Travel is fun, right? But it can get expensive if you don’t know where and how to find the best deals. That’s where we can help.

We’ve gone through all of the best and most popular websites (plus a few that aren’t so popular) to find out once and for all: where is the best place to book a hotel at the cheapest price?

 

The Hotel’s Own Website

There are lots of times when it makes sense to just keep things simple and book on the hotel’s website, whether it’s Marriott, Hilton, IHG, or any other. If you’re a member of a hotel’s loyalty program and are trying to earn or maintain elite status, you will most likely want to book directly.

By booking directly, you can take advantage of discounted member rates and will be sure to earn loyalty points and elite night credits. Many hotel chains offer promotions that allow you to earn lots of bonus points.

 

Kayak

Kayak is not an OTA, it’s a metasearch engine for travel deals. This site will look at all the other sites and show you where the best deals are.

One of the things to love about Kayak, in addition to the great filtering options at the left of the screen, is the map feature.

On the search results page, you will see a map on the upper left-hand side of the screen. When you click on it, you will get a detailed map of your destination city, including hotel locations as well as popular areas for eating, sightseeing, shopping, and nightlife. Each dot on the map represents a hotel. You can click on any of them to get more details about the hotel, along with price comparisons.

You can also use the price slider to narrow your search to only inexpensive options.

Pros and Cons of Kayak

Pros:

• Pricebreaker deals

• Kayak maps

Cons:

• Kayak doesn’t always show the price on the hotel’s website and this can often be cheaper

 

Expedia

We’ve shown you how to save money on flights by booking through Expedia, but how does this OTA compare when booking a hotel room?

One thing that makes Expedia unique is it participated in a rewards program called One Key. It’s free to join and allows you to earn and redeem OneKeyCash on travel.

Pros and Cons of Expedia

Pros:

• One Key rewards program

• Members-only deals

Cons:

• You will not earn loyalty points or elite night credits on the hotel’s own rewards program

• While most bookings are refundable, some are not; pay attention to the terms of your booking before completing your purchase

 

Priceline

Searching for a hotel on Priceline is straightforward and prices are similar to other OTAs.

One of the areas where Priceline can offer a deep discount is through its Express Deals. These opaque bookings keep details of the hotel secret until the booking is complete. These are prepaid, nonrefundable, and nontransferable bookings. If your plans aren’t concrete, it’s best to avoid this type of booking.

However, if you book an Express Deal and find a better price anytime up to midnight before you travel, you will get a 200% refund of the price difference!

Pros and Cons of Priceline

Pros:

• Priceline VIP

• Express Deals and Pricebreakers

Cons:

• You won’t earn hotel loyalty points or elite night credits when booking through Priceline

 

Momondo

Momondo is an easy-to-use travel metasearch engine that sorts through deals on other websites to help you find the best price. Once you find a deal on Momondo, you’ll be transferred to a booking website (an online travel agency or a hotel’s website) to book. You won’t ever actually book anything on Momondo’s website.

Momondo shows you hotel prices from lots of websites in one place. Image Credit: Momondo

Pros and Cons of Momondo

Pros:

• The easy-to-use interface shows you prices from lots of websites at one time

Cons:

• There’s no loyalty program

 

Booking.com

Booking.com is an easy-to-use site where you can search for and book hotels, hostels, B&Bs, apartments, and vacation homes.

One thing that stands out about this site is its generous low-price guarantee. If you find a lower advertised price for the same reservation available to the public (not a member or special rate), Booking.com will refund the difference up to 24 hours before your check-in date. The offer needs to be online and available at the time Booking.com checks.

Another thing to keep an eye out for is the Genius discount. When a room type is marked as Genius discount available, you’ll save 10% off the base price by logging in to your account. We’ve tested this and sure enough, the price was adjusted just by logging in.

You’ll save 10% by booking a rate that’s marked with the Genius logo. Image Credit: Booking.com

 

Pros and Cons of Booking.com

Pros:

• Genius Loyalty Program

• Generous price-match guarantee

• Option to book non-traditional accommodations like hostels or B&Bs

Cons:

• You won’t earn loyalty points or elite night credits from the hotel’s rewards program

 

Hotels.com

One of the best things about Hotels.com is its rewards program, One Key. It allows you to earn and use points, called OneKeyCash, through Hotels.com and its partner sites, Expedia and Vrbo.

If you have a Hotels.com account, be sure to log in to access member pricing, which saves an average of 15%.

Pros and Cons of Hotels.com

Pros:

• One Key rewards program

• Members-only pricing

Cons:

• You won’t earn loyalty points or elite night credits from the hotel’s rewards program

• You have to pay taxes and fees on reward nights

 

Orbitz

Orbitz is another easy-to-use OTA with a strong in-house loyalty program. You can earn Orbucks on hotels, flights, travel packages, and activities.

The Orbucks earning rate is much better for hotels than flights and Orbucks can only be redeemed for hotels. The only catch is generally, you can only earn Orbucks on prepaid hotel stays.

• Earn 3% Orbucks for hotel stays booked on a desktop

• Earn 4% Orbucks for hotel stays booked on the Orbitz app

Another way Orbitz can save you money on a hotel is if you book a hotel and flight together. When searching for a 7-night hotel stay in San Francisco plus a flight separately or as a bundle, the bundle saved over $100!

Pros and Cons of Orbitz

Pros:

• Orbitz Rewards program

• Vacation packages

Cons:

• You can only earn Orbucks on prepaid hotel stays

• You won’t earn hotel loyalty points or elite night credits when booking through Orbitz

 

Hotwire

Hotwire has been around a long time and is probably the go-to OTA for many travellers, but is it the best place to book your next hotel stay if you’re looking for the cheapest price?

If you have some flexibility or aren’t particular about the exact hotel you stay in, Hotwire’s Hot Rate hotels could be a way to save you some money. These are opaque bookings, which means you won’t know the exact hotel until after the booking is complete. However, you’ll be able to see the hotel’s rating, neighbourhood, amenities, and Tripadvisor ratings, as well as the exact hotel the person previous to you got.

Pros and Cons of Hotwire

Pros:

• Hot Rate Hotels

• Vacation packages

Cons:

• Hotel chains including Marriott and Hyatt offer discounted member rates, and you won’t be able to see these on Hotwire

 

American Express Travel

American Express offers more than just credit cards. Amex Travel is the travel portal operated by American Express, and it operates much like an OTA. It’s even available to those who don’t hold an American Express credit card, although you will get more benefits if you have an Amex card.

Pros and Cons of Amex Travel

Pros:

• 5x Amex points on prepaid hotel bookings with the Amex Business Platinum card or Amex Platinum card

• Access to The Hotel Collection and Fine Hotels & Resorts

Cons:

• If you don’t have an Amex Platinum card, you’ll be charged a booking fee (on flights)

• Poor redemption rate when you use Pay With Points (often less than 1 cent per point)

 

Agoda

Agoda doesn’t offer much as far as searching for flights, but if you’re looking for accommodations, it’s worth checking out. In addition to traditional hotels and resorts, Agoda lets you search for hostels, private houses, and even monthly stays.

It has great filtering options, as well as a map feature so that you can view all of your options by location.

Agoda is another OTA that now offers its own rewards program. You’ll earn AgodaCash on every eligible booking. Then you can redeem your AgodaCash for all or part of any hotel booking.

Pros and Cons of Agoda

Pros:

• AgodaCash and AgodaVIP Program

• Good search functionality

Cons:

• You won’t earn loyalty points or elite night credits from the hotel’s rewards program

 

Travelocity

Travelocity offers a lot of different products to book, including flights, hotels, cars, cruises, travel packages, and even activities, so it can be a little overwhelming if you aren’t sure exactly what you’re looking for. When searching for a hotel, you’ll see the option of adding a flight, a rental car, or both to your search.

As with most other OTAs, you can save money by booking a flight and hotel together.

Pros and Cons of Travelocity

Pros:

• Lower member rates on select hotels

• Lower rates on flight and hotel packages

Cons:

• You won’t earn loyalty points or elite night credits from the hotel’s rewards program

 

Tripadvisor

Tripadvisor is known for its great reviews. It’s the place to go if you want to get a feel for a hotel or activity complete with amateur photos taken by other travellers that show what things really look like. Did you also know you can use Tripadvisor to search for and book hotels?

After searching for your destination, you’ll see a typical list of all the hotels available. In each box, there will be prices from a few websites listed. You can see a full list by clicking on the small drop-down menu in the search results.

 

Pros and Cons of Tripadvisor

Pros:

• Great customer reviews

Cons:

• The prices shown do not include taxes, which can vary between websites

 

Google Hotel Search

To search, just type in “Hotels in ____” in the main Google search box or go to google.com/travel/hotels.

You can easily search by location using the map, or use the filtering options above your search results to find exactly what you’re looking for. You can click on any of the hotels listed on the left side or click on the prices on the map for more information.

You’ll be able to see all of the price options for your chosen hotel by clicking on Prices.

 

Pros and Cons of Google Hotel Finder

Pros:

• Price trends

Cons:

• No loyalty program

Hot Tip: Google Flights allows you to plan your flight, hotel, and travel package options all from a single site.

 

Skyscanner Hotels

Skyscanner is generally regarded as a flight search engine, but you can also use it to search for hotels. While it’s easy to see the pricing options for each hotel, there are not a ton of filtering options available. The map feature is nice if you prefer to search for a hotel by location.

Once you find a hotel and price you like, you’ll be sent to another website to complete the booking.

Pros and Cons of Skyscanner Hotels

Pros:

• The lowest price for each hotel is clearly displayed

Cons:

• Few filtering options

 

HotelTonight

HotelTonight is a booking app and website geared towards offering great deals on last-minute hotel stays, although you can book rooms ahead of time, too.

The website is easy to use, but there aren’t many filtering options, so if you have something specific in mind, this may not be the best place to search for a hotel. If you’d like to set up a price deal alert, you can do so by using the toggle button right above your search results.

Pros and Cons of HotelTonight

Pros:

• Price deal alerts

• Last-minute availability

Cons:

• The website doesn’t offer everything that the app does

 

Hopper

Hopper is a mobile app that offers price predictions, so you have a better idea of when to book your room. It is so confident in its app, it claims 95% accuracy!

Another feature that makes Hopper unique is the price freeze feature. By making a small deposit, which can later be applied towards your stay, you can freeze the price for 12 hours, 7 days, 14 days, or 21 days. You’ll save up to $300 if the price increases and you’ll pay the lower price if the price drops.

Pros and Cons of Hopper

Pros:

• Colour-coded map shows the best prices

• Price freeze option

Cons:

• No desktop booking capabilities

• Extra fees like Hopper Tip and VIP Support are automatically added

 

Trivago

Trivago, which is owned by Expedia, is another metasearch engine that scours the internet to show you hotel prices on lots of other websites so that you can easily compare them. It’s easy to use but doesn’t offer any features that differentiate it from competitors.

Be careful, because the “featured price” for a hotel might not necessarily be the lowest.

Pros and Cons of Trivago

Pros:

• Shows prices from many websites in one place

Cons:

• The featured price is not always the lowest

• No rewards program