Book with Hotwire to find hotel deals that fit your unique travel style. If your jam-packed schedule has you begging for a relaxation retreat, Hotwire can help. Kick back, unwind, and dine finely at a 5-star luxury hotel with all the bells and whistles. If you are feeling tense, opt for a top-rated all-inclusive spa resort in the mountains—or better—on an exotic island. Whether on business or personal expedition, the show-stopping amenities at your hotel are sure to keep your vacay stress-free. Show
Maybe you’re the type who likes to live it up at the center of the action. Hotwire gets it. Painting the nightlife scene red is easy when you book a comfortable downtown hotel. With the city bustling outside your window, you’re sure to experience the best of your travel destination’s culture. Speaking of windows—if you’re in need of an ocean view hotel room for your next beach getaway, Hotwire has you covered. In town on business and want a hotel option near the airport? Hotwire offers some of the best hotel deals throughout the world. With Hotwire, you can get all the fun-loving amenities your travel heart desires for a killer price. Bringing a fuzzy friend? Hotwire offers pet-friendly hotels that specialize in accommodating the four-legged members of your family. Enjoy a dip in the pool or squeeze in some reps at the gym before bed when you book a hotel with a pool and fitness center. Whatever your preferences, Hotwire features a variety of hotels and resorts to suit your travel needs. Booking through Hotwire can save up to 60%* off last-minute hotel deals. For low prices, Hotwire Hot Rate® deals offer cheap hotel discounts if you book before learning the name of the hotel. Here’s how it works—You choose the neighborhood, star rating, and amenities and leave the incredible deal up to Hotwire. Prefer to know the name of the hotel before you pay? You have that option too. Whether you’re planning a business trip, romantic weekend, family vacation or last-minute getaway, Hotwire can save you money on cheap hotel rooms with star quality. How’s that for peace of mind? As with the best flight booking sites, there’s no shortage of resources available when you need to book a cheap hotel room. From metasearch engines (aggregator) that send you to company sites, to bookable OTAs (online travel agencies), to corporate hotel sites, the options for the best hotel booking sites can be overwhelming. But when doing your search, deciding which hotel booking sites to compare should depend on how often they offer the best hotel deals, and how you prefer to view and filter search results. Some of the links featured in this story are affiliate links, and SmarterTravel may collect a commission (at no cost to you) if you shop through them. The Best Hotel Booking Sites for Comparing PricesFor most travel planning, the best overall strategy is to compare prices from multiple sources including the hotel’s own website, as it will sometimes offer deals not shared with third-party sites, or offer the same rates as third-party sites minus pesky booking fees. Hotels sites will also offer package deals—bundled amenity inclusions and the like—that aren’t shared with third-party sites. Bottom line: Whether you search with a hotel site on this list or a preferred hotel search engine of your own, always check the hotel’s actual website as well, or call its reservations line, to make sure you really are getting the best hotel deal. Don’t forget to check the cancellation policy as the best hotel booking site is one that has a flexible policy in case your plans change. If you’re trying to figure out how best to search for cheap hotels: First, scan this quick list of the best hotel search sites, in no particular order. Then, scroll down to read in-depth summaries of each or click to jump to a particular site.
No list of the best hotel booking sites is exhaustive, but these 15 represent a combination of great crowd favorites mixed with some newer, similarly performing hotel search options that you might not know about. All of them fared well in tests: Prices for the same dates and destinations were fairly consistent from site to site, but the volatility of results may vary based on your destination, how far in advance you’re looking for the best hotel deals, and the time of year you visit (i.e., high season vs. low). With that in mind, here are the best hotel booking sites to compare prices with for your next trip, plus the best feature of each one. Related:The 16 Best Car Rental Booking Sites SmarterTravel Hotelsguteksk7 | Adobe Stock & SmarterTravel HotelsEditor’s note: SmarterTravel Hotels is a sister site of SmarterTravel.com Best Feature: SmarterTravel Hotels has access to wholesale deals that you won’t find anywhere else.
Booking.comguteksk7 | Adobe Stock & Booking.comBest feature: The variety of property types and blended search results. Booking.com is a good hotel search site for a wide range of budgets.
Related:5 Secret Travel Benefits Your Credit Card Might Already Have Kayakguteksk7 | Adobe Stock & KayakBest feature: Clean, easy-to-use interface. It’s also one of the best hotel apps you can download onto your phone.
Pricelineguteksk7 | Adobe Stock & PricelineBest feature: The “Express Deal” feature is a major differentiator from other discount hotel sites. It’s a big plus if you’re looking for the best hotel deals and are open to not knowing exactly which hotel you’re booking.
BookingBuddyguteksk7 | Adobe Stock & BookingBuddyEditor’s note: BookingBuddy is owned by SmarterTravel Media, SmarterTravel.com’s parent company. Best Feature: BookingBuddy lets you compare vacation rentals and hotels at the same time, so you can see which is the better deal in your destination.
Related:The 12 Best Flight Search Sites for Booking Cheap Airfare Hotels.comguteksk7 | Adobe Stock & Hotels.comBest feature: Hotels.com offers more hotel search filters than most travelers could ever use, but it’s nice to have those options. You can filter hotel listings by everything from breakfast included, attractions, services, pool availability, distance to city center, as well as room type (apartment, guest houses, cottages), and much, much more, insuring you are getting exactly the kind of room you want.
HotelsCombinedguteksk7 | Adobe Stock & HotelsCombinedBest feature: The sheer volume of results makes this a good place to start your hotel search, but do be sure to scrutinize prices and options when you land on the actual hotel booking site to make sure they match.
Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitzguteksk7 | Adobe Stock & ExpediaBest feature: Dependability. Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz are the Honda Accords of hotel booking sites. You’ll reliably find what you need, at the best prices, and with minimal hassle. Just be sure to compare prices to a hotel booking site that’s outside the Expedia family.
Related:What to Do When the Host Cancels Your Vacation Rental Agodaguteksk7 | Adobe Stock & AgodaBest feature: A good selection of well-located places to stay, with some of the best hotel prices around.
Tripadvisorguteksk7 | Adobe Stock & TripadvisorBest feature: Tripadvisor gives users the unique ability to simultaneously research hotel reviews and compare prices from hotel booking sites.
Trivagoguteksk7 | Adobe Stock & TrivagoBest feature: Trivago’s mix of hotel sites searched is strong, and includes hotel sites that travelers may not have otherwise known about, which could result in finding some of the best hotel deals out there.
Related:9 Best Hotel Mattresses (and Affordable Dupes) That You Can Buy & Own
Hotwireguteksk7 | Adobe Stock & HotwireBest feature: Hot Rates that will put you up in a comfortable, if not four-star hotel, and for a two-star price.
TravelPonyguteksk7 | Adobe Stock & TravelPonyBest Feature: Wide variety of filtering options.
Related:Vacation Rentals vs. Hotels: Which is the Better Choice? Mr. & Mrs. Smithguteksk7 | Adobe Stock & Mr. and Mrs. SmithBest Feature: Mr. & Mrs. Smith serves boutique hotels throughout the world, so your search will result in more unique accommodations.
Which Hotel Booking Site Is Best for Me?Consider what type of trip you are taking. If you are open to the type of place you want to stay at, then consider a site with more diverse options. If you are torn between a hotel or vacation rental, BookingBuddy is the site for you, as it will search for both to help you make your decision. If you rely heavily on peer reviews, then go with TripAdvisor. Check our best features of each site above to decide which site is best for you to make your hotel reservation. For What is the Difference Between an Online Travel Agency (OTA) and Metasearch Engine?An OTA allows you to book directly through them, and does not send you outside of their site to make your booking. a Metasearch Engine (also known as an aggregator) searches multiple sites including OTA’s, and will send you to a site outside of the aggregator to finalize your booking. Is It Cheaper to Book Directly with a Hotel or With a Hotel Booking Site?It might be, but this option really only makes sense if you already have a hotel you love and you want to book. Otherwise, the fastest, cheapest way to book a hotel is going to be by using one of the hotel booking websites. You will waste a lot of time calling hotels to see if you can get a better deal, and who has time for that these days?! When Should I Book My Hotel?This really depends on your flexibility. If all you want is the best deal, and you aren’t picky about where the hotel is, waiting until the last minute (one to two days before you travel) could probably get you the best deal on your hotel. But, you might not want to risk that—I know I wouldn’t when planning a vacation! If you are booking for travel during peak times, book early so you don’t end up far away from where all of the action is, as hotels can book up quickly, especially during school vacation times. Related:12 Hotel Hacks That Will Save You Money Bottom LineWhat is the Best Hotel Booking Website?These days, we are inundated with choices, including the number of accommodation booking websites there are out there. These sites should all make your booking easier, but some will make it even easier. Our clear winner is HotelsCombined.com. It’s easy to read, you can choose from hotels and rentals, and its ability to search hotel sites gives it the edge over other sites. We’d be remiss if we didn’t also mention SmarterTravel Hotels as a runner-up—their prices were some of the cheapest we found. Booking.com is another solid runner-up, as they appear to have the other sites beat as far as the volume of hotels goes. Editor’s note: This story was originally published in 2016. It has been updated to reflect the most current information. You Might Also Like:• 9 Affordable Travel Gift Ideas for Under $25• The Best Black Friday and Cyber Monday Travel Deals • Program These Numbers Into Your Phone Before Traveling Internationally • The One Seat You Need To Avoid on a Plane • The 9 Best Sites to Book a Cruise We hand-pick everything we recommend and select items through testing and reviews. Some products are sent to us free of charge with no incentive to offer a favorable review. We offer our unbiased opinions and do not accept compensation to review products. All items are in stock and prices are accurate at the time of publication. If you buy something through our links, we may earn a commission. How do I find the cheapest night at a hotel?In this guide. Look for flexibility when booking.. Use review sites to check if the hotel's a dud.. Bag the best price using comparison sites.. Use cashback sites for up to 11% back.. Check loyalty schemes for mates' rates.. Airbnb can undercut hotels.. Book right to protect your holiday.. Pay the right way to get the best rates.. What is the best site for hotel rates?The Best Hotel Booking Sites. Expedia.. Orbitz.. Travelocity.. Priceline.. Hotwire.. Kayak.. Agoda.. Google Hotels.. Is it cheaper to book a hotel room directly?Advantages of Booking a Hotel Directly
You can often find better rates by booking directly, too — a concern for budget-conscious travelers. By calling a hotel directly, you find out about any specials perks or packages they have available. In some cases, you can get a better room for the same amount of money.
When can you get the cheapest hotel rates?The ideal amount of time to book a hotel room is only 15 days before your trip, according to a 2021 NerdWallet study. Looking at more than 2,500 hotel room rates between 2019 and 2021, NerdWallet found rates were about 13% cheaper when booked 15 days before compared to four months before.
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