Booking with Hotels.com

dwsjarcmcd

I have booked loads of hotels for business using these types of sites and the costs can vary enormously between them. My routine was to use travelsupermarket first which compares the various hotel booking sites then go onto Quidco and book the hotel from the cheapest. The cashbacks will be between 5% & 12%.

Edit - Out of interest, just ran a check based on dates next July, hotel.com were the 2nd cheapest at £62 per night but travelrepublic were way cheaper still at £48 per night. Travel Republic aren't on Quidco and hotels.com are with a 10% cashback but you would still save £7 per room per night, which proves you shouldn't be a slave to cashback sites (althought they may be on others)

David

Vikki_74

Just wanted to add my 2p's worth...

Yes you will have to pay up front with hotels.com, but usually you can cancel without penalty up until 24 hours before your stay - check the small print though, as sometimes on their cheaper offers they have a no cancellation policy. They make it pretty clear whether the booking is refundable when you're going through the purchasing process, but just make sure you're aware of the T&C's before confirming the reservation.

We booked a room in California with them for our trip this September, then changed our plans for that night and had to cancel - it was a very easy online process and they refunded the money with no issues.

As already suggested, if you are going to use hotels.com then go via one of the cash back websites - TopCashBack is currently offering 8%, Quidco 10% but you need to factor in Quidco's £5 annual fee if you're not already a member. At certain times you can also find 10% off codes if you search online - in the Discount Codes and Deals section of TopCashBack someone posted VCKE4UK5SPM on 25th August so that might be worth a go, I haven't tried it out though and they are usually only for a limited time.

In theory you may be able to get 10% off your booking if you can find a code that works AND 8 or 10% cashback, although TCB does note "the use of any voucher codes other than those approved by Top CashBack may result in cashback being declined for this merchant". I've never been able to find a code when I wanted one so haven't tried using both at once, but worse case scenario you'd be getting 10% off anyway, so if the cashback went through on top I'd consider that as a nice extra bonus!

Hotels.com also do a price match guarantee if you can find the hotel cheaper elsewhere with the same booking terms etc: https://ssl.hotels.com/customer_care/pillar/price_guarantee.html

BillTrac

Booked with Hotels.com and they took the payment straight away, but if I cancelled they don't charge a cancellation fee. BUT, you need to check the hotels stance. Although, Hotels.com did advise me of the hotels Ts & Cs as I was booking so no hidden details.

BOBS

Careful with the Quidco thing - signed into quidco account and went through to hotels.com and put in details and came up at £100 per night - which was dearer than £92 quoted directly on site earlier. Signed into a different browser on my computer and went directly through Hotels.com and still £92 per night !!!!!
So although saying 10% cashback through quidco it is misleading really according to what I found today............ anyone else noticed this.

Lost_out_2

I booked two nights accomodation with them. They took the money but could not provide the room. That was on 13th October 2011.I have still not recieved a refund even after sending a pdf of my bank statement.i have sent them over 20 e-mails.They just ignore me or say they are escalating the case.Why do I have to prove they have taken it?Why don't they prove they have not?There is nobody I can speak to in UK be warned!:mad::mad::mad:

SandLake

I think it varies, I have booked with hotels.com where I have been informed that I would pay the hotel when I arrive but I have also booked and paid at the same time

littlereddevil

I always find alpharooms and travel republic way cheaper than hotels.com