Proof it's always best to book a hotel direct

By Mark Palmer of the Daily Mail

Online hotel booking websites are good at making you think you're getting a bargain. And they want you to move fast because they have it, "there are only two rooms left" and the hotel is experiencing "high demand".

But last week, the United Kingdom 's Competition Authority and Markets Authority (CMA) announced that it will take "enforcement action to end misleading sales tactics, hidden charges and other practices in the hotel market.

And it made a point of naming booking.com, Expedia, agoda.com, hotels.com and Ebookers among others under the auspices of the marketplace. how much that hotel has paid in commission.

But many people think that this is too little too much and they will not be able to tell you that the online agents will clean up their act.

"Many people are unaware that they will often get a worse deal than if they book directly with the hotel," says Adam Raphael, editor of the Good Hotel Guide.

"We will have a look at the fine print of any new laws, but these will be more important." new code of conduct. "

Online travel agencies, which have been given up in the UK to change their ways, account for half of all European hotel bookings, and the commissions they levy on hotels range from 15 to 30 per cent.

Even finding the official website of a hotel can be difficult. Where do you go when you're in the business of doing business? When do you think it is a booking agent, and when they say that they are looking for for the same day, but that is unlikely to be the case.

It's also worth remembering that these agencies practically run the whole show. Expedia and Booking Hotels between 95% of the hotels.

Expedia, scheduled to move from headquarters in the United States to Seattle in the US, was launched as a division of Microsoft in 1996 before being sold on 2001. Since then, it has taken over the reins of online affiliates, such as tripadvisor .com, hotels.com, trivago.com, travelocity.com and hotwire.com.

Booking Holdings, which was last updated in 1997 and became public only two years later. Based in Norwalk, Connecticut, its revenues in 2017 amounted to nearly 10 trillion pounds ($ 18.8b). Its subsidiaries include booking.com, Kayak, agoda.com, cheapflights.com, rentalcars.com and opentable.com.

Google and TripAdvisor has a per-click fee – often as much as 2.50 pounds – for every click that makes it to their sites, regardless of whether it leads to a booking.

David Farrance, 54, and his wife Louise, 50, runs Frog Street Farmhouse, near Taunton, has a B & B for ten years. But their experiences with booking sites made them give up at Christmas in a self-catering basis, using a local agency.

"They made our lives a misery," says Mr Farrance.

For example, the Farrances had been paying 70 pounds to 90 pounds ($ 130- $ 170) a month to the agencies in click-through fees, usually picking up a dozen bookings in the process.

Then, suddenly, they had 40 clicks from India and 21 clicks from Japan. Their monthly bill almost doubled, but not one booking was produced.

"I told you they were not legitimate, but they did not want to know they just said: 'If you do not like it you can always cancel your contract.'

"The Farrances also had an issue with Expedia, where there was a double booking due to a glitch on Frog Street's booking platform.

"Expedia found the guests a place to stay which cost 240 pounds ($ 450) rather than our 120 pounds ($ 225) and said we would have to pay the difference, even though there are cheaper places nearby. a business like bear. "

The online sites are undeniably fast and efficient, but what they tell you and the promises of 'best price available' are clearly meant to pressurize guests into booking.

Daily Mail contact for information about a double room on February 20.

Each time we were offered a better deal than the price given by the online agents.

This comes as no surprise because it is so in the interests of so. While it might not be a cheaper upfront price, it could not be more expensive to entice you to book direct so they do not have to pay the booking fee.

When you go there, you may want to have a room, perhaps one with a bath rather than shower or one overlooking the garden.

You have no such control when booking with an online agent. So do not fall for the alarmist language. Pick up the phone and speak to someone. It will pay off.

This story originally appeared in the Daily Mail