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Why I LOVE Hotels.com

Discussion in 'Las Vegas for the Frugal (not Cheap)' started by theshaah, Nov 8, 2013.

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  1. theshaah

    theshaah High-Roller

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    I have been using hotels.com for a number of years now. I like how they average out your stays and give you an 11th night free after staying 10 nights at different hotels. I had a credit of up to 45 dollars that I just used on a FANTASTIC deal.

    I'm flying out tonight on a friday night on (free due to my employment in the airline industry) and staying 1 night at the Silver 7s through hotels.com for a GRAND total of approximately 3.56 plus a 3 dollar "Resort Fee"

    Normally I detest ANY resort fee but for a deal like this I'll bite the bullet and stay here. All I'm paying is the tax and the resort fee. All for just booking my normal hotel stays through hotels.com.

    I think this was a BIG mistake on their part as when I logged on they had a room rate 50 dollars cheaper than anyone else in town at 39.00 plus tax for a friday night. I booked as soon as I saw it. I then went back on the website and the hotel is no longer listed for sale so I must of gotten the last room at that rate. I logged onto silversevens.com and they list a deluxe room as going for 89.99 plus tax.

    I got a GREAT deal. 6.56 for 1 friday night AND 2 free breakfasts in the morning. Now I just have to find a great deal for saturday night and I'll be golden LOL.
     
  2. kps

    kps High-Roller

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    I definitely call that a win already. Hope it carries over while in Vegas.

    Enjoy!!
     
  3. sco5123

    sco5123 VIP Whale

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    Wow wonderful! I did not know about the 11th night free deal. excellent info.
     
  4. M_ILIS

    M_ILIS VIP Whale

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    Doesn't hotels.com add some sort of bullshit fees to their room rates? I recall one time having a promo code and the rooms on hotels.com were the same price as direct from the hotel's website, so I figured I'd use the code to get the room cheaper than direct from the hotel. But when it added up the price with tax and fees, the hotels.com total was way more than that the total from the hotel itself.
     
  5. tatterdema

    tatterdema VIP Whale

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    Hotels.com does not add any fee's. They make their money in commissions from the hotels. I don't know of any websites that add fee's except a few that add $5 for airline or packages.

    Like anything else though, you should shop around because the rates will vary from website to website, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot.
     
  6. makikiboy

    makikiboy VIP Whale

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    Actually I found Hotels.com to have some of the lowest rates in town. Maybe not for the high end strip hotels but I did find them low for downtown hotels. They also have a price matching guarantee, if you find a lower rate on another site they will give you the discount and credit your cc the difference. The fees added to the rates I think are normal fees that other sites also have to pay IMHO.

    I've been using hotels.com for the past 7 years and never encountered the problem that M mentioned. I do see some "scams", for instance some places like Palace Station, they quote low rates but when you click to continue with your reservation you find added fees tacked onto your bill to make it much higher than other hotels. Lots of times you don't see these charges until you are on the last page prior to paying so lots of times I go all the way though with the reservation to see the true price of my stay. wish they were upfront with all their charges instead of wasting my time but I guess they think that we got that far and so will pay the extra fees. For that I like Kayak because there is a box where you can click to see the total price of your stay, not just their advertised rates but total including all taxes and fees (except for scammer Palace Station though).

    For downtown hotels, I find hotels.com and booking.com to have the lowest rates, much of the time even lower than the downtown hotels themselves.

    I also book a lot from hotels.com and booking.com. I like booking.com because I don't have to pay upfront for many reservations, while hotels.com mostly requires upfront payment of your stay. I have used both sites reserving hotels in vegas, san fran, orlando, even in london.

    but then it is also a personal preference, some people rather go through the hotels themselves while others don't mind going through the third party sites.
     
  7. Joe

    Joe VIP Whale

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    I just booked my tenth night today for later in the month. There is a $ limit on how much you get free on the 11th booking?

    I assumed one night free no matter how much on the 11th booking.

    None of these are Vegas rooms, but we've been traveling a lot this year to other cities, besides Vegas.
     
  8. rgerards

    rgerards Low-Roller

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    the value of the Welcome Rewards (11th) night is the average of the 10 nights
     
  9. Joe

    Joe VIP Whale

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    Good to know, thanks! Most of our rooms were over priced to begin with, so maybe it might pay off for a July Seattle trip.

    Is there a way on the web site to figure out the value for the 11th night?
     
  10. theshaah

    theshaah High-Roller

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    Like others have stated. Hotels.com tends to have some of the lowest rates especially for downtown which is where I usually stay. I tried to find a decent room on saturday but was unable to find anything decent for less than 100 dollars so I booked downtown grand for 110 plus 11 resort fee (I shudder at the fact that I paid one) Then on sunday I found the same room at the same hotel was only 33 plus 11 resort fee. They charged 4 times the regular rate for saturday due to some BS car show in town and the fact that it was a holiday weekend I guess. I hate weekends in vegas but I had to go then because I couldn't go earlier in the week.

    All in all 3 nights Fri,Sat,and Sun for a total of 166 isn't too bad. Plus I now have a high 75 dollar average room cost on my hotels.com account.
     
  11. theshaah

    theshaah High-Roller

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    PS. I hit a 200 dollar quinella win on Sigma Derby at The D. So yes I did have good luck :)
     
  12. marksind

    marksind VIP Whale

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    Hotels.com

    Plus 1 for Hotels.com, particularly downtown as others note. But check out the other third-party sites as well (Expedia, Orbitz in particular). For some reason Travelocity doesn't seem to do too well with Vegas. There seems to be a war going on among these sites, with each constantly running some sort of "extra discount %." It's sometimes as high as 20% at Orbitz.

    Check RetailMeNot.com for the discount codes if you don't get the emails from these sites. I've found that the hotels won't match these special deals, despite their "lowest rate" web guarantees. Other than bookings involving comped nights, all mine have been through third-party sites this year.
     
  13. Matty Ice

    Matty Ice High-Roller

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    I got an awesome rate today of $17 for Friday 11/22 at the D. I was gonna head downtown for the evening and then cab it back at the end of the night to Monte Carlo, but for 17 bucks I'll get a room, crash there and take the Deuce back Saturday morning.

    :beer:
     
  14. mckevin32

    mckevin32 Low-Roller

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    Sincerely doubt there is any kind of war with hotels.com and expedia since expedia owns hotels.com.

     
  15. bmw420

    bmw420 Tourist

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    who pays for hotel rooms in vegas anyways. just gamble and get them for FREEEE :wink2:
     
  16. Busyman

    Busyman VIP Whale

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    I guess it depends on where you stay and if you want a particular spot.

    I've had better luck using Priceline and Hotwire. The drawback, of course, being you dunno where you are staying, just the area and the star rating.

    I use betterbidding to narrow it down.

    I recently used Hotwire for my stay this past weekend and it was 5-star South strip.

    Using betterbidding, the only hotels is could have been was Bellagio, Cosmo, or Aria.

    I had no problem with any of them and got Aria. Pure win and a low rate compared to what the hotels were charging.

    In Feb I got Vdara (better regular rooms than Aria imo) for $85 a night using Priceline (got fountainview too). Again, there I would've only got Vdara, Aria, or Cosmo according to betterbidding. The only drawback (or plus depending) is no clubs, buffet, or casino on site.
     
  17. Jimbo338

    Jimbo338 VIP Whale

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    I read the posts here while was monitoring a sale on Hotels.com for the El Cortez. when I bought my airfare a tower room would have cost me a little over $300plus tax for 8 nights, more than I paid last year and so I decided to wait, and saw the prices go over 400 bucks. Hotels.com was offering it for $375 and I was tempted but then after reading this tread I decided to check one more time. I was bummed to see Hotels.com ended their sale and was now over $400. So I tried Travelocity and booked 8 nights in Feb. for 358.84. I can cancel if something better comes along but I security of airfare and a place to stay. I wonder why this feb finds hotels so much more than the last couple of years. wELL, thanks again.

    Jimbo338
     
  18. hanoscf

    hanoscf High-Roller

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    I've become a big fan of Trivago.com. It checks mulitple sites and finds the best price. And it's incredibly easy to use. Try it.
     
  19. Jimbo338

    Jimbo338 VIP Whale

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    Someone mentioned them in another post and I tried them and they didn't have anything for my needs. They all work or don't work depending on lots of different circumstances which is why you just have to do the legwork.......you just never know where you will find that next great deal! I keep checking til I'm ready to board the aircraft.

    jimbo338
     
  20. makikiboy

    makikiboy VIP Whale

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    I just tried trivago and am not impressed with them. The problem is that they don't include all taxes and fees in their searches so you think you are getting a deal but really aren't. You have to read the fine print on the hotel to find out how much more you have to pay.

    I like Kayak better, there is a check box on the side where you can ask to include all taxes and fees when doing your search so for most hotels it will list the hotel at the actual rate you will pay, including all taxes and fees. Note, some hotels like palace station do not include their fees on kayak so it looks like a better deal than others.

    For instance, I checked on the D for a particular date. trivago listed $21 a night for january, not a bad price but when you go to the particular web site (hotels.com in this instance), the fine print there says that it doesn't include the taxes and regular daily fees. The actual price is more like $42 a day. When I go through kayak and check the "include all taxes and fees" it lists the D as $42 a day, closer to the actual rate you will pay.

    Trivago needs to have a check box that includes all taxes and fees to compete with Kayak. otherwise I will never use trivago. Kayak also allows searches for cars and hotels which trivago doesn't. Trivago needs to step it up if they want to compete with sites like kayak IMHO.
     
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