There's been a steady slew of hotel booking sites that have launched in the past few years but our tried and true fave is still Quikbook.com which has long been offering cool, boutique hotels that you would actually at for great rates. And now Quikbook's gotten even better, thanks to a site redesign.

Don't worry, nothing has drastically changed. Quikbook is still offering its secret sales, invitation-only rates and its standard policy of not charging any booking fees or requiring pre-payment or even cancellation/change penalty fees. But the site is easier to navigate--the buttons are bigger, the photos are more plentiful and there's even video tours of select hotels.]]> juliana 2012-02-09T16:05:01-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2012/1/23/12280/0236 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/negotiatorbuhbye.jpg" class="top"><p><i><b>Scroll to the bottom of the story for an update on the Negotiator mobile apps.</b></i><p> For several years <b>The Negotiator</b>, aka William Shatner, had been the face of <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/priceline"><b>Priceline.com</b></a> chopping his way through TV commercials and magazine ads showing off victorious defeats in cutting down hotel rates. But recently, the Negotiator himself got chopped. <p>Priceline is doing away with the Negotiator persona but fortunately, they are not doing away with their Name Your Own Price feature which we love so much. Instead, Priceline is putting their <s>money</s> energy into spotlighting the site's published rates. In the <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120123-705459.html">Wall Street Journal</a> today, Priceline's chief marketing officer, Brett Keller, said the company wants the public to know "that you juliana 2012-01-23T15:00:02-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2012/1/18/9306/64808 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/61268/PublicChicago_Guestroom.jpg" class="top"><p>OK. It happened. The <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Public+Chicago/local/1704"><b>Public Chicago</b></a>'s $1 sale <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2012/1/17/125527/312/hotels/Public_Chicago_s_One_Dollar_Sale_Sells_Out_in_5_Minutes">came and went</a> in the blink of an eye, and by the end of it (five minutes later), we were left still clutching our measly dollar, and cursing the hotel gods above. But it eases our conscience&#151;slightly&#151;to know <b>we weren't the only ones duped into thinking we were actually going to score a $1 hotel room yesterday.</b> <p>So what was going on? Well, just like with any place that gets inundated with too many customers all at once (eBay, Ticketmaster, <a href="http://www.target.com/c/Missoni/-/N-5ouwb">Missoni for Target</a>), <b>some people simply got lost in the shuffle.</b> Of course, some actually <i>did</i> end up scoring reservations. And hooray for them. But understandably, we ASchechter 2012-01-18T09:33:21-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2012/1/12/142625/518 <![CDATA[<P><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/6193/Chioptions.jpg" class="top"> <P>So you're stuck in Chicago today, hm? Or perhaps stuck trying to <i>get to</I> Chicago. The Windy City is currently the snowy city, with conditions canceling flights across the board. Indeed, <b><a href="http://www.jaunted.com/tag/southwest">Southwest Airlines</a></b> has nixed all of their flights from Chicago-Midway for the day. <P>This is your seasonal reminder to beef up your trip booking apps to take advantage of last-minute deals and most likely save you from sleeping on the cold, tiled floor of a strange airport. <P>Three apps we recommend you have <i>updated</i> and on deck:<br> &#183; <b>Kayak</b> (Blackberry, Android and Apple)<br> &#183; <b>Jetsetter</b> (Apple)<br> &#183; <b>HotelTonight</b> (Android and Apple) <P>Those rates you see listed above are direct from HotelTonight, for Chicago-area stays TONIGHT. JetSetCD 2012-01-12T17:01:00-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2012/1/12/95947/5348

Hotels have long had a love-hate relationship with third-party booking sites--they need the wide reach of the booking sites, but they hate losing out on revenue. Yet now a few hotels must have decided, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Or rather, join together and take the third-partying booking sites on ourselves.

The WSJ reports that Choice Hotels, Hyatt Hotels, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Marriott Hotels and Wyndham Hotels have bonded together to form their own booking site---RoomKey.com.

We gave the site a brief try this morning and didn't mind at all what we found. ]]> juliana 2012-01-12T10:02:49-05:00 Search HotelChatter string http://www.hotelchatter.com/search/