Share your tricks to booking cheap accommodation - do you search via google or use a hotel comparison website or direct with the hotel ?
I've got a lot of accommodation to book coming up soon, trying to save as much as possible.
Hotel Comparison Website or Other Way to Book Overseas Accomodation
ELH05 on 28/01/2025 - 17:02
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And book on your phone cos they often have mobile-only pricing
Trawl via Google, narrow down preferences then search them specifically. 9/10 times find booking direct best value + protections.
Aggregate site, then contact directly the hotel and see if they’ll price match it
The hotel tab of Google Flights and a spreadsheet. It's basically Google Maps with plenty of filters to narrow things down in one view, so you don't book that suspiciously cheap rate that's too far from public transport or quite a walk that would push my itinerary back.
Quick check on Street View to see the immediate area around the hotel and get my bearings for nearby transport. Narrow it down, book direct.
Also local knowledge of the area. Like I know I'll never need to book hotel breakfast in Singapore with all the cheap food around.
Kayak
Expedia
Booking.comIt's always good to save money when traveling, and you have come to the right place, but as someone who does a bit of traveling - can I give you a piece of advice? Location location location. You will often find cheaper hotels are far FAR away from where you want to be. This might seem fine on paper but honestly it can take away from the enjoyment of your holiday to have to bus/train/uber to where you want to go.
Stay in the heart of the city of where you are going. It might be more expensive, sure, but it will make up for it by having everything easily accessible and having all the experiences and services on your doorstep.
I stayed in Tokyo recently in the heart of Shinjuku which was amazing while a friend traveling separately stayed in a hotel a few neighbourhoods away, they had to train it every time they wanted to come to the city for food or activities while for me it was all right there.
Each to their own, but location can make a holiday much more enjoyable.Tinder
Book direct with hotel by calling their booking number. Usually they cant advertise lower prices due to agreements with booking sites, but will offer you discounted prices when you approach them direct.
The only problem with this approach is that payment is directly to the hotel when you arrive.
With this, you will often have to pay a credit card surcharge, currency conversion fees with the card and risk paying more than expected due to currency fluctuations. Additionally often the case is that you cannot prepay the hotel unlike with third parties where you can most of the time prepay.
I'm sure I am not alone, but it's much better to prepay the hotel before your trip so that you don't have large one off expenses while you are on holiday and all you need is spending money :)
Book direct but make sure to remind them that you would not pay a credit card surcharge if you had used booking.com
Also look at hotels.com. Often they are similar, and occasionally cheaper, rates than booking.com, though booking.com generally has higher cashback rates, but hotels.com also has their free night for every ten nights stayed which can be stacked with cashback
don't forget amex offers, they just had $150 off on Qantas hotels and now have 10% off expedia.
booking.com > find a hotel > check the price difference between Cashrewards/without or direct.
Same with other comparison websites.