10 Best Websites for Booking Hotels at the Lowest Prices

Spread the love

Best Websites for Booking Hotels: Traveling is fun, right? But it can be expensive if you don’t know where and how to find the best deals. That is where we can help. Getting a good deal on a hotel room can save you hundreds of dollars. Sure, you can always reserve a hotel room through the hotel’s website, but is that the best way to do it? How about all the popular online travel agencies (OTAs)? Which one offers the best prices? We’ve shown you how to find the best deals on flights, car rentals, and cruises. Now we’ll show you how to do that with hotel rooms.

We’ve looked at all of the best and most popular websites (and a few that aren’t so popular) to find out where you can book a hotel at the best price.

The Hotel’s Own Site

There are many times when it makes sense to just keep things simple and book on the hotel’s own website, whether it’s Marriott, Hilton, IHG, or any other. If you are a member of a hotel’s loyalty programme and are trying to get or keep elite status, you will probably want to book directly.

By booking directly, you can take advantage of discounted member rates and be sure to earn loyalty points and elite night credits. Many hotel chains have promotions that let you earn lots of bonus points.

If you don’t book directly with the hotel, it may not recognize your elite status!

For example, if you have Marriott Platinum Elite status and book your room through Orbitz, you could easily miss out on your lounge access (and free breakfast).

1. Kayak

Kayak
Kayak is not an OTA; it is a travel deal metasearch engine. This site will look at all the other sites and tell you where the best deals are. Along with the great filtering options on the left side of the screen, one of the best things about Kayak is the map.

On the page with the search results, there is a map in the top left corner. When you click on it, you’ll get a detailed map of the city you want to visit, showing where the hotels are as well as the best places to eat, see sights, shop, and go out at night. Every point on the map is a hotel. If you click on any of them, you can find out more about the hotel and compare prices.

You can also use the price slider to only see options that are cheap.

Watch out for Pricebreakers as well. These are opaque fare deals. This means that you won’t know everything about your reservation until after you’ve made it. If you want to find a cheap hotel on Kayak, you can choose Pricebreakers from the list of search filters.

Then you’ll see deals with prices and 3 possible hotels, but you won’t know which one you’ll get until after you book it.

Pros:

Pricebreakers Kayak maps

Cons:

Kayak doesn’t always show how much a hotel costs on its own website, which is often cheaper.

2. Expedia

Expedia
We’ve shown you how to save money by booking flights through Expedia. How does this online travel agency (OTA) stack up when it comes to booking a hotel room?

Expedia is one of a kind because it has its own rewards programme. Joining is free, and you can use the points you earn to book travel on Expedia. When it comes to flights, this programme isn’t that great, but when you book a hotel through Expedia, you can earn much more.

When you book a hotel, you’ll get one Expedia Rewards point for every dollar you spend. If you book through the app, you’ll get one more point for every dollar you spend. If you book a VIP Access stay, you’ll get two more points for every dollar. When you book a VIP Access stay through the Expedia app, you can get four times as many bonus points.

Pros:

Deals only for Expedia Rewards members

Cons:

On the hotel’s own rewards programme, you won’t get loyalty points or elite night credits.
Most reservations can be changed, but some can’t; before you finish your purchase, read the terms of your booking.

3. Priceline

Priceline
Priceline makes it easy to find a hotel, and its prices are about the same as those of other OTAs.

Priceline’s Express Deals are one way that it can offer deep discounts. These opaque bookings hide information about the hotel until the reservation is complete. These are paid reservations that can’t be changed or refunded. If your plans aren’t set in stone, it’s best not to make this kind of reservation.

The best-price guarantee for these Express Deals is also much better than it is for regular bookings. When you book a traditional hotel room through Priceline, if you find a better price within 24 hours, you will get the difference back in full.

But if you book an Express Deal and find a better price up until midnight the night before your trip, you’ll get 200% of the difference back.

To qualify, the reservations must be the same in every way, and the rate must be open to the public (no member rates).

Check out Pricebreakers if you like the idea of Express Deals but want a little more certainty. Before you book, these opaque bookings will show you three different hotels. You won’t know which one you’ll get until after you book, but you will get one of the three choices.

Priceline has a loyalty programme called Priceline VIP, which is the last thing you should know about it. This free programme has 4 levels of membership with benefits like best price guarantees, hotel discounts, and Express Deal coupons.

Pros:

Priceline’s Pricebreakers for VIP Express Deals

Cons:

When you book through Priceline, you won’t get hotel points or elite night credits.

4. Momondo

Momondo
Momondo is an easy-to-use travel search engine that sorts through deals on other websites to help you find the best price. When you find a good deal on Momondo, you’ll be sent to a site where you can book it, like an online travel agency or a hotel’s site. On Momondo’s website, you will never be able to book anything.

Pros:

The easy-to-use interface lets you see prices from many sites at once.

Cons:

There’s no reward system.

5. Booking.com

Booking dot com
Booking.com is an easy-to-use website where you can look for and book hotels, hostels, B&Bs, apartments, and vacation homes.

The site’s generous low-price guarantee is something that stands out. Booking.com will give you the difference back up to 24 hours before your check-in date if you find a lower public price for the same reservation that is not a member rate or a special rate. The offer must be online and available when Booking.com looks for it.

Genius discounts are something else to keep an eye out for. When a room type says “Genius discount available,” logging in to your account will save you 10% off the base price. We tried this, and sure enough, just logging in changed the price.

Pros:

Genius Loyalty Program
Generous promise to match prices
You can book non-traditional places to stay, like hostels or bed-and-breakfasts.

Cons:

The hotel’s rewards programme won’t give you loyalty points or elite night credits.

6. Hotels.com

Hotels dot comHotels.com’s rewards programme is one of its best features. When you stay 10 nights, you get 1 night free. Your free night is worth the average price of the 10 nights you paid to earn it.

If you spent 5 nights at a hotel that charged $200 per night and 5 nights at a hotel that charged $300 per night, your free night would be worth $250. You can use your free night at any of the more than 213,000 properties around the world. There are no restrictions or blackout dates, but you will still have to pay the taxes and fees.

Hotels.com also has prices that are kept secret. People say that these can save you up to 50%, but in reality, you might only save between 5% and 10%.

When you book through Hotels.com, you won’t be able to earn loyalty points or elite nights through the hotel’s programme. This is the case with most OTAs as well. If you don’t usually stick with one brand or aren’t an elite member of a brand, this probably doesn’t need to affect where you book.

Hotels.com’s pros and cons

Pros:

Members-only prices for the Hotels.com Rewards Program

Cons:

The hotel’s rewards programme won’t give you loyalty points or elite night credits.
Taxes and fees must be paid on reward nights.

7. Orbitz

OrbitzOrbitz is another OTA that is easy to use and has a good loyalty programme built right in. You can get $1 off your hotel bill for every 100 Orbucks you earn. You can earn Orbucks on hotels, flights, travel packages, and activities.

Hotels are a much better way to earn Orbucks than flights, and you can only use Orbucks to pay for hotels. The only catch is that you can usually only earn Orbucks on hotel stays that have already been paid for.

  • Hotels booked on a desktop earn 3% more Orbucks.
  • Get 4% more Orbucks when you book a hotel through the Orbitz app.

Orbitz has its own version of elite status that lets you get free Wi-Fi and breakfast at certain hotels after only 4 stays per year. You can get Platinum status after just 12 stays per year. This gives you perks like free TSA PreCheck, which is worth $78.

Even though Orbitz’s prices are about the same as those of other OTAs, some of the benefits it offers on a regular basis might make it a great choice for the occasional traveler.

But if you can only stay at one hotel brand, it might be better to book directly with the hotel to get their elite benefits.

Orbitz can also save you money on a hotel if you book a flight and hotel at the same time. If you looked for a 7-night hotel stay and a flight to San Francisco separately or as a package, the package saved you over $100.

Orbitz’s pros and cons

Pros:

Vacation packages from the Orbitz Rewards programme

Cons:

Orbucks can only be earned on pre-paid hotel stays.
When you book through Orbitz, you won’t get hotel points or elite night credits.

8. Hotwire

Hotwire
Hotwire has been around for a long time and is likely the OTA that most travelers use. However, is it the best place to book your next hotel stay if you want to get the best deal?

Hotwire’s Hot Rate hotels could save you money if you aren’t too picky about the hotel you stay in or if you don’t mind where you stay. These are opaque bookings, which means you won’t know which hotel you’re staying at until after the booking is done.

Booking a vacation package is another way to save money when using Hotwire. When you book a flight and a hotel at the same time, you can save hundreds of dollars. To take advantage of this, go to the top search menu and click on the Vacations or Bundles tabs.

Pros and Cons of Hotwire

Pros:

Packages for hotels with high rates

Cons:

There are discounted member rates at hotels like Marriott and Hyatt that you won’t be able to find on Hotwire.

9. American Express Travel

American Express Travel
American Express is not just a credit card company. American Express runs Amex Travel, which is a travel site that works a lot like an OTA. Even if you don’t have an American Express credit card, you can use it, though you’ll get more out of it if you do.

One bad thing about Amex Travel is that you have to sign up for an account and log in to see the final price. The prices shown don’t include taxes and fees, so if you aren’t logged in, it can be a little confusing.

Most of the time, Amex Travel prices are about the same as other OTAs. But if you have The Platinum Card® from American Express or The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, you can earn 5x points on prepaid hotel stays booked through Amex Travel. If you have one of these cards, you don’t have to pay any fees to book flights through Amex Travel.

If you have Membership Rewards points from American Express, you might be tempted to use them to book travel through Amex Travel. In general, this is not a good way to spend points.

The exchange rate is terrible—usually, it’s less than 1 cent per point. You can get a lot more for your points if you give them to a hotel or airline partner of American Express.

What’s good and bad about Amex Travel

Pros:

With the Amex Business Platinum card or Amex Platinum card, you can get 5x Amex points on prepaid hotel bookings. You can also access The Hotel Collection and Fine Hotels & Resorts.

Cons:

You’ll be charged a booking fee if you don’t have an Amex Platinum card (on flights)
When you use Pay With Points, you don’t get much for your points. Often, you get less than 1 cent per point.

10. Agoda

AgodaIf you’re looking for flights, Agoda doesn’t have much to offer, but if you’re looking for a place to stay, it’s worth a look. Agoda lets you search for hostels, private homes, and even month-long stays, in addition to hotels and resorts.

It has great filtering options and a map so you can see all of your options based on where they are.

Another OTA that has its own rewards programme is Agoda. You will get AgodaCash for every booking that qualifies. After that, you can use your AgodaCash to pay for all or part of any hotel reservation.

Agoda also has a programme called AgodaVIP, which gives you an elite status and lets you earn more discounts and perks.

Agoda’s pros and cons

Pros:

The AgodaCash and AgodaVIP programs let you search well.

Cons:

The hotel’s rewards programme won’t give you loyalty points or elite night credits.

Read More: 10 Best Long Kurta Designs for Women 2023


Spread the love
Redeem Discounts
Logo
Enable registration in settings - general