Why is it almost always more expensive to book on booking.com?
Posted by Hot-Pomelo4079@reddit | Shoestring | View on Reddit | 37 comments
My family typically travels for approximately two months each year, and we live in the USA. In the past, I predominantly used booking.com and I am a Genius Level 3 member. However, starting last year, I noticed a consistent trend: booking directly through a hotel's official website is almost always cheaper than using booking.com. I tend to opt for well-known chain hotels, including hotel within the chains of IHG, Hilton, and Choice. Despite my loyalty and frequent use of booking.com, I have yet to encounter a single situation where their prices were more competitive than those offered on the hotels' own websites. I find myself questioning the benefits of my Genius Level 3 membership. Currently, I continue to utilize booking.com primarily for its map function to identify suitable hotels. Subsequently, I opt to make reservations directly through the official websites of the chosen hotels. I am wondering if this is specific to me or booking.com charges a higher rate on you as well.
PeteGoua@reddit
Is booking higher tier better than hotels.com and their 10th night free?
brandnewspacemachine@reddit
They don't have the 10th night free anymore and haven't for over a year, they converted it all to the one key cash which is trash, when everything converted I had $172 in credit which was the equivalent of what I had from my 10 nights, now every time I say at a hotel I get like five to six dollars at most in the one key cash
littleadventures@reddit
Not in my opinion. I used to use them but I realized that they charge about 10% more than other places and that’s how it evens out to 8/10 night free. I’d rather just consistently get my 10% lower price
davidayates@reddit
Why would you not book directly with a hotel? Also, Hilton price matches. Best of both worlds.
Remote_Manager3333@reddit
Not every country has a Hilton. I would expect Hilton would price match in US, not other countries.
TheonlyPacifictheory@reddit
For me booking is ALWAYS cheaper than AAA, Travel agents, AARP, hotels, costco or any website really. I'm almost to the point of never looking anywhere else. That is strange.
RedPillAussie@reddit
I’m here because I noticed the same thing. In fact booking.com is more expensive than just about anyone else with or without genius discounts
gojocopium@reddit
Have you checked their rates in an incognito tab v. you logged in on your main account? I work for a big travel company and cookies attached to your browser/account are the reasons rates jump
RedPanda888@reddit
All I’m going to say is that as someone who works in this industry, it’s comical seeing the incorrect takes and explanations that come up in OTA threads. Tread carefully…..lots of terrible advice and anecdotes.
Mishapchap@reddit
Tell us the truth!! Please!!
Key-Comfortable-3449@reddit
Exactly. Why gatekeep? Just say what you know or nothing at all really.
NiagaraThistle@reddit
on a recent trip to Ireland this summer, i looked through Booking.com and AirB&B options. Either there were none available in the cities/towns I was hoping to stay in or they STARTED at $450+ per night for a family of 4. Dublin was closer to $600 per night.
Instead of using these sites, I googled "Hotels in [City]" or "Traditional Bed & Breakfasts in [City/Town]" and made a list of 300 indiviidual locations with their contact email/phone/or contact form url and sent a message (or called) each one to find available and affordable accommodations for my family over 17 days.
It sounds like a lot of work, but in the end it saved me over $2200 US when compared to Booking and AirB&B.
It has ALWAYS been cheaper to book directly with hotels or B&Bs.
One reason is because the accommodations no longer need to pay the fee to the consolidator sites. Also, going direct you can negotiate prices per night.
I've never used consolidators because they are always more expensive. And just by asking, i can usually get a cheaper price than the advertised room rate.
GrampSquatch@reddit
Negotiate nightly rates? What hotels are you staying at? I've never been able to haggle on hotel pricing.....
NiagaraThistle@reddit
Many hotels will negotiate IF they have open rooms and the date is CLOSE and not months out.
A SOLD room at a lower price is better than an unsold room.
Privately owned hotels, Bed and Breakfasts, and chains that are not full close to the date you need the room are the best to try this with.
Do ALL accommodations accept my offer/request? Not at all. But enough will that it saves me a ton.
My message is usually "Hi. I will be in [City X] for # nights between [Arrival Date] to [Checkout Date] and am inquiring if you have available rooms for # people.
My budget is [$XXX] per night.
Please let me know if you can accommodate this request. Thank you!"
I send it to a number of hotels/B&Bs/accommodations directly, and hope for the best.
Hot-Pomelo4079@reddit (OP)
Thank you for sharing your experience with us.
zokica12@reddit
For me it is different, medium class hotels around 9/10 rating are always more expensive in person than via booking. They request the same price as on booking or more, and when I book via booking and they realize they only got 80-85% of what I paid for they are not happy. But still they would never give you discount, even they get much less via booking.
Here I am talking about apartments that cost 30-50 USD per night. For more expensive ones maybe different, but I do not understand why would you pay 200 USD per night for a place where you will just sleep after your sight seeing.
You do not go to a new city or country to just stay in a hotel all day long.
sk1pperspb@reddit
Sometimes your ad tracking cookies can make it so that booking is shown as the lowest price. Booking.com and Agoda.com are related, and so are many other travel sites. All these hotel sites are trying to emulate the algorithmic pricing models of airline tickets, so they have to have a higher upfront price (say at the hotel or on their own site) to have some leverage when they make such “deals” on these hotel aggregators like Agoda/Booking. They still have to pay a portion to these aggregators for selling their rooms but it’s one way for them to fill up as many rooms as they can.
Ezagreb1@reddit
I have noticed that the major chains like IHG Hilton Hyatt Marriott will often be cheaper but not always. If you find yourself staying at them, you should join their clubs. They benefits acrue faster than Booking.com. But booking has so many more choices, usually cheaper, esp international
Biff1@reddit
If you have a new account, the prices on the first orders will be lower. Several of us have checked on the same time with the same hotel and it gave different prices on ip and if you are a new customer.
girlwholovespurple@reddit
That’s weird, for me it’s consistently about 20% cheaper to use booking vs a direct reservation.
ohliza@reddit
I'm level 2 and it's usually cheaper on booking. Sometimes on agoda. Direct almost never.
Niamhue@reddit
Same for me, Always check their personal website ofc
But I mean once you get to level 3 it can be pretty damn good
girlwholovespurple@reddit
I’m only at 2. But I’m two stays away from 3.
Motivated78@reddit
If you call the hotel they will often match 3rd party rates (often but not always)
pink7a@reddit
Hotels have contracts with Booking.com, Expedia, etc. to offer a certain hotel rooms for certain prices. A lot of the contracts state that the hotel website can’t be a lower price than what is offered through these partner sites.
However, not all hotel rooms at a hotel command the same price. I’m not sure of the specifics, but it’s things like higher levels are charged a premium, different pricing for Ada vs. non Ada, etc.
When you’re going to Booking.com, it’s likely the inventory allocated to third party sellers has already been used. The hotels themselves still have inventory reserved so you can still get the lower price for those rooms when booking through the hotel website.
It’s always a good idea to book through the hotel website if you can- reason being that the hotel makes more money on you when you book through them and you’re more likely to get freebies or upgrades.
FitAnswer5551@reddit
I primarily use booking.com for hostels, small guesthouses, and independent motels. For hostels at least the big alternative is Hostelworld which I find has consistently slightly higher fees and worse cancellation policies.
I've also found that booking will sometimes have more small, locally owned hostels that aren't on Hostelworld.
I will agree though that for chain hotels there is often a better option.
Hot-Pomelo4079@reddit (OP)
Thank you for your reply. I agree with you. I actually only stay at chain hotels.
omnibuster33@reddit
Does anyone find Expedia to be any better? Or is it the same deal
McBuck2@reddit
Wouldn’t use booking.com. Their customer service is pretty much nonexistent so when you do need them, they’re not helpful at all. We had our sta y booked through them broken into and never did get through to them. When I went to complain in on their facebook page, I saw then that no one is getting a response from them repeatedly. As long as nothing goes wrong they’re fine but when you’re in an international city somewhere, you need them to help you.
Also saw it reported in the news that it’s been months since they’ve paid their hosts for bookings made on their platforms. That convinced me to stay away because if they’re doing that, they have a cashflow problem and don’t want to be stuck far from home with a surprise announcement they can’t deliver bookings or the host decides enough of this and cancels the booking on me since they’re not getting paid. Direct book from now on. Join hotel reward programs.
GiantGingerGobshite@reddit
Booking.com is horseshit, this year alone they've cancelled 2 trips, one while we were on it and other the day before.
I use it like amazon these days. Just to search and then go direct to the seller.
A lot of hotels will match booking if you call/email.
Hot-Pomelo4079@reddit (OP)
Exactly like what I am doing now.
giganticsquid@reddit
I just checked in Harvey bay Australia for tomorrow night and booking is $40 cheaper than direct through the resort, I'm level 2 not 3
doctor_foxx@reddit
I’m also a Genius Level 3 member…. They punish you with higher prices. My partner who is a Level 2 member sees lower prices than me.
I recommend using a VPN with booking.com, but also checking the hotel website directly as well
Emotional-Grass9080@reddit
I like booking for the apartments that are also on airbnb without having to worry about host reviews/making and keeping up with an account
Hot-Pomelo4079@reddit (OP)
That is a good strategy.
Emotional-Grass9080@reddit
yes , payment is also more flexible you can pay them directly in most cases without having to worry since booking allows this .
Emotional-Grass9080@reddit
yes , payment is also more flexible you can pay them directly in most cases without having to worry since booking allows this .