HOW TO FIND CHEAP HOTELS

1. Best Travel Websites For Finding Cheap Hotels

 

We typically spend a lot of time comparing hotel prices on several website. We look at a variety of date options and check both the individual hotel prices and also package deals that include room, airfare and rental car. We also check for things to do in the city and may bundle that if we are booking on something like expedia.com or another multi-partner tour company.
We also participate in rewards programs with Hilton Honors, Expedia, etc., and my wife, Amy and I, own vacation rentals in Maui and Scottsdale, Arizona through Starwood. But the sites below are the best we have found for discounts, and they all vary on how they work and what type of benefits they offer. Some of the sites below are metasearch engines that look at a variety of top sites and help find a good deals and compare prices.
A good example of this is Kayak.com. Sometimes these sites split bookings, which basically means part of your stay is booked on one website and part of your stay is booked through another site. This can make any changes very tricky and typically requires you to switch rooms as one booking ends and the other begins. Bookings.com, on the other hand, offers a low-price guarantee, which offers to refund the difference of an advertised price up to 24 hours prior to your check-in date.  Orbitz.com, meanwhile, offers 3% incentives on stays booked through desktop devices and 5% incentives when booked through their mobile app. So we broke down the top features of each site to give you an idea on how they differ.
 

a. Expedia.com – This online travel agency is somewhat unique because it has its own free rewards program. The program awards points that are good for all aspects of travel. The program seems to work better for hotels and resorts than flights, and is something we recommend joining. Expedia also offers extended low-price guarantee that is good up until 24 hours before your stay.
 

b. Bookings.com - allows you to search for everything from hotels, motels and resorts to hostels, vacation rental homes and bed & breakfast spots. The site offers a good price-match guarantee and good filtering options.
 

c. Travelocity.com – Offers a lot of travel options for hotels, resorts, flights, cars and cruises. They have a lot of deals on travel packages, and offer members better rates than normal guests, so it’s best to create an account prior to starting your online search.

d. Kayak.com – This is a metasearch engine for travel, not an actual online travel agency. The company can sometimes save you over 10% on your booking in what they call Kayak Hacker Stays. This is where they split your reservation between two or more travel agencies, meaning you actually have two different reservations, but the overall price is cheaper. The drawback is that you typically have to change rooms at some point during your stay. Get it – when one reservation ends, you check out, then have to wait a few hours to check into your next reservation.

e. Agoda.com – lets you search for deals on private houses and hostels in addition to normal hotels and resorts.

f. Orbitz.com – Offers a lot of options including really good vacation packages and the Orbitz Rewards Program. It’s a very easy-to-use online travel agency that has become very popular with world travelers.
 

g. Hotels.com – This is an online travel agency that offers 1free night stay when you book 10 nights. They also offer members-only secret pricing through it’s hotel.com rewards program.

h. Trivago.com – A metasearch engine that shows you the prices from other websites. It’s owned by Expedia and offers no rewards program.

i. Priceline.com – Has a 200% refund of the price difference if you book through their Express Deal program and find a better price up to midnight before your stay. The Express Deal is somewhat cumbersome and you can only see the actual deal (i.e. the real price), when you get ready to check out. It’s a marketing ploy that can take you more time to navigate, but the deals can be exceptional.
 

j. Hotwire.com – This is one of our favorite online travel agencies, but it’s pretty unique. They have what is called Hotwire Hot Rate hotels that can save you a lot of money. However, you are booking a hotel based on your needs (i.e. King size bed, two twins, etc.) without knowing the name of the hotel. You only learn where you are staying after the booking is complete. Hotwire also has a lot of bundle deals and vacation packages that can save hundreds of dollars on your vacation., and it also has a low-price guarantee.
 

k. AmericanExpress.com – You don’t need to hold an American Express Card to use this program, but it does require you to first create an account on the website to view prices. The prices are comparable to other online travel agencies, but if you use one of their American Express Platinum Cards, you can earn up to five times as many points on prepaid hotel travel

l. Tripadvisor.com – This is not an actual online travel agency and is perhaps best- known for being a review website. However, it functions like Kayak.com, a search engine that pulls a variety of travel-related data. The stellar reviews are what sets Tripadvisor apart from the crowd.

m. HotelTonight.com – This is a great app towards offering last-minute deals on hotel stays. It allows you to book rooms with short notice, however, it doesn’t include all hotels that you will find on some of the more-popular websites. It can be really good if you are looking to get the best deals on last-minute travel.

n. GetaRoom.com – This company offers one of the best rate guarantees on the market and was created by the founder of hotels.com.
 

o. Hopper.com – This app offers price predictions and claim to have a 95% accuracy rate.

p. Google Travel – This works like Tripadvisor and Kayak.com and is a great resource for finding the best prices on hotels. This allows you to setup alerts on when hotels, motels and resorts lower their prices, however, it doesn’t have desktop capabilities.