Anonymous wrote:I'm confused because I use hotels.com exclusively and have never had a problem. When you reserve a room, their system says "Confirming reservation with hotel" before it finalizes. If the hotels.com system interfaces with the hotel system, isn't it the hotel's responsibility?

No Hotels.com is a third party they are just checking to see if the room is available.
You pay them not the hotel therefore your contract is with Hotels.com

Never use a third party especially at holiday times, spring break, hot areas where hotels are sold out etc.

Anonymous wrote:Hotels allocate a small number of rooms to third party companies. You are subject to the third party policies when you book with them. Why add the extra layer? Call hotel to get a deal or at least price match so that way you have a direct reservation and access to more inventory and better rooms. They would rather book for same price with you and not have to pay a big commission to the third party. It is critical to book direct with airlines. There is no third party desk to walk up to in the airport when something goes wrong and you’ll be the first to be bumped and wait forever on hold if you call. Third parties are only software companies and have very little interest in the product or your experience. It is surprising to me how many people think it doesn’t matter how you book travel.

I called the hotel. They wouldn’t even price match their own advertised online rate and their online booking system was down!

Hotels allocate a small number of rooms to third party companies. You are subject to the third party policies when you book with them. Why add the extra layer? Call hotel to get a deal or at least price match so that way you have a direct reservation and access to more inventory and better rooms. They would rather book for same price with you and not have to pay a big commission to the third party. It is critical to book direct with airlines. There is no third party desk to walk up to in the airport when something goes wrong and you’ll be the first to be bumped and wait forever on hold if you call. Third parties are only software companies and have very little interest in the product or your experience. It is surprising to me how many people think it doesn’t matter how you book travel.

Anonymous wrote:I once had a problem with a hotel booked through hotels.com. Only way to get a refund or discount on the room was to go through hotels.com. But the hotel gave me a free stay for another date.

This is how I learned my lesson. In my case, the hotel really did screw up, and they tried to give us a credit, but couldn't except through the 3rd party booking site (who didn't care to help).

The only third party site I'll book through these days is Amex, because I trust them to make it right if it gets messed up, but I only do that when Amex is offering a substantial discount for specific hotels.

This works until there is an issue. Then there is very little recourse. Don't these types of bookings always say they do their best but there is no guarantee?

I had this happen to me at the Bellagio when I had reserved via Expedia 10 years ago. NEVER AGAIN. The Bellagio did not care and Expedia was "experiencing a higher than normal call volume". It was awful.

I am laughing at those of you saying never to book through a 3rd site! I do it all the time and get great deals and have never had an issue. Chase rewards actually uses expedia.

OP- hotels.com did do you wrong. Call them.

Anonymous wrote:I'm genuinely shocked that in 2024 people are booking through 3rd parties.

Why? I've never had a problem. I don't stay in hotels much though. Maybe 3-4 times a year. So maybe that's the difference.

I'm genuinely shocked that in 2024 people are booking through 3rd parties.

There are times when 3rd partes have rooms when the a tual site does not. That is the only time I use them.

You never want in ANYTHING to go through a 3rd party when you can go direct. That's like a general rule of life LOL

When you have a 3rd party involved - there's always something in it for them, do you understand?

Thus, you are always at some sort of risk (though typically since it's a viable business, they have to abide by making you happy as often as possible) when you are not directly connecting with a hotel. Typically, most people will book through Booking/Hotels.com because you may not always get charged until the last minute. But a lot of hotels always work that way AND typically hotels (the good and smart ones anyway) will have lowest market price.

There are absolutely hotels I've looked at on Booking that were substantially more costly than if I booked direct with the hotel. I often look at 3rd party sites to search for hotels I may want to book but then I go always look to book direct with hotel if possible.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is why you never book through a third party consolidater. I don’t get why people still do this.

+1. I travel a ton and would NEVER use something like Hotels.com

20 years ago, you could get really great deals because they were subsidized by VC and gunning for market share. Now that they have to turn a profit and now that hotel websites are a lot better, the deals are gone and so is the convenience

Anonymous wrote:That is why you never book through a third party consolidater. I don’t get why people still do this.

+1. I travel a ton and would NEVER use something like Hotels.com

That is why you never book through a third party consolidater. I don’t get why people still do this.

Anonymous wrote:I booked a hotel room in Boston and when I got to the hotel they said that hotels.com sold me a room that they didn’t have. We are 4 people and are stuck with a king+sofa bed instead of 2 queen beds. They will try to accommodate us tomorrow but they are acting like it is my fault for using hotels.com instead of their website. I feel like they should give us a voucher or points or something right?

Someone with status probably requested the room. Making you happy is the bottom of their priority list. They are getting less for your room than any other room in the hotel save people using free night vouchers