[thegmanifesto]

(03-12-2013 01:37 PM)Vicious Wrote:  

(03-12-2013 07:47 AM)thegmanifesto Wrote:  

Again, what's the benefit of this?

Not sure what you mean.

I ment, that it gave me the exact same price as the hotel website.

So it seemed like an extra step.

I guess for other areas it gives amazing deals.

[The Fantasist]

Thanks for the heads up about Booking.com. Just used them to book my Moscow hotels.

What I like about them is that they have hotel choices in some real out of the way shit holes in Russia and Belarus that I intend to visit over the next 2 weeks. This will help me in a big way on my trip and save me money because every time I turn up at a hotel in Russia without a booking the receptionist always claims that the only room available is the 'Deluxe' one,never the budget option. Hate that.

G,it doesn't do anything much different to other sites however I just compared a night at the hotel Cosmos in Moscow: if I'd booked direct it was 80GBP a night but Booking.com had the same room for 75GBP. So on occasion they must be getting discounts.

[pants]

Hope booking.com is better than Agoda in the way they list real discounts.

Agoda ofthen says 70% off, then it really is just the same as walk in price.

[dotbiz]

I've got some insights on the business model:

Hotels are not allowed to have cheaper rates on their homepages than on booking.com.
Any hotel violating this policy will have their account suspended.

Booking.com takes a pretty big cut, hotels can opt-in for one of the following three pricing models:
- 20% provision for booking.com: highest listing position in the default sorting (Sort by: Recommended)
- 15% provision for booking.com: preferred listing in the default sorting
- 10% provision for booking.com: normal listing

Knowing that I usually try to avoid the hotels that pay a 20% cut to booking.com, assuming they have less money left for providing a decent service.
Better sort by review score and than add some filters in the left sidebar.

[chyamor]

(03-14-2013 07:21 AM)dotbiz Wrote:  

I've got some insights on the business model:

Hotels are not allowed to have cheaper rates on their homepages than on booking.com.
Any hotel violating this policy will have their account suspended.

Booking.com takes a pretty big cut, hotels can opt-in for one of the following three pricing models:
- 20% provision for booking.com: highest listing position in the default sorting (Sort by: Recommended)
- 15% provision for booking.com: preferred listing in the default sorting
- 10% provision for booking.com: normal listing

Knowing that I usually try to avoid the hotels that pay a 20% cut to booking.com, assuming they have less money left for providing a decent service.
Better sort by review score and than add some filters in the left sidebar.

Should one ever email or call the hotel directly and try to haggle?

I tried with the wynn a few days ago and got a lame ass reply ...

My Email:
I recently came across an encore promotion which had an avg daily stay of $160 for March 28-31st . I tried booking today and noticed the rates have gone up. Can I still book with the $160 promo (Thursday, March 28, 2013 $132.30, Friday, March 29, 2013 $174.30
Saturday, March 30, 2013 $174.30) I am debating between the Cosmo or Encore. Currently Cosmo has a better avg daily rate then Encore and am looking to book by Friday. Thank you

Reply:
Thank you for your email. We look forward to your future stay with us at Wynn Las Vegas and Encore. Our room reservation agents are available to assist with your inquiry and answer any additional questions you may have.

If we may be of any further assistance, please contact us at the phone number below. We look forward to welcoming you to our resort.

[Sourcecode]

Booked a oceanfront suite for 5 nights for less than 500 a night. Thanks booking.com

[dotbiz]

(03-14-2013 08:12 AM)chyamor Wrote:  

Should one ever email or call the hotel directly and try to haggle?

Yes. I usually do this when I'm going to stay longer.
Make sure you know the place already so you don't get trapped into a place that doesn't suit your needs.

You'll have better response from small resorts which are run by an owner who knows how to think economically. With large corporations run by unmotivated managers and employees - well see the email response you've received.

(03-14-2013 08:12 AM)chyamor Wrote:  

I tried with the wynn a few days ago and got a lame ass reply ...

My Email:
I recently came across an encore promotion which had an avg daily stay of $160 for March 28-31st . I tried booking today and noticed the rates have gone up. Can I still book with the $160 promo (Thursday, March 28, 2013 $132.30, Friday, March 29, 2013 $174.30
Saturday, March 30, 2013 $174.30) I am debating between the Cosmo or Encore. Currently Cosmo has a better avg daily rate then Encore and am looking to book by Friday. Thank you

Reply:
Thank you for your email. We look forward to your future stay with us at Wynn Las Vegas and Encore. Our room reservation agents are available to assist with your inquiry and answer any additional questions you may have.

If we may be of any further assistance, please contact us at the phone number below. We look forward to welcoming you to our resort.

That employee who sent the email should be fired!

Beside that, sometimes it helps to pick up the phone and call them.

[Roosh]

(03-14-2013 07:21 AM)dotbiz Wrote:  

I've got some insights on the business model:

Hotels are not allowed to have cheaper rates on their homepages than on booking.com.
Any hotel violating this policy will have their account suspended.

Booking.com takes a pretty big cut, hotels can opt-in for one of the following three pricing models:
- 20% provision for booking.com: highest listing position in the default sorting (Sort by: Recommended)
- 15% provision for booking.com: preferred listing in the default sorting
- 10% provision for booking.com: normal listing

Knowing that I usually try to avoid the hotels that pay a 20% cut to booking.com, assuming they have less money left for providing a decent service.
Better sort by review score and than add some filters in the left sidebar.

I couldn't even get a girl I banged to tell me booking.com's cut (she worked for a hotel)

[dotbiz]

(03-14-2013 09:52 AM)Roosh Wrote:  

I couldn't even get a girl I banged to tell me booking.com's cut (she worked for a hotel)

Wow. But yeah, they're very strict about that.

Guess I fucked my source better.

[Duke Castile]

I just looked on booking.com for some places in Phomn Penh and Agoda looks way better.

Which sucks because I hate agoda.

[Kdog]

Fisto try latestays.com. Nice layout and I always seemed to get pretty good deals. You can also narrow your search right down to what you want where as Agoda has such an abundance of places.

[DoomsdayIlluztrious]

Use this site exclusively. Became a "Genius" awhile ago, haven't noticed any of the savings as of yet tho.

[nomadicdude]

Interesting, booking.com has been good and I trust their customer reviews more than other sites but I would rate it below some other sites in terms of prices. Hotelclub.com sometimes has good deals and gives you a 6% reward on each booking. If you google for a promo code you can usually find a 10% off promo out there so I've gotten some really good deals on that site. Orbitz is also surprisingly good and there rewards program pays 2-6% per booking. Don't book it through the site directly though, use Kayak because then it pulls up cheaper rates and wider selection. They almost always have 15% off non-US chain brands using a promo code (google to find the newest one) so I've used it a ton in places like Mexico to take 15% off the rate and it ends up being a lot cheaper than any other site.

[Sourcecode]

Giving a shout out to booking also.
i booked 4 nights for 40 bucks at a hotel in turkey

[JoeMusashi]

(05-18-2014 08:20 PM)DoomsdayIlluztrious Wrote:  

Use this site exclusively. Became a "Genius" awhile ago, haven't noticed any of the savings as of yet tho.

Genius savings come from the hotel with the Yellow "GE" logo (so they say..)

I've checked them a few times while logged in and from a private web-browsing and generally, as Genius, we have a small discount.

Anyway, I use Booking.com since 2008 for my travelling and it has never let me down.
The assistance they provide when something goes wrong is Amazing.

I booked a stay for 4 days in an Hotel in Amsterdam that had been overbooked by the owners.
When I got there, the hotel was full and I had my Booking.com receipt with me. I called the customer service, they found a room in another 4 stars hotel close to the old one and offered me full perks in the other one (breakfast, dinner and SPA..).

So yes, I love booking.com.

[turkishcandy]

Did anyone notice they recently switched to having you put your credit card information? Before you didnt need to put that. Now you dial your credit card info so that if you cancel your reservation too late they will charge you.

[Global Entry]

Vicious
I am a very frequent traveller and point collector as well, and I won't book Starwood (my chain of choice) through Booking b/c points are purportedly only credited for bookings through spg.com (though I mistakenly booked a stay through booking that was credited anyway).

How successful have you been with lowest price challenges. I've heard mixed things about the success rate.

Just to add to the overall thread, I do find, living in Asia, that Agoda tends to be strongest in SE Asia and especially the Philippines. Booking.com seems stronger in the "West," though I have found good deals in the USA on Agoda as well. You best try a number of resources, but you can use a site like Skyscanner, which will compare the rates on the various website room liquidators for you on a single search.

(03-12-2013 01:37 PM)Vicious Wrote:  

(03-12-2013 07:47 AM)thegmanifesto Wrote:  

Again, what's the benefit of this?

Not sure what you mean.

Having booked probably over a hundred trips online (I have been managing a lot of representation for clients and incentive awards for co-workers through work) I can speak with authority on online travel agents. I can say that there’s nothing magical about booking.com. It’s a good booking site, I like it more than hotels.com and it’s definitely better than the horrible Travelocity.

There is however never a single site that’s going to be the best for every trip. Booking.com is one of the mid-size travel sites after giants such as Orbitz, Expedia, Priceline and the ones mentioned above among others. To stay competitive Booking.com has to slash their margins compared to the giants. This is not always the case however. Industry giant Expedia for example (which I actually like) has such coverage that they can also offer deep discounts frequently, and they remain one of the best choice when booking a flight and hotel on the same trip.

I could get into this more but I realize I’m long overdue to write a travel hacking guide that should be a separate thread/data sheet.

[wishmakerman]

Roosh,

As a frequent traveler, I highly recommend you to use hotelscombined.com
You can compare price offer of booking.com and many other sites for any specific hotel.

[spalex]

I have been swapping between book.com and hotels.com.

The only thing that stands out for me is the spammy emails that let me know which cities I can get a great deal on.
I travel on most of my weekends and I get weeks emails advertising hotels that are like 20% off. It must go from my recent search history.
It comes in handy, not often. But ever now and again I get a great deal.

[Vicious]

g_global,

I've previously been very successful with Marriott's and Hyatt's Best Rate guarantees. At best I have sliced $200/night off stays in Manhattan.

The hotels have wised up to the practice however. These days there's a lot of hunting involved if you want to find these deals. I usually don't bother any more unless it's in really high cost places such as NYC, Tokyo, Singapore or in markets where there's a lot of smaller, obscure vendors operating with funky pricing schemes (Asia, Ee).

There's still deals to be made if you have the patience for it. PM me if you want a list of generally obscure online travel sites.

[jamaicabound]

I used to always use orbitz or travelocity but recently used them on a trio down to pdc. Great rate better than booking airfair and hotel together which i normally do. I paid i think half up front and other half upon checkin