How to Save When Booking Hotels -- Savings Experiment

With loads of options and reviews, online travel agencies can be useful resources for your next trip, but if you're using them to book a hotel, you might be paying too much. Let's take a look at a few reasons why.

First, did you know that online travel agencies charge hotels up to 30 percent to be listed on their sites? As a result, the hotels don't profit as much on those bookings. So, if you book with a hotel directly, the hotel saves more and you can too.

Hotels are not legally allowed to undercut online travel agencies, but if you call them directly there are no regulations. Chances are they will match the lowest price you find, or sweeten the deal with things like a room upgrade or free WiFi.

Finally, when you book directly, you also get more choice and flexibility. Hotels only set aside a certain amount of rooms for online travel agencies, but they typically keep the best rooms for themselves to sell directly.

By calling the hotel you can book a room that's better than what you would've gotten online. Best of all, if you have any issues with your reservation, you'll be connected to the hotel and not an automated number.

So, before you make reservations, remember these tips. When you book directly with a hotel, you might be surprised by how much you can save.

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