhere on a return visit I go to the hotel site directly, unless they have a restrictive cancellation policy,

Booking was hacked earlier this year and we were informed of the problem. The only thing that happened to me was a WhatsApp request for payment from some odd source which naturally I ignored. Otherwise Booking has been great and served my needs.

While I prefer to book directly with an establishment sometimes bookings’ prices and terms are substantially better. I’ve used them for at least two decades and have never had a problem. The information that they provide on their website is invaluable for my needs. Once I decide on a property my next step is to go directly to their website to determine which direction is best to take. Reserving directly with the property sometimes provides the best flexibility in the long term (especially after arrival).

I always book directly with the hotel, after completing some research on Booking.com. Sometimes Booking will have a better price. When that happens, I inform the hotel of the price differential. They have always met the Booking price, and quite often they have beaten that price, and added additional perks. If there is an issue with a reservation, I want to be able to deal with the hotel directly, instead of a third party.

We just had quite a conversation with a couple that manage a B&B in San Francisco. They get people from all over the world. Yes, they basically have to use booking.com for the exposure. Do they like working with them? Absolutely not for many reasons including problems with miscellaneous fees that these companies come up with and being able to confirm arrival times. If you call them directly to book, you are probably going to get the best price, no fees and a contact for your questions.

I use Booking.com and United hotels to do research and to compare rates and cancellation policies. For a small hotel or B&B, I prefer to book directly with them as it helps those businesses and often direct bookings provide better rates. However, there are times when the cancellation policies are better on a 3rd party site, and in those cases, I will book with that 3rd party.

Personally, I think it's always better to book directly with the hotel, but that's me. Everyone has their own preferences. However, I have generally found that the price is either the same or possibly a bit cheaper, plus you can get some extra perks, especially if the hotel offers a membership. I've gotten free breakfasts, the ability to check in early, a free welcome drink, and much more. And quite frankly, I like that the place I'm staying doesn't have to pay a commission.

But the biggest advantage is if something goes wrong, you can go straight to the source and do not have to go through an intermediary, which can cause problems.

That said, I have booked with Booking.com on occasion (none of the others you mentioned, though), and have not had any problems. I only book with them when I cannot book with the hotel directly, though. I have a current booking for a hostel in northern Scotland, and had to go through Booking.com. But I did not have to pay up front, so I'm happy about that.

The biggest problem I have with Booking.com is after reading many, many threads on this forum about problems travelers have had with various issues, including a lot of phishing attempts and spam coming out of booking.com, is that Booking.com does not seem to be doing very much to fix these problems. The reason I can tell is because the problems are ongoing. I've seen threads here going back to 2017 showing problems with Booking.com's online system.

But that's me. There are a lot of people here that use it, and don't have any problems at all. I would say a lot depends on the price. If you can get it a lot cheaper with Booking.com, then go for it. Make sure that you read all the fine print, though, and make sure it's completely refundable.

I will admit to being somewhat of a hotel chain junkie with over one million points across multiple programs. Always book with the chain website. I often use just Google maps to start my research.

So, it’s about 45% always use hotel website to book and 55% use both depending on the situation.

I tend to go to some screwy off beat places and stay in the occasional low volume hotel and there are times that their only booking engine is a third party site. Then what do you do, if you never ....

Hard rules for travel rarely work for me. I go wherever I get the best deal. Sometimes that is Booking.com. Often that is Booking.com. I love how easy it is to cancel.

Oh, just reminded of another option. A travel agency. I can picture the RS types with their rolling eyes right now. I go to the Balkans a lot and I used to book everything myself and hire a local to take care of the transportation incidentals. She finally convinced me to let her book the hotels for one trip. Now I am getting free upgrades when I arrive, balconies when they are all sold out, refunds on non-refundable cancelations, and well, things I know I couldn’t get booking through the hotel or Booking.com. This works because of the size of the market in the Balkans agents can develop personal connections and get perks for bringing guests. Not every time, not every hotel, but often enough to make it worth not having to mess with booking rooms. Probably wouldn’t work in Rome or Paris or London to the same degree, if at all.

Since we are on a similar subject. If you are a single traveler, do check the cost for single and for a double room. Sometimes a double is cheaper. Sometimes it might be because their dynamic pricing considered doubles and singles differently. Or … well, I really don’t know but I was checking some prices a few days ago and it happened at two of 5 hotels I checked.

I have the same take as Mardee. Per usual, her advice is good!

Happy travels!

Research 3rd party is great. Book direct.

If there are any issues, 3rd party is a nightmare for hotels. Often first to be bumped if over booked too- then 3rd party moved me to a horrible hotel and wouldn’t let me pick my own or refund me because at time the fine print read they could move me to “similar”
If needed. Nope. Never again.

Same as Mardee and others - usually book directly, for a multitude of reasons. That said, I have successfully used booking.com and expedia for smaller hotels that have little or no web presence. I am thinking several hotels in Spain...and recently I booked a hotel in Iceland using booking.com because for some reason I could not get payment to go through despite multiple attempts.

Mardee did nail this one:

Personally, I think it's always better to book directly with the hotel
…

That said, I have booked with Booking.com on occasion …, and have not
had any problems.

I have a current booking for a hostel in northern Scotland, and had to
go through Booking.com.

… If you can get it a lot cheaper with Booking.com, then go for it.
Make sure that you read all the fine print, though, and make sure it's
completely refundable.

Pretty much my take, except refundable isn’t always a requirement. Depends on the trip.

I've used Hotels.com for a long time, it was bought by Expedia a few years ago, but I still use the Hotels.com website.
Sometimes I book directly with a hotel if I can get a better rate with cancellation policy. But I've been a Hotels.com member for such a long time that I get frequent upgrades when booking through them.
If I am booking a Hilton or Marriott property (which I have points with), I book directly with them. So it varies.

I am researching accommodation in Krakow.

I found a few places that looked in the right location and in the right budget. However, given that they were 2-4 star hotels/ guesthouses, their own websites were down, in Polish only, failed to load the booking engine, gave error messages while browsing...

I logged in my Booking account and got my accommodation sorted in one of the places I was trying on their own website. What I learned in between: Booking gives much better rates (Genius Level 3) for no-name accommodation, but places like Ibis, Radisson, etc. give much better rates on their own website, Booking basically doubles them.

While Booking, I cancelled and resheduled about 5-6 places now, by one click only. Imagine the correspondence and log in to failing sites to redo something individually. I also gain miles while on Booking.

Like others, I book directly when possible after using booking sites for research. I have never had a problem with Booking.com and have been able to cancel for full refund with them. The only problem I had with a 3rd party site was years ago with Orbitz (do they still exist?). The reservation wasn't there, but the hotel wasn't sold out and i had a paper copy and they eventually honored the price. But it was a pain in the ........

I did have an interesting experience with Booking.com 3 years ago in Vancouver, BC. I was booking directly with the hotel while my friend was using Booking.com. Booking.com was less expensive but the hotel website gave you free parking (an important perk in Vancouver). So the hotel ended up cheaper. So maybe price compare?

The only problem I had with a 3rd party site was years ago with Orbitz (do they still exist?)

I used Orbitz long time ago for flights within South America and paid more for changeable ticket. You know where this is going... I had to change my flight and they basically did not honor the reservation I paid for, and did not let me change the flight for a fee, only able to reimburse a portion of it. That was the last time I used it.

Is it better to book directly with the hotel?

In my opinion, yes! Have never had a problem doing so. Never.

But, to each his own.

Absolutes rarely work other thsn flight tickets