HotelChatter

online booking lesson #1

when you book through a third party site, there are things to consider:  your money is gone as soon as you book, the cancellation policies are terrible, and many hotels put you in the worst possible room locations.  it's always best to book directly with the hotel as cancellation policies are very lenient, free upgrades are easy to come by, and most often they'll beat the rates of any online website...

Never Book w a Third Party!

I use them for research, that is it.  Take any flight/hotel/car price you find on these sites and call the company directly, they will almost always match it.  They don't want to pay the fees, and are more than happy to take your reservation directly.  
There is also the situation of the 1,000's of fly-by-night third parties like woogoo who will charge your credit card and never make the reservation, or never transfer the payment.  So when you arrive you either don't have a reservation or must pay again.

Never Book w a Third Party!

I use them for research, that is it.  Take any flight/hotel/car price you find on these sites and call the company directly, they will almost always match it.  They don't want to pay the fees, and are more than happy to take your reservation directly.  
There is also the situation of the 1,000's of fly-by-night third parties like woogoo who will charge your credit card and never make the reservation, or never transfer the payment.  So when you arrive you either don't have a reservation or must pay again.

i didn't think of price guarantees

i will certainly remember that for next time. thanks so much!

Never Book w a Third Party!

Also, don't forget most chains have a low rate guarantee, so the 3rd party sites cannot publish a lower rate.  My suggestion is to always call the hotel directly or book through the hotels website.

Not all 3rd Parties are bad.

Magellan Vacations is an awesome 3rd party company. They book directly with the hotel and follow their policies directly. They are like an advertising company for the hotels so the hotels in turn give them contracted rate agreements and perks too.

Besides Expedia, Hotels.com, Orbtiz etc, buy the rooms at wholesale and they get the crap rooms and are responsible for maintaining them. So chances are, you are getting a poor representation of what the hotel is all about. I also just love how they try to hide their service fees as hotel taxes, and how they over book the rooms they have. Always confirm your reservation with the hotel, because it is not fun when you show up and the hotel doesn't have your reservation, because some moron at Expedia forgot to fax it to the hotel. And guess what, it's too bad so sad because they already have my money.

Third party prices are usually better!

It's foolish to think that a front desk agent would beat an internet rate! Especially since it's the hotel them,selves that set the online rate. For instance, with hotwire, we might sell a room for $50 per night when the actual hotel rate is around $150. Why would we ever match the online rate especially when you can't even choose your hotel in most third party sites.

3rd party websites can be good!

One thing to note with websites like Expedia is that they are at the mercy of the hotel in your case...if the hotel insists on charging the cancellation fee, then expedia cannot sway this.

Also, hotels work in different ways. Many are now realising the benefit of have the best rates on their own website but some still use TPW's as a bucket shop for selling rooms cheaply to top up their sells at the last minute.....

...so there is no hard and fast rule.

And as some websites get bigger and bigger their customer service can suffer as you are dealing with fact/data input which does not recognise genuine illness from the multitude of "reasons" why someone could not cancel on time!

Have to say though that I have only had good experiences with Expedia...and that sometimes technology does make mistakes!

Call the hotel directly...

In this economy, hotels may actually match the third party rate. It's more beneficial to do that for the property because they avoid the heavy discount that the online consolodators get AND they win because they are helping the (potential) guest by making the reservation for them over the phone.  There are some good third party websites, but they are best for research only as you usually get locked into whatever crazy inflexible cancellation policy they have, as seen here.  And no surprise Expedia couldn't do anything for you, they NEVER do!

I want my Wiggle Room!!!!

It depends how you look at it...what do you want:  some wiggle room with your reservation or an inexpensive room?  Third party reservations will always get the worst rooms the property has to offer...thats a fact; going through the hotel directly will allow you some wiggle room.  You can always negotiate the rate at check out if you know what your doing; the latter is also a fact.  Bottom line:  Hotels want your loyalty, thus they will do anything to keep it.  Don't do third party reservations.  

Booking thru 3rd party

I had a great experience on this once. I booked a room that wasn't to my satisfaction through a travel agent. I complained at the hotel and the director agreed that the price I had paid was not fitting the room I got. He then cut the price down by some 60%. However to the Travel Agent... now comes the sweet part.
As the travel agent had booked the room through a distributor both the agent and the distributor had to take their margins and in the end I was boned and still had to pay the hefty price (their margins added up to about 45/50% of the price of the room).
Therefore Lesson #2 is:
If you had the misfortune not to book with the hotel directly (their website or directly to their reservations desk) then get the hotel to call the 3rd party and have them cancel the entire fee, then the agent and the distributor can not charge you anything for it. And settle the problem directly with the hotel.
It is sad but true that not only users but hotels too get the butt end of the large distributors.
And most hotel owners I have spoken to get so much pressure from expedia to cut their rates that they are selling rooms way lower than is healthy for them.
Of course there are always exceptions.

Tip - find the hotel on big distributors and check their critiques, rates etc. Then google the hotel's official site and book direct with them.

Need to clear some things up here...

After reading through all of these comments, it's has become even more obvious to me how uneducated the public is when it comes to 3rd party websites and how they work with hotels.  Allow me to set a few things straight;

1.  Your most popular 3rd party websites (Expedia, Hotels.com, Orbitz, Travelocity, etc.) don't "buy" hotel rooms from the hotel.  The hotel chooses to "open" their inventory on the 3rd party website, assigning a rate to a particular room type, on a particular day.  The hotel benefits by selling the room and the website takes a commission.  

2.  Most of your major brands do have a "best rate guarantee" so you will not find a cheaper rate on the 3rd party website than the hotel's website.  Test it, and if you do than most of the brands will not only match, but offer you a rate even cheaper as part of their guarantee.  

3.  If you book on a 3rd party website, you are guaranteed NOTHING but a room.  That website has no idea what is available in the hotel's room inventory because they don't have access to it.  If you don't like it, don't book there.  

4.  3rd party confirmation numbers mean nothing to the hotel.  You're wasting your time with all those itinerary numbers, confirmation numbers, booking numbers, blah, blah, blah.  

5.  Stop wasting your time with these websites.  Book directly with the hotel or airline website and you can avoid all of the above and get all the benefits the hotel or airline offers; frequent guest programs, frequent flyer programs, etc. And as someone mentioned above, you are better off if you need to cancel or change the reservation.  

I'm sure this is coming off as if I hate 3rd party websites, but I really don't.  I just wish everyone was informed about them, because they can be beneficial if you understand them and use them correctly.    

^that's a nice speach on paper but...

You have to be realistic about these things. In this economy there are great deals available if you book directly from the hotel's website. However, there are even BETTER deals on 3rd party websites if you are traveling on a budget. ( And most of us are)
The thing with 3rd party sites is that you don't know what hotel you are going to get, but you WILL be able to select the area, star-rating, and hotel amenities you want, so you are booking for convenience. You are not guaranteed to get a super luxurious hotel but you are guaranteed a better rate than the hotel itself could offer. Also hotels will NOT match the prices you find on most 3rd party sites, and that's why the hotel name is not revealed until after you have paid for it.

The above info is why people are confused

First off many 3rd party websites operate very differently. The largest work generally similar.  
I have sold hundreds of thousands of online hotel rooms with thousands of clients. I wish to clear up some misconceptions. By no means to i claim any of this is consistent in all cases but generally apply to most 3rd parties and their hotel clients.

• not all third party sites require upfront payment, you can pay at the hotel on sites such as Booking.com, Quickbook.com and Venere.com
  
• Hotels do not stick the people form 3rd parties in the worst rooms. 3rd parties sell enough volume to fill over 25%-40% of hotel rooms in a city on a nightly basis. Unless 25% or more of the rooms at a hotel are the worst rooms it is not possible to put all or even many 3rd party clients in bad rooms. Nor would you ruin your relationship with your 3rd party by constantly doing this. The worst room usually goes to transient guests for one night with the lowest rate.
  
• The comment about third parties not knowing the hotels inventory is ridiculous. Large OTA's like Expedia, Priceline and Orbitz sell multiple specific room types which have inventory controlled by someone at the hotel so they know exactly what room type you booked in many cases unless the hotel sells "run of house rooms"
  
• Third party sites do generally have the same rates as hotels own websites because it is in the contracts.
  
• Calling a hotel direct probably won't get you a better rate then a 3rd party unless you speak to a revenue or reservations manager. This is because hotels do not often empower their line employees to negotiate rates. They typically set them for the week. Unless you have a very progressive hotel they will not have too many rates for their operators to choose from. They will certainly not be able to match opaque rates like on Priceline or Hotwire.

I have no clue what other peoples qualification's are to speak about this topic but i have over 10 years experience in the industry on the hotel and supplier side.