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Post by Baz Faz on Apr 2, 2018 13:25:36 GMT 2
For a long time I have simply used Booking.com for reserving hotels. Recently I have been looking at hotel sites themselves. Today the hotel in Greece I am interested in is about 25% cheaper on its own site than Booking.com
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Post by OnlyMark on Apr 2, 2018 15:01:35 GMT 2
If it is a cheap room just for me I hardly bother with checking their own website, but usually if it is above 30 euros or so I always check if I can. Though only about one in five turn out cheaper that way. I also notice from time to time I can get a room only on the hotel website that isn't available through Booking. Then it certainly works out cheaper. Also the cancellation policies can differ and, for example, we've been booking for a trip next February but we want them to be cancelable for now in case things change.
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Post by shrjeff on Apr 5, 2018 8:40:34 GMT 2
i use booking.com to search and get oriented through the map and google maps to the best location... i also depend upon the feedback as only those who booked through booking.com can leave it so it's much more accurate than tripadvisor... i typically reserve a refundable room then begin to look at other websites and the hotel itself... it is the odd occasion that i find a cheaper deal on another site... for example, yesterday i was checking the hotel we have reserved in milan for july... ALL the prices, including the hotel and booking.com itself, are at least 20% higher, even the non-refundable rates!
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Post by auntieannie on Apr 5, 2018 17:02:32 GMT 2
jeffy, when in July?
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Post by shrjeff on Apr 5, 2018 18:00:14 GMT 2
27th to milan, 1st of august to bologna, 6th to torino and 11th back to milan to fly home...
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Post by auntieannie on Apr 6, 2018 12:26:46 GMT 2
oh, might not be able to go to Milan on 27th, but could probably meet during your last week there. you do realise that most of Italy will be off on holidays as well then, right? I'll be just north of wherever you'll be that last week.
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Post by shrjeff on Apr 6, 2018 12:40:50 GMT 2
we return from torino to milano for just the night to catch the flight the next day...
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Post by auntieannie on Apr 6, 2018 12:43:06 GMT 2
well.. you know, Milano is two hours away, Torino is four hours away by public transports...
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Post by rikita on Apr 11, 2018 11:06:03 GMT 2
i used to sometimes go to hotel websites, haven't done that lately, maybe i should try that again. instead, i check both airbnb and booking. so far, always booked airbnb (though recently i booked a room through booking, amazed how cheap it was - then realized i had booked the wronge dates, and for the correct dates it was twice as much, so i canceled), sometimes i find the same place through both, but considerably cheaper through airbnb ...
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Post by Baz Faz on Apr 11, 2018 12:35:26 GMT 2
What I find strange is that as soon as I have booked a hotel room I get swamped with ads for that same hotel. For instance on Monday I booked the Hotel Avra in Rafina, Greece. This morning an ad from Trivago appears on this site - I am looking a it now - offering the Avra for considerably less than I paid. So I have just checked. Instead of the £48 the ad promises, the Trivago site actually quotes £91. So not only is the ad misleading but the hotel's own site beats it on price.
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Post by lumi on Apr 11, 2018 13:59:58 GMT 2
i used to sometimes go to hotel websites, haven't done that lately, maybe i should try that again. instead, i check both airbnb and booking. so far, always booked airbnb (though recently i booked a room through booking, amazed how cheap it was - then realized i had booked the wronge dates, and for the correct dates it was twice as much, so i canceled), sometimes i find the same place through both, but considerably cheaper through airbnb ... Are hotels now being listed on Airbnb? O thought it was only people private renting a room in their house or a whole house/Apartment that is privately owned.
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Post by rikita on Apr 11, 2018 15:55:55 GMT 2
there are a lot of hotels - not sure how their official policy on that is, but there are a lot of people there renting out things professionally - either someone who has several apartments for the sole purpose of renting them out, or actual hotels - in morocco, most of our accomodation was the latter, all booked through airbnb ... (though we also had one whole apartment to ourselves, where the owner was currently abroad and thus renting it out, and one where someone rented out two rooms in their own apartment, so more traditional airbnb)
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Post by shrjeff on Apr 11, 2018 16:04:43 GMT 2
booking.com has many apartments on its listing... i tend to use booking.com for 4 reasons: the reviews on airbnb are not objective as the owner can blackball the guest so one avoids citing problems; the cancellation process is draconian; there is a cleaning fee which is hidden and raises the actual cost significantly as there is motivation to increase it as the property doesn't pay airbnb a commission on this fee; airbnb charges a rather substantial fee in addition to the property's rent and cleaning fee... thus one has to be a sagacious consumer to actually compare all three parts of the cost to know what the real cost will be...
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Post by rikita on Apr 12, 2018 2:56:19 GMT 2
what does blackball mean? afaik the owner can only leave a comment about the guest before they read the comment you gave on them, can't they?
afaik the cancellation policy varies depending on the owners choice, though yes, it is usually stricter than booking, only some places have cleaning fees ... also, i am sure booking charges similar fees as airbnb, you just don't see what they are ... it is true you don't see the exact price when you first search, though you get a general idea - i then just open the ones i find interesting in tabs, and there i see the exact price for the days i want to stay, including all fees, and so far i always found cheaper ones than at booking ... of course, it is a matter of preference and not that i want to advertise airbnb - just personally, i don't find it any more difficult to use as booking, and so far i was happy with every place i booked there ...
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Post by Baz Faz on Apr 14, 2018 10:24:51 GMT 2
Not a hotel but a ferry. We are going for a brief wine-buying trip to France next month. The hortest (and therefore cheapest) crossing is Dover-Calais. The Tunnel is by far the most expensive. The ferry is longer but half the price, or less. Booking sites like Directferry and Aferry quote similar prices. P & O's own site is £10 less.
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Post by auntieannie on Apr 15, 2018 17:37:14 GMT 2
well, I guess it depends on days, and on purpose. when my friends drove me back to Switzerland, we looked at ferry options, but we were on a schedule and the tunnel wasn't double the price of where we looked at (ferry from Southampton), but we saved one day's worth of transit so we took the tunnel and it worked well. Also looking at all the little hidden costs of travelling on the ferry compared to a rather straightforward tariff on the tunnel... it made sense to my friends and I at the time.
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Post by Baz Faz on Apr 15, 2018 18:59:11 GMT 2
Annie, what hidden costs are there on the ferry?
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Post by OnlyMark on Apr 15, 2018 19:23:54 GMT 2
Pinball machines.
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Post by auntieannie on Apr 15, 2018 21:59:29 GMT 2
frankly, Baz, I don't remember, but there were some taxes and the tariff for vehicles and three people was puzzling to say the least. It varied from one journey to the next.
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Post by Baz Faz on Apr 15, 2018 23:14:37 GMT 2
Annie, that is strange. I have been quoted a fare - and that is it. Nothing was hidden. There were no taxes. And most ferries give you a vehicle plus 9 passengers. The ferry companies must have thought you were a commercial truck.
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Post by lumi on Apr 16, 2018 2:18:20 GMT 2
I can't remember what we paid for exactly when taking the car ferry from England to the Netherlands (have done the return journey twice) but when Annie mentioned hidden costs, my thoughts went to the fact that you need to eat and drink which is a little expensive if you purchase everything on the ferry but also a pain if you bring it with you. We paid for the VIP room once which wasn't too expensive and as you can get basic drinks inside, it kind of covered the cost (plus you can at least get a seat as we found that selfish people lied down and slept across seats and there weren't enough in the common areas because of those selfish people! Plus others let their kids run riot while they slept across 5 seats and put their bags on 2 more. We also paid for a private cabin on one leg when it was offered cheaply and that was good too as it came with a fridge and a few drinks and we could take a nap.
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Post by lumi on Apr 16, 2018 2:19:37 GMT 2
Ohh and the line for getting your passport checked when you get off the ferry can take forever depending on where you are in the queue so factor that I to the time it takes to travel by ferry.
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Post by tzarine on Apr 16, 2018 3:43:24 GMT 2
the ferry was lovely from calais to dover
our friends picked us up
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Post by slowcoach on Apr 16, 2018 9:27:27 GMT 2
We took the ferry from Portsmouth to Santander. Promenading the dogs around on deck, seemed very last century, and some.
Years back, some colleagues and I shared a cabin on a booze-crooze to Denmark and from Harwich and back, it turned too stormy to get much drinking done.
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Post by Voy on Apr 16, 2018 14:14:26 GMT 2
re booking sites -- I read yesterday that Trip Advisor is now accepting paid for ads - that will run at the top of the page about the property... so much for them !
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Post by kerouac2 on Apr 17, 2018 18:04:47 GMT 2
I use hotels.com which, unlike other sites that give you one free night for every 10 nights booked, at least doesn't tell the "free" hotel that you are a non-paying customer. That can make a lot of difference in the room that you receive.
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Post by kuskiwi on May 19, 2018 6:15:53 GMT 2
I mix and match a bit using booking.com to find somewhere if it is high season or something is on and get one I can cancel while I do more research with others if I think I might find something I like more, or the differential in cost is really worth while (ie at least 30 E). I have no compunction in cancelling. Once I would have termed myself a 'user' but now I think of myself as someone who uses what is offered and if they don't want cancellations they wouldn't offer them. Another check I make is how many rooms as frequently the booking.com ones for solo travellers are the broom cupboards at the end of the corridor, above the bar, and the shower and toilet are designed for small children. .... but again it's a quaranted bed if needed.
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Post by tzarine on May 19, 2018 20:56:32 GMT 2
we use a combination or booking or hotels, though have found sometimes contacting the hotel/inn directly has gotten us even a cheaper price! last minute rooms has also gotten us some deals, though in more limited locatios
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Post by auntieannie on May 21, 2018 22:10:44 GMT 2
Having worked in the industry and having casual ties with more similar industries, it is not always worth it for the hotel/restaurant to join the scheme.
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Post by rikita on May 23, 2018 1:40:25 GMT 2
when i worked in a hotel/hostel reception, the annoying thing was they had different prices all the time, depending on how "busy" the place was on a specific date, so when someone called to ask about the cost of a room, i could just tell them what it would be if they booked right now, but that prices might go up fast if they wait ... and then were those that booked through websites, some (like i remember expedia) cost a lot more than i thought the rooms were worth, and if someone noticed the person next room was paying a third of what they were paying, they were annoyed ... and of course, even though secretely i agreed with them, i had to state the hotel's side, as i worked for them ...
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