Hotels.com

I had a two bad experiences with them. The first: I was booked in a smoking room... the other I was booked in a wing of a nice hotel that was undergoing renovations... It was in Denver in November, and the heat didn't work in the first room they gave me. They gave me another one that was almost as bad. I had to take the comforter and blanket from both beds and pile them on me just to get to sleep.

Also, my station once booked thru Hotels.com for an NCAA Tournament - not wise. The team unexpectedly lost. Be aware that if you book through Hotels.com, you cannot cancel for any reason. NOTHING and I mean NOTHING, including death, is an excuse.

 

One experience with them.
Wife & I had booked a non-smoking room with a queen (or king) sized bed.
We were given a room with two full sized beds.
Front desk said that was how they got the reservation. Hotel was 100% booked so we couldn't get the room corrected.
Hotels.com apologized and sent a voucher to use next time we booked with them.

 

Have never booked with them, but I have found their user reviews helpful. If a hotel has more than a couple reviews -- and since it's a fairly well-known site, a lot of them do -- you can get a good feel for a hotel before you book.

 

I use them just to price compare. I tend to change or cancel way too much to book through them.

 

I've used Hotels.com once or twice and had no problem, but I always go to all the travel sites to compare. Then I'll go to the actual hotel site itself and see if I can get a better rate with my AAA card (which often happens).

 

And with more flexibility...

 

I'm with bagelchick (so to speak). I use it just for price research and comparison. When I find something good, I'll go directly to the hotel chain and 99 percent of the time they'll match that price. Occasionally I'll have a reservation clerk say the rate I'm after is something you can get only by booking on the Internet, but that doesn't happen often.

 

That's the best way to use it, I think.

We've only used it to book trips a couple of times. One trip worked out fine, one didn't (lot of issues with the hotel).

I just book through the Web sites of certain chains.

 

I've used the site repeatedly and have been able to cancel up until 24 hours prior to a reservation. They also let you change reservations to different places if you find a better deal ---- as long as you do it 24 hours in advance. And for the few places that won't let you cancel, you're charged $25.
Overall I like the site a lot. I've found some great deals in cities that charge ridiculous prices.

 

I've used Hotels.com tons of times with mixed results. Once, when a friend was getting married, I got a room cheaper than the wedding party discount, or the AAA discount... that was cool.

I also took a trip to Miami and got stuck in a shit hole with a balcony view of a dumpster. Not so good.

If you are going to use Hotels.com you might as well shop around and check Orbitz.com, and Expedia... I have found they have some solid deals as well.

There are also some deals at Travelocity, Priceline and Hotwire... but based on my experiences they aren't as good. Also, some of the sites give like low-price guarantees... so if Orbitz gets you a room for $100, Hotels.com might give you that rate - 10 percent or something.

 

I use tripadvisor.com. You punch in the dates you want, and they'll run it through six or seven online discounters so you can compare deals. Sometimes the differences are significant. Site also has user reviews and user photos of the hotels. Nice one-stop service.