Adventure Bike Rider Forum

As per title.
I've been using Booking.Com. Which is your preference or do you try a few?

I've used Hotel.com booking.com and trivago. Hotel and booking seem exactly the same. If I'm travelling and need something when I arrive somewhere I often us google maps and go direct, it seems a bit easier and more instant than the others. The best thing I've used for accommodation is airbnb but that's not for hotels so much.

laterooms.com and occasionally booking.com, via topcashback.co.uk. Laterooms enables you to sort results according to distance to your final destination, which is useful for business stays. Accommodation sites often earn good rates of cashback.

I just use the hotel's own website, then email or phone

Or if I am abroad, I just rock up in a town/village and visit them

Found my best hotels that way

Prebooking can work against you

Do it on the hoof, just like in the olden days

I

Yes, we do it "on the hoof" and wait until we're ready to stop then find somewhere local.

I use booking but only book on the day (on bike trips). This works well in Spain as they often give huge discounts on unsold rooms but in Francethey probably putthe prices up.

If you’re heading somewhere touristy it’s worth booking well in advance.

In the days before the internet, once we decided we wanted to stop we’de head into the chosen town and find the tourist office - sometimes it would even be open, in which case we’d get them to book us in somewhere, sometimes it turned up a little gem but mostly it was rubbish. Using the internet we find gives a much better hit rate although it does tend to ‘organise’ the trip a bit too much.

Generally use airbnb or booking.com on the morning before arrival, occasionally just turn up 'on the hoof'.

I use booking.com or Tripadvisor to find the cheapest price (and Best Western and Expedia for US trips), but will then check the price on the hotels own website to see if I can get it cheaper still.

For Accor hotels (Ibis, Novotel, Sofitel etc.) you will always get a 10% cheaper price on their website if you sign up for the loyalty club.

For ihg hotels (Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express etc.) it's also better to book via their website and join their rewards scheme. You get some good offers and rewards points towards free bookings. I use them when travelling on business and then use the reward points to book discounted or free hotels when travelling on holiday.

It's also worth noting that Premier Inn do not show their advanced booking rates on booking.com, so again it's best to book direct.

sven wrote: ↑Fri Jan 12, 2018 12:24 pm I use booking.com or Tripadvisor to find the cheapest price (and Best Western and Expedia for US trips), but will then check the price on the hotels own website to see if I can get it cheaper still.

It’s worth knowing that Booking.com ts&cs state the property owners can’t undercut the booking,com price when selling direct. So you will often find their own website has the same price (as that is visible to booking.com), however if you phone the property you usually can get a better rate as they can factor out b.coms 15% commission.

The price fixing thing is actually not legally enforceable in France (and maybe other countries) but many don’t know that or don’t want to take on b.com.

We always just rock up too but I sometimes use booking.com to actually find hotels local to where we have landed and price check to make sure I am not being ripped. Air bnb has been good for longer stays.