| There are hundreds, even thousands of hotel price | | | | easy to compare prices like for like. |
| comparison sites out there. What makes one better | | | | So a second tier of sites exist which do all the |
| then the others? | | | | searching on these sites for you. Entering in the |
| In the end it all comes down to how the sites make | | | | search once will then set off a search on a multitude |
| their money - none of these sites are run for fun - | | | | of these booking sites. This is obviously a better deal |
| they are all out to make a profit and hence charge | | | | for the customer as one search will get to every |
| some kind of hidden fee. This fee is of course not | | | | individual agreement with each hotel in a town. |
| visible, it is a commission paid by the hotel to the | | | | How do these second tier sites make money? They |
| booking website, maybe via an intermediary. | | | | act as affiliates to the main booking sites, receiving |
| The big players in the market, Expedia, Booking, | | | | as much as 7.5% of the customer's booking fee for |
| Venere, etc negiotiate their own deals with individual | | | | referring the customer to the booking site. Imagine if |
| hotels. This involves sending salespeople round to | | | | you are staying 2 nights in New York, and are paying |
| every single hotel they can find and negotiating deals | | | | $400 for the hotel for two nights. As far as you are |
| with hotels one by one. Then the hotel has to | | | | concerned that is the price. To the booking company |
| integrate their computer systems into the systems | | | | they are paying the hotel $350 and pocketing $50 for |
| of the booking company. It sounds like a lot of hard | | | | themselves. If the customer was referred onto them |
| work and it is. The upside for the booking company | | | | from another site, they pay that site $25 out of their |
| is a big margin, in the order of 10-15% depending on | | | | $50. The customer sees none of this. The obvious |
| the agreement. It is good for the hotels as they | | | | question is why can't the middleman be cut out of it, |
| need to be on the big sites to get their rooms to be | | | | and the customer try and deal directly with the hotel |
| booked. This 15% cut is why they can offer in turn | | | | to keep that $50 or some part for the customer? |
| their affiliates a large fee for sending traffic their | | | | Because the hotel will not offer you that price ! |
| way. Good for the consumer, probably not. | | | | Chances are the person you speak to on the phone |
| When you search for a hotel on a site like Venere, | | | | will have no authority to go below the price they are |
| you are only being shown the hotels that they have | | | | told to quote, and even if you were to get through |
| agreements with. Other companies may have | | | | to a manager, it is very unlikely they will be able to |
| agreements with that hotel or not, and similarly with | | | | match a volume discount negotiated by the big |
| other hotels in the same town. | | | | booking companies. |
| Some sites like Expedia have special agreements with | | | | Which hotel comparison site do I recommend? The |
| some hotels where they get special rights on a block | | | | site which I use is hotelpricebot.com, a well |
| of rooms at a special price. | | | | established and well regarded hotel comparison |
| Searching one of these sites by itself is not the | | | | engine. It searches over thirty of the booking sites |
| way to get the best price. The price each site will | | | | and returns the results in a clear and speedy manner. |
| offer will depend on the rooms allocated to that site, | | | | The results are easily sorted by price, location and |
| rooms still available and their agreement with each | | | | quality, and are linked to google maps and to |
| hotel. To be sure of getting the best price you will | | | | customer reviews. If some site has to take a cut of |
| need to search each of these booking companies in | | | | my hotel cost, I think they deserve it ! |
| turn. That will take a while and may not even be | | | | |