Old me booked hotels through Expedia, new me calls the front desk directly

I used to always book through third party sites because I thought I was getting the best deal. But last year at a Hampton Inn in Boise, the front desk clerk told me if I booked direct I could have saved $30 a night and gotten free breakfast. Now I call the hotel directly and ask if they can match or beat the online price. What do you guys do - stick with the aggregators or go direct?

2 comments

2 Comments

blair_allen22d ago

Actually I gotta disagree a bit here. I've been using third party sites for years and honestly I've had way more luck with them when things go wrong. Last year my flight got canceled and Expedia had me rebooked on a new one in like 10 minutes while everyone at the gate was screaming at the airline staff. Plus I've found some crazy deals on Hotwire that the hotel itself wouldn't even come close to matching. I get the appeal of going direct for sure, especially with loyalty points and stuff, but I feel like the aggregators earn their cut when you actually need help.

wren_carr21d ago

Don't think you're wrong exactly @blair_allen, but you might be confusing luck with how third party sites actually work behind the scenes. Expedia and those aggregators don't have their own planes or hotel rooms, they just have call centers that are better at navigating the airline's own system than regular customers are. The gate agents at the airport have zero power to help you because your ticket was issued by Expedia not the airline, so that 10 minute rebook was basically them doing what the airline's own app could do if you were booked direct. As for Hotwire deals, you're paying for the mystery and the non-refundable fine print which works great until plans change. The real issue is that one bad experience with a third party can wipe out years of savings real quick. Just something to keep in mind the next time you're stuck somewhere and nobody wants to help because your money went through three different companies first.