I have got a better rate through expedia several times. I've gotten a better rate through booking.com several times. And I have used Priceline's name your own price several times with great success. Many other times it's been cheapest to book directly with the hotel. I check out all the possibilities and go with whatever is the best value.

The only time I've ever cancelled was with booking.com - no charges were ever placed against my card for the booking I cancelled - I read the terms and conditions and knew I could cancel without penalty.

ktown

I'm not crying! Just attempting to warn would be travellers about the problems with this site. Obviously this doesn't apply to you. Let's end this now!!

Do not book through hotels.com becos:

Their so called rewards advantage program is a SCAM. I booked more than 10 nights through them while travelling in the US and wanted to redeem the free night. Instead of crediting the difference in cost for the free one night stay, they said that the hotel has revised its rates and i ended having to pay the full rate. What they didnt know is that i'm extending my stay at the same hotel and there is no such thing as an increase in the hotel rate. In fact over the counter rate is cheaper! If you have to book on line just book mininum stay and go direct through the hotel concerned for any extension. I found this the hard way after booking with them for several of my hotel stays..

I have had experiences with hotels where their website was more expensive than the price I saw on sites like hotels.com and kayak.com.

I then called the hotel and asked if they could match the rate - in all cases they said that I could, provided it was pre-paid (which is what the other sites were going to do anyway). I was able to discuss with them the cancellation policies (which I never had to use) and everything went well.

The advantage was that I was dealing with the hotel directly, without having to fight with the "middle-men" if my plans changed.

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I made a reservation yesterday 07/01/2013 11:30pm UK GMT for a hotel in Dubai for 4 nights. I spoke to the customer service representative and explained that I had found the hotel cheaper on another website and that I could get 15% cash back through Quidco. Once he verified the other price he matched the lower price and would also honour the 15% cash back. He explained that I pay in full and he would refund the money back. I informed him that I was also looking to book hotels in Hong Kong and Thailand, but was unsure at the point where I wanted to stay. I asked if I called back tomorrow (8/1/13) would I be able to get the 15% cash back and match a lower price if I found one. I was informed this would be fine. I proceeded to research hotels and called back the next day. I was keen to book all my hotels through one vendor for ease of management.

When I called back today (08.01.13) I got through to one customer service representative and explained the hotel I wished to book, and that I had found it cheaper on travel republic. She initially told me that she could not honour the money back guarantee as the offer was not the same. I double checked and explained that it was.She then proceeded to look into my account and placed me on hold. I was then greeted by one of her colleagues, with no warning that my call was being transferred. I then had to explain the whole situation to him, again, to then be placed on hold and put through to someone else. By this point I was frustrated, as when another colleague picked up the phone I had to re explain the situation again. By the third person I had been on the phone for 40 mins and my booking had been taken no further. This colleague could not help and I finally got through to someone else. At this point I felt that your staff were very unhelpful and seemed to lack the training necessary to deal with simple booking calls. I was never given any warning I was going to transferred to I never understood why I had to speak to so many different people.

By the time I reached the final person and re explained the situation, they were just as unhelpful. He looked into my account to see the bookings I had previously made and I explained about the price match promise and 15% cash back. He refused to apply the 15% cash back and the price match as its apparently 2 promotions however "Price match Guarantee" is a policy rather than a promotion so i could not understand why this was not being honored,i feel it is unfair as I was previously told this would be fine if I called the next day. It was explained that this was a deal for yesterday only, which I could not comprehend as the cash back was still active on quidco and contradicted what I had previously been told. Again I explained that the price on travel republic was cheaper and he refused to match the price. I had already called travel republic to ensure that deals were the same, and i suggested that he could do the same he refused. I can not understand why as the offer was identical. After 1 hour and half I had not been able to make a booking and nothing was resolved.

I am very upset with the way my call was dealt with. Being passed from person to person and having to keep explaining myself. I do not understand why you have a price match guarantee if you aren't willing to honour it. I understand products must be like for like, but these were identical. Also I am frustrated that the 15% cash back wouldn't honoured when I had been specifically told it would. I am disappointed with the service and did fully intend to book all my hotels through you, but now I am considering cancelling the hotel I have already booked.