

Ask HN: How do you book hotels? - martinbel


======
patio11
Directly through the hotel websites that I have loyalty status at. Not a very
useful answer but, hey, it's wildly common among business travelers so I
thought I'd mention it.

~~~
saryant
Back when I was a consultant on the road, we'd talk to the sales manager at
the nearest Hilton (most of us were HHonors guys) and negotiate a group
discount for the team. Even in metro areas we could generally get below $130 a
night with perks thrown in.

Plus, they'd book all our reservations for us. We just cancelled the weeks we
didn't need as we went.

~~~
calinet6
I'm curious if there's a lot in it for them; for example, if you book through
some third party, are they paying 20-30% in fees to the booking site to get
you in the door?

~~~
joshmlewis
Yes on sites like Expedia commission can get as high as that and hotels hate
that. They'd rather actually talk to you and get to know you while you book
and give you a discount than see you book online and them have to pay a high
commission.

------
graeme
Hopefully not off topic, but I use Airbnb. This matches my budget, but if I
had more money I would still use it and rent full apartments.

I search the postal code of the place I want to be in the city (a combination
of work location, downtown, neat area of city, near transit, etc.). Then I use
the map to zoom on the area.

I filter by price and review. Usually find a well priced, beautiful booking
with a good location within 2-3 minutes. Then I contact the host.

~~~
tptacek
I've had good experiences doing business travel with Airbnb, but it can be
disturbingly non-deterministic; it takes a long time to get confirmation for a
room that you're already uncertain about, and there's always a fair chance
that when you arrive the room won't actually be available.

------
Udo
<http://booking.com>

<http://hotel.de>

or the hotel's website if I've been there before (and they have a booking
page).

------
bambax
I always use booking.com if I can, and most of the time when a hotel isn't
available through booking.com (which is rare) I try to find another that is.

To me booking.com is the amazon.com of hotel reservations: you know that
you're going to be served perfectly, in a timely manner, at a great price
(maybe not the absolute best price you can get, but usually very close).

I once booked a three-day stay at a hotel in Portugal in the middle of summer.
I missed my flight because the train was delayed (in France you don't have a
choice for trains so it's impossible to not use SNCF, but I sure promised
myself to NEVER fly with Air France again!!)

I called booking.com and they managed to move the reservation (the hotel was
full but they were still able to do it) and they called me back right when
this was done.

The contrast between this level of customer care vs. what we got out of Air
France (in short: "tough luck / fuck off") was staggering.

booking.com never disappointed me.

------
kicknshades
It may be convenient to book through a service like Hotwire, but before you
book with one of those services, always call the front desk to see if you can
strike up a better deal than just what's offered on Hotwire. Not sure why, but
hotels seem to appreciate it when you just go straight to them, but that's
just my experience.

~~~
rohansingh
They prefer it since when you book directly, no portion of your booking needs
to be paid to a middleman.

------
subsystem
Mostly using <http://www.google.com/hotelfinder/> which aggregates a lot of
different sites.

~~~
calinet6
I had no clue this existed.

Google really has too many services for their minimalistic UI these days...

~~~
alexcroox
I wonder how many others they have like this. I found
<https://www.google.co.uk/compare/carinsurance/form> the other day which I
never knew existed.

~~~
calinet6
Probably many interesting 20% projects that are hosted in some way.

Their problem, as always, is they have no way to organize their interface.
Google just simply (lol) isn't that good at UI design.

------
sjtgraham
I travel a lot. I usually book through a particular travel agent who manages
to book me into top end hotels for comparatively very cheap prices. The only
snag is you have to jump on the phone to them because the hotels don't allow
them to publish the rates online. The process can be a bit cumbersome if you
want to get prices on several hotels but I always find that it's worth it.
Email me if you want the company name and telephone number.

The other thing I do that is kind of risky is just rock up to a hotel on the
day and try to get a good rate at the front desk. I'm at the Scottish Ruby
Conference now and managed to get one of the best class of room here for less
than my friend paid for his standard room. As a more extreme example last
summer I turned up at the Ace Hotel in NYC hoping to lay my head down in one
of their entry rooms for the night. Unfortunately they were fully booked
except for the lofts which were ~$1500/night, there was no way I was prepared
to pay that, and I talked them down to under $400. I called my friends and
some girls and had a massive "house party" in my loft room. It was awesome!
(pic - <http://instagram.com/p/OdJmamMw2D/>)

From the hotel perspective an empty room does not make them any money, they
may as well have occupied even if it is deeply discounted.

~~~
burgreblast
Hope the party got better later--in this pic everyone seems awkwardly
uncomfortable and sitting on their hands. Waiting for somebody to kick it off.

Drinks. The table needs to have some bottle service happening.

~~~
prawn
They look like they're just gathered for a photo to me.

------
AdamTReineke
I'm a student, so I spend less than 5 nights a year in a hotel (usually
to/from internships or conferences). If I'm driving, I don't pre-book, I just
show up and get a room. If I'm flying, I'll use Hipmunk to find a cheap place
and book there. The last two nights, I was driving and picked the hotel
closest to McDonald's so I'd get a quick breakfast before hitting the road.

------
jonknee
Usually on Hotwire. With a little Google savvy and sites like Better Bidding
you can almost always find out what the hotel is before you book it and the
savings can really add up (often 40% or more). It's also handy for last minute
bookings with the mobile app, I have gotten a room while being in the lobby of
a hotel before (at a ridiculous price).

------
tjansen
I usually try priorityclub.com (Intercontinental Hotel Group) first, because I
collect their points, have by far the highest loyalty status at PC/IHG and
Staybridge Suites is my favourite hotel chain. If there is no acceptable hotel
nearby, I search using roomkey.com which is a site that only searchs for
hotels owned by larger hotel chains (IHG, Best Western, Hyatt, Hilton,
Marriott, Starwood...). I have stayed at so many bad indedependent hotels that
I really try to avoid them know. It's just not worth the trouble. If
roomkey.com does not help, I would probably use HRS or Expedia, but I did not
have to since I started using Roomkey.

------
jimle-uk
In incognito mode of course! Haha but seriously, the last few times I booked I
did it through cashback websites like Quidco. Laterooms.com which is my
prefered booking site also offers cashback via quidco, so it's basically win-
win.

------
the1
My secretary calls hotels. Or, it's up to her.

------
kylec
Whenever looking for hotels in an area I check the TripAdvisor reviews. I
usually end up trying to call the hotel and booking directly, but recently
TripAdvisor has been slowly rolling out pricing info directly on the hotel
page from Expedia, Orbitz, etc. so I used that a few days ago when I booked a
room for last night.

I believe this functionality has been completely rolled out in the mobile
(iPhone/Android) app if you want to check it out.

(Disclosure: I work for TA, but in a different department. However, I was a TA
user before I joined the company, and continue to be one)

------
raverbashing
booking.com

Also try <http://www.hotwire.com> for better deals

~~~
reinhardt
A second vote for booking.com, great site.

~~~
raverbashing
I was _literally_ saved by booking.com

Case in point: lost my flight (because of airport issues), this was a sunday
evening, so no one at the airport to help you book a hotel.

Grab my phone, booking.com, search for hotels at that airport, ok fee, etc,
gets a taxi there

Night of sleep saved.

------
notyourpal
I go back and fourth between booking directly with the hotel by calling them,
or through the hotel's websites. Mostly I prefer to call to try and negotiate
a rate, unless its one of those places that has told me that they just don't
do that. a while back I bookmarked this website and will use it again because
its an aggrevator and coupons are easy to search for on there too:
<http://www.besttraveldealsomg.com/>

------
hbien
If > 1 week, I use Airbnb. There's usually a discount for lengthy stayes. Less
than than, it's not worth the hassle since most hosts require a specific time
to meet up to exchange keys and instructions - which is difficult considering
flight delays, new terrotories, no cell phone if you're out of the country.

I also use hotels.com, which is nice for its 10th or 11th night free stay in
participating hotels.

------
dagw
I'll generally use a site like hotels.com to get feel for what hotels are
available and what the general price level is, and then I'll call or email the
hotel and book directly. I've never gotten a worse price and often gotten a
better price. On the whole it just feels better to have had direct contact
with someone at the hotel.

------
Samuel_Michon
I always check the local Groupon page of where I’m travelling to. Most of the
time, I can find a 4 or 5 star rated hotel that offers >50% discount.

If I can’t find a coupon, I research the hotels and prices on booking.com and
then call the hotel to negotiate a lower price by booking directly.

------
michaelt
If someone else is going to be paying for the hotel, I let them choose and
book it so they can choose how much they spend.

If I'm paying for myself I check hotel aggregation websites, and check prices
directly with hotels I've stayed at before or that have been recommended to
me.

------
dfuego
WeHostels app has the largest number of accommodations for less than $100
almost anywhere in the world (they include budget hotels, hostels, bed &
breakfast, etc). Plus the app is really easy to use on the go. It's perfect
for last minute budget travel.

------
lsiebert
I generally only stay at a hotel for a convention. I want to stay at the
specific hotel for the convention, not a nearby one, which means that I pay
more than I would like. Usually I book through the hotel with the Convention
rate.

------
Littleme
I travel a lot. I locate the place I'll be working at on Google Maps, then
type 'hotels' in the search box to find nearby hotels. Find one that's part of
the Hilton chain (I collect Hilton points), then book it via the Hilton Web
site.

------
LarryMade2
First Google maps to find hotels where I want them. Then go to hotel's website
to compare rates.

Seems kinda barbaric but search sites don't list all the hotels. (Google does
a little better, street view also helps)

------
nailer
Google 'boutique hotel near x' or read a wallpaper guide. Call hotel directly,
ask for corporate discount if AI expect to be in th city a lot.

Don't like chains as I find they have poor food and service.

------
olalonde
I don't usually book in advance unless I know it's difficult to find a room in
a specific area. Last time I remember booking a hotel, it was through
Agoda.com (it's pretty big in Asia AFAIK).

~~~
FajitaNachos
Agoda is amazing in Japan. It's the only site we use here and we can usually
find really good deals.

------
snorkel
I browse the visitor photos on tripadvisor and check out the neighborhood on
google maps. it's the closest you can get to seeing each hotel without
actually being there.

------
torrenegra
The WeHostels App. If that doesn't work, then the Hotel Tonight app. And if
that doesn't work, then booking.com. I usually book last minute, as you can
probably guess.

------
kaolinite
British Airways (and I assume other airlines too) let you add hotels to your
flight and book through that. It's probably more expensive but it's easier.

------
r4vik
Priceline's Name your price using strategies from the forums at
<http://www.betterbidding.com/>

------
dawkins
Booking.com. The UI is very good and you can compare prices very easily. If I
want to learn more about the hotel I check it in TripAdvisor.

------
prawn
Hotels.com or booking.com usually, plus some review checks on Tripadvisor
though I despise TA for their pop-unders.

------
xipher
I use agoda.com or asiarooms.com generally. Mind you, I live in asia, and
primarily travel around here.

------
thecodemonkey
For most occasions I use HotelTonight. Had some amazing experiences with cheap
last minute rooms.

------
dynabros
Always filter the hotels through tripadvisor, then kayak, hotels.com, and the
other majors

------
michaelmartin
hotels.com - Huge catalogue, fast to use, good photos, and TripAdvisor rating
right there on the page.

They also do great cashback on Quidco regularly, and have their own loyalty
program, so it's usually a great deal to go through them.

------
shocks
Last time I used laterooms.com.

------
juandazapata
I love the WeHostels app, it's super easy to use and the hostels are pretty
nice.

------
orangethirty
I booked my last trip through hipmunk. It was a good experience.

------
burgreblast
65 responses and nobody is saying AirBnB. Me neither.

~~~
LarryMade2
Also many varied responses, mainly because you have a tech savvy pool of
responses.

------
thiagoperes
Expedia is the way to go for me

------
d0m
Mostly google "Hotels near X"

