We all know that finding a good deal on accommodation is hard and can take much time. Read about these 6 websites that will save you both time and money next time you’re looking into reserving a hotel or hostel.
First, let’s talk about hotels.
1. Booking.com
Booking.com is great because it offers a wide variety of options for cheap hotels and hostels. The prices are normally lower than even on the hotel’s website, with a lot of deals and discounts on top of that. Also, you can book accommodation without your credit card info. In addition, canceling a reservation is free up until 48 hours before check-in.
TIP: feel free to book at Booking.com if you see a good offer, if something better comes up, simply cancel your previous booking. Only don’t forget about it!
2. Trivago
This aggregator of hotel and hostel booking sites allows you to compare lots of travel sites like Expedia and Booking.com on a single site. After you’ve found an interesting option, it takes you to the site where this offer is, where you see whether it’s what you are looking for.
3. Priceline
Priceline has a great tool called Name your own price. First, you should search for a hotel. The site gives you the results pretty similar to other sites. After that, you can establish a price that you’d like to pay for a particular category (number of stars) in a certain area that you would like to stay in. At this stage you give your credit card information, wait (and hope). If your bid is accepted, the reservation will be made, and Priceline will charge you for it. Users say that the prices there are unbelievably cheap. However, you won’t know where you are staying up until your card has been charged. Don’t worry – the hotel category and area are guaranteed. It works best in the USA because abroad there aren’t too many hotels participating yet. What is more, you can use “name your own price” to pay for rental cars and flights.
4. Expedia
Expedia is one of the leaders in the segment of travel booking sites; you can use it to find flights, hotels, car rentals, etc. Two great features attract people to Expedia. The first one is the ability to pay using your local currency to avoid transaction and exchange fees if you’re going abroad; and the second one is cancelation of your reservation for free in many cases.
Now we’ll tell you about sites for finding hostels.
5. Hostelworld
Hostelworld is probably the best website for booking hostels. If in the country you’re going to, there is even one hostel, chances are that you will find it on Hostelworld. This site always gives you a lot of options to choose from with filters to compare prices and see reviews from other guests. They used to charge 2 dollars per booking but now the cost of using Hostelworld is the same comparing the hostel’s website, if not cheaper.
6. Hostelbookers
Lastly, check out Hostelbookers. Compering to Hostelworld, there are fewer options, but often they are a bit cheaper here. You can save several cents or maybe a couple of dollars per night, but at the end of a day, this can make a huge difference.
Some other sites to book accommodation:
Hotels.com: it’s also one of the leaders in the segment of hotel search. The main advantage of using it is that you get a free night after paying for 10 nights.
Agoda: great for traveling around Asia. They have a lot of options to choose from and low rates.
OneTravel: big selection of hotels (mainly in the USA) frequent promotions.
Tripadvisor: you can find some good deals on here.
STA: focuses on student travel. The accommodation prices are usually average, but you can find cheap airline tickets for students.
Bonus: Airbnb
A well-known service for travelers, Airbnb allows you to rent a room, apartment, or even a full house. It’s like Couchsurfing, except you have to pay. It’s a great way of finding a unique place to stay, and you can also save some money in touristic destinations where hotels or hostels too expensive or busy.
What is more, on Airbnb, you will be hosted by a local, and maybe they will be your guide there or you could just get a few useful insights. It’s easy to use, too, as it works like any other hotel booking site.
You can also make money with Airbnb if you can rent out an apartment, room, van, or even a tent.