Where to find the best deals on hotels
What is the best hotel booking site!? | Expedia vs. Hotels.com vs. Booking.com
it used to be a pain to compare and book
accommodation but thanks to the internet
we now have comparison sites with
powerful tools to filter down and book
your perfect stay however there are now
so many comparison sites it's hard to
know which does what best so in this
video I'm going to compare the
comparison sites themselves giving you
my opinion on some of the biggest
contenders Expedia hotels.com and
booking comm as well as discussing why I
don't really use price aggregates sites
like trivago and TripAdvisor I'll be
explaining and comparing key areas such
as their review systems filters prices
reward schemes and the quantity and
variety of accommodation available to
see which is best for different tasks
and therefore help you to easily
navigate and find the best deals for
your future travelers
so as someone that evidently loves to
travel I'm always on these booking sites
trying to find the best deals and there
is a lot of things I've noticed and
picked up whilst doing that over the
years whilst I'll be giving a lot of
information about these sites and how
they work it is worth pointing out that
this knowledge is mostly my opinion and
based on how I like to travel so it may
not apply exactly to you nonetheless it
is save me a lot of money over the years
and hopefully it can save you some -
I'll start by quickly discussing price
aggregate sites like TripAdvisor and
trivago these don't actually carry out
the booking process but clay and compare
prices information and reviews from lots
of other sites whilst these can be
useful for getting a general overview I
don't actually tend to use them very
much for several reasons my first
problem is with the reviews because they
often don't process bookings directly
it's very hard for them to verify any
reviewers as actual customers leading to
ratings and rankings being easily
manipulated
TripAdvisor in particular has been in
the news several times because of
listings being boosted up the rankings
or diving down as a result of false
reviews whether that is people purposely
posting something fake or simply
reviewing the wrong company or service
this ranking system seems to be becoming
even less reliable as they introduce
more and more sponsored listings and try
to push people to book those that earned
them a higher Commission sites like
trivago are slightly better in this
regard as they don't actually review
accommodation that aggragate the
verified reviews from the booking sites
themselves so it's more trustworthy
however it still isn't the most
revealing rating system as the overall
ranking they provide on both websites is
so general that it likely doesn't apply
to you for instance one person might
rank a place high great atmosphere and
cool industrial design or as another
might think it was terrible because it
was loud and in need of renovation a
basic ranking system doesn't really
reveal these differing opinions very
well as I say these arrogant sites are
still very useful to get
general overview of the better
accommodation just don't take the
specific rankings too seriously if
you're choosing between one that is in
sixth place and one that is in 11th
for instance my other problem with
aggregate sites is that they often
aren't actually very good at their main
purpose which is comparing prices this
is because they can't include your
unique benefit from those booking sites
in their comparison whilst I'll get on
to the specific rewards later all the
major booking sites have reward and
loyalty schemes based on your membership
and booking history which isn't
reflected on advocate sites like
TripAdvisor and trivago
for example trivago might tell you that
Expedia has the cheapest price for a
specific hotel however that same hotel
may be on a secret deal on your hotels
comm account or have 10% off with your
membership on booking com making it
cheaper than Expedia on both those sites
now these exclusive discounts are pulled
through to those trivago results which
is why again I normally only use
aggregate sites as a very general
overview
so let's actually look at the booking
sites themselves now starting with
Expedia com a household name in travel
unlike the other sites are compared
Expedia is also a major flight and car
hire booking service which is its unique
selling point and maybe you need to grab
combination deals in between several
parts of your travel together in
particular I like the fact that if you
book flights through Expedia you can
still grab a discount on accommodation
or car hire for that trip at a later
date and don't have to book it all at
the same time this can lead to some
really great deals in certain situations
every booking you make earns Expedia
points which can then be redeemed on
further bookings or travel extras after
spending five thousand pounds on
eligible bookings or staying seven
nights you'll earn silver status and
gold status has earned after 10,000
pounds or 15 nights with each of these
membership levels you get enhanced
benefits such as spa discounts and free
drinks at certain hotels as well as
earning more Expedia points for every
pounds
however despite all these benefits I
personally find the base level pricing
isn't usually the best on Expedia and
over the past few years I have rarely
booked anything with them as a result in
my opinion the reviews aren't the most
extensive either and only the most
popular hotels and resorts seem to have
many this is the same for their range of
accommodation to weave more focus on
bigger chains hotels and resorts and not
much variety of other places to stay
like apartments being bees and hostels I
often feel like some properties are
hidden that come out top on other sites
I'm not sure exactly what it is but to
me personally it just feels like a much
harder task to filter down and find what
you want in their search system and
their website interface generally just
seems so much slower to use in any case
as you can probably tell I'm not the
biggest fan of Expedia but it is a way
to work and check to see if you can find
a cheaper price for somewhere especially
if you have booked flights through them
already next let's take a look at hotels
comm which is actually owned by the
Expedia group as well and therefore
suffers from some similar problems
namely its lack of reviews and variety
of accommodation as its name suggests it
only really lifts hotels so not much use
if you're looking for something
different however if it is a hotel you
were looking for I do generally find
hotels calm offering some of the better
prices particularly when taking into
consideration their reward and loyalty
schemes
first of all just by signing up and
searching as a member you get secret
prices which are temporary deals on
hotels that can't be seen on price and
aggregate sites as I was discussing
earlier there have been a number of
occasions in the past where I have found
a hotel on a different site then logged
into hotels calm where it happens to be
on a secret deal at a much lower price
so it is always worth double-checking
secondly they have a loyalty scheme
called reward nights which is basically
a form of loyalty stamps for every 10
nights you booked and stay through
hotels calm they give you a free night
the value of this free night will be
based on the average of the ten nights
you have previously booked not only this
but those ten nights also give you
silver membership which like Expedia
includes extra benefits such as free
breakfast airport transfers and spa
vouchers at certain hotels it managed to
book and stay thirty nights in a year
you'll reach gold membership which adds
free room upgrades and late checkouts to
your benefits the only downfall of this
reward scheme is that to maintain it you
must continue to book and stay with them
and if you don't cook anything for
twelve months you will lose any nights
you have already collected finally let's
take a look at booking comm which is
probably the site I use most nowadays
especially for initial research this is
because I feel they are strong in the
areas Expedia and hotels calm lack
particularly the variety and quantity of
accommodation this is plainly evident in
numbers alone by the fact that hotels
calm has roughly three hundred and
twenty-five thousand hotels on their
site whereas booking calm has nearly 30
million listings this is because it
includes hotels apartments B&Bs hostels
guest houses both houses tree houses and
everything in between meaning you can
really find anything for anyone this
might seem like too much choice but it's
backed up by a very good review and
filter system based on a number of
factors making it very easy to find
properties based on your preferences
only those who've actually completed a
stake and post a review so they are all
verified and because properties actually
reply to feedback there is greater
detail and context to them reviews just
seem to be built into the ecosystem of
booking comm much more than other sites
so you tend to get a lot more and better
categorization for instance is good at
finding accommodation based on your
specific situation such as properties
rated good for couples or those rated
good for groups on top of all this
booking coms reward scheme is also very
good you only need to
Tuesdays with them within a two-year
period unlocked genius level 1 this
gives you 10% of many listings and this
often ends up making booking.com cheaper
than most other sites after five more
stays within two years you reach genius
level 2 which gives you 15% of and free
breakfast or other benefits and certain
properties however the best thing about
this reward scheme is that once you
reach these membership levels you
maintain those benefits for life and
don't need to keep on booking to retain
your discount whilst hotels comm and
Expedia can sometimes beat these
discounts I like booking comm because it
is a simple blanket discount that stays
the same rather than a random discount
that is only available for a short
period like secret deals on hotels comm
you also don't have to worry about
losing any of these benefits because you
haven't used the website in a while as
another extra I like the fact that
comm offers far more properties
with free cancellation meaning if you
are booking very far in advance you can
always make changes if your plans change
or you find a better deal there are a
few minor things that annoy me about
booking comm search filters for some
reason by default it automatically
includes properties that aren't
available on your dates almost like it
is rubbing it in that you missed a deal
I really don't know who this feature
would be useful for it also categorizes
the price range in strange intervals
that are very helpful it will be far
better to have a sliding scale of price
like hotels comm so you can more
precisely refine your search however as
I say these are only minor annoyances
and overall I definitely prefer booking
comm for the bulk of my accommodation
research and booking so how exactly do I
go about booking accommodation myself
using these sites well first of all it's
worth pointing out that I do generally
prefer to stay in an air B&B for longer
stays if I can find one but let's say
that for another video focusing on the
site in this video I'll normally start
by searching my options
booking.com using its verified reviews
and huge database to find decent places
around my price range
adding favourites to a list is a useful
way to narrow these down especially if
other people are coming on the trip and
you need to create a short list so you
can decide together if I'm struggling to
narrow it down or find anything then I
will sometimes check on Trip Advisor to
see if there's anything that stands out
on there once I do have a few options or
even a favorite - my final step is the
double check if they are listed on
hotels.com or Expedia or even the
accommodation zone website to check if I
can find a cheaper price anywhere other
than booking com
this process has led me to finding some
really great deals or interesting places
to stay over the years now obviously you
don't need to go to these lengths every
single time you book something it's not
really worth the hassle if it's just a
cheap bed for the night if I was to just
use one site it would be booking com
however when the trip is more important
in a pricey location you want something
unique or maybe there is a large group
of you all with different preferences it
can really be worth it both in terms of
the price and quality of your stay to
spend a bit more time using and
comparing across these different sites
so I hope all that info has enlightened
you a bit and can help with your own
travel research if you aren't already
signed up to booking comm and are
interested then I have a referral link
I'll pop down below in the description
and comments which will give you 15
pounds cash back page straight into your
bank account after you sign up through
the link and finish your footer stay I
will also receive 15 pounds which helps
me to carry on making these videos so
it's a win for both of us let me know in
the comments what sites you use and why
obviously I have only covered the main
booking websites in this video as I'll
be here forever if I done more but I
always love discussing these topics with
you guys thanks a lot for watching
