Tips before booking a hotel room online

Weather of Arabia - Many book their hotel rooms through hotel reservation portals. A specialized German magazine recommends comparing prices on hotel booking portals and hotel websites directly, because the latter are sometimes cheaper.

Contrary to what many people think, online hotel booking portals do not always offer the best room rates. In fact, direct booking with the hotel is often cheaper. For this reason, the traveler should always compare the reservation prices with those published on the website of the hotel itself, according to the German travel magazine "Rise und Praise" (flights and prices).

In its latest issue, the magazine compared nine online booking portals. In one portal, the offers submitted were in 13 out of 20 cases more favorable than the prices published on hotel websites. On the other hand, the gate offers were more expensive in 17 out of 20 cases than direct booking with the hotel. In the end, the magazine said the results were tied between the booking portal and the prices published by hotels.

However, this means that offers must be studied and comparisons made between the portal and the hotel website based on rules such as room and breakfast category and cancellation conditions. It is also worth comparing the gates themselves. In one case, the room rate was €90 ($106) cheaper than the offer on another portal.