How to Find a Cheap Hotel Room: Sites to Use and Sites to Avoid

than you for addressing places to stay that do not offer shared rooms…

if trip pony is as competitive as this research shows, I shall have to try if on my next long term adventure. thanks

Thanks for the info. Finding a hotel is always a pain so it’s good to know where to look!

So, where does that leave a service such as Kayak which shows multiple sites (including Expedia, booking, etc.)?

I have been through all the above and now find the cheapest way for hotels is putting the dates into tripadvisor and they act as a search engine and bring up rates from 5/6 of your usual sites such as hotels.com etc. make sure you click “more” and see all the quotes as the cheapest rate doesnt always come up on the main price section.

I noticed you didn’t mention the Hotels.com price match. Maybe they don’t offer this in all areas. I often search through Trivago and then book with hotels.com, price-matching if necessary. I prefer them because I get free nights as part of the rewards.
But I have had issues with them (and their mother company Expedia) in taking a ridiculously long to issue refunds. In fact I am still waiting (3 months later) for Expedia to refund me for a flight cancelled by the airline. And I warn anyone that their customer service leaves a lot to be desired.

This is a really detailed and useful post! Unfortunately, I think the rates differ greatly here in Asia. Expedia and Booking.com tend to give better rates for 3- and 4- star hotels, while the 5-star hotels and resorts are usually best booked through sample sale sites (a la Jetsetter).

I have to agree that metasearch sites like Trivago are unreliable; I don’t trust them at all to find the lowest rates and don’t even spend time on them. However, there’s one major site you didn’t cover: what about TripAdvisor prices (from Expedia, Hotels.com, Agoda etc.)?

Thanks for the heads-up on Tingo!

Having spent about 6 months in various cheap hotels across Europe recently, my experience was that the fastest way to trace the best deal was to use Trivago.com, and then doublecheck their prices, as the best deals shown often do not exist.

Though Booking.com is often more expensive, at least it is reliable (prices and ratings), never any surprise, unlike with quite a few others like Expedia.com where upon showing up all of a sudden the hotel is not having Wifi, or is charging extra for this or that, or the room is hmmm very different from the photos…

In Germany, hrs.de is sometimes the better one, and isn’t listed in Trivago.com.
In Asia, I also usually found the best deals and choice with Agoda.

Thanks for this, Matt. I am a travel research junkie and comparison shop all the time. Two thoughts: While I use TripAdvisor to get referrals and things, and I look at the prices they offer, I really find Kayak.com to be the best for hotels. They have an option to get the final price rather than just the room price, so they build into the amount the taxes, “resort fees” and all the other little nasties that destroy a budget. It lets me compare apples to apples.

Secondly, for those times that you want to splurge, Marriott.com has a lowest price guarantee on their website; find it lower within 24 hours anywhere else and they give you the lower price + 25% off, even if the difference is just $1. I have stayed in 4 star hotels for under $80 and 3 stars for $55 in this way; Marriott has a huge range of chains and I can almost always find a lower price for at least one of their hotels if I’m headed to an urban area. And make sure you are a Marriott member…it doesn’t take too long to earn free nights at their lower level hotels (but skip their cc–it’s a loser for the annual fee).

Hey Matt,
Usually I just read your posts on my phone, but thought I had something useful to add this time :).
First, Hotels.com.
1) They do offer deals for last minute hotels. I consistently find this when I am a week from a trip and looking for final accommodations. While you are right that you shouldn’t wait, when you are just looking last minute, I suggest this site.
2) Their reward program isn’t bad. Sites like Agoda have a very vague “points system” where you don’t know exactly what you will get. Hotels is simple, buy 10 night, 1 free (average price of the previous 10).
3) The bad stuff: They charge a ridiculous mark up on check out. They have “fees AND taxes” which add about 12% on top of the price you see on the search. While this is usually small and worth it for cheaper hotels, it would definitely become a problem when the difference between two sites is small. It is also not counted towards the rewards.
4) Customer service. If you have any question, you can call them 24 hours a day and they respond quickly.
5) As of last year, Hotels.com now includes HOSTELS. While I love hostels, I find this misleading because sometimes, you think you are getting a room, but it is really a shared bed. However, sometimes, hostels do rent the room at a set price, even if it has many beds. This was my experience in Japan, and had to call hotels.com to verify (the hotel only spoke Japanese).
6) It is often cheaper for 2 people. I often travel with my gf, and for two people, it is surprisingly cheaper to stay in a hotel than 2 beds in a hostel. While I do look at hostels first, I end up in hotels more than half of the time.

Other stuff:
I know from the past that you really like Agoda, but I find it one of the worst sites for booking. I am not trying to be a naysayer, and have often said “let’s give them another chance” but end up frustrated.
1) The #1 worst thing is that you can’t search by price. It is the only booking website that limits your ability to do this.
2) Searching by “stars” isn’t the same. While logic would suggest that the lower the star rating the cheaper (and Agoda really wants to sell this point), this is not often true. You miss out on deals because of this. For example, there could be a 3 star hotel at $40 on a discount, but if most 1 star hotels are in the $50 range, you might not scroll that far down. While you may think this is rare, it actually consistently happens if you search on hotels.com.
3) They deceive on pricing and discounts. Sometimes, you think you are getting a great deal with Agoda because “it used to be 200 but now, 80!” which is not true. Sometimes, I’ve had no choice because of availability and not knowing better “Asia” sites, but hotels have constantly told me that they have never had a room so high. It is a flat out lie to fool you into thinking you are saving money. This happened to me in Kenting, Taiwan and have since cross referenced from time to time to confirm the practice is widespread.

Another consideration:
For Asia, asiarooms.com is pretty good. They often have many rooms in Asia, are consistently cheaper than agoda, and as far as I know, do not deceive. While some people say they don’t care about the company as long as it’s cheaper, personally, I don’t like giving business to cheats.

Thanks for the suggestions on other sites, I will definitely check them out.

I just want to say you can go wrong with Tingo. Forget rest easy or peace of mind. Let’s say you book the standard room for $100 then the deluxe is advertised at $90 and as the Tingo website says tingo gets you the lowest price and then makes sure you keep getting the lowest price – yay right your gonna pay less – wrong! You will be stuck in a worse room at a higher price no upgrade and no refund for you because it’s a different room type and believe me there’s a lot of room types and a lot of fine print. The room you booked may mysteriously never get cheaper as Tingo advertises rooms with all sorts of names at lower prices but never rooms by the name of the ones they’ve already sold. Be very very careful. Tingo can be a very bad experience.