I've also found I could get the same deal or better when I book directly with the hotel. And when I check in, if I've booked with a third party booker, it's impossible to change the reservation at the hotel itself, and things that are normally free (like wifi or a ride to the airport) suddenly cost extra. Many hotels hate the outside bookers and either lose money on those bookings or don't make as much, and they're happy to split the booker's fee with the customer who books directly.

If people realized how much money of their hotel booking was going to Google and the OTAs, they would piss their pants. It is an excessive, useless, and largely avoidable tax.

* also note it’s driven substantial consolidation in the hotel industry, because big companies like Marriott can just rake in their direct bookings.

You'd think that by walking in or calling you could get the price around 10% below booking.com or Agoda, but it's almost never the case from my experience booking budget accommodation in Europe & Asia. Most of time they offer standard rate which is _higher_ than what you'd find on OTA.

Booking (iirc) forbids hotels from having better deals on their own site than what they offer on booking.

It's even worse when you just want to find a menu for a restaurant.

Alas for this task, Google seems best. Just take a look at the photos of the place in Google Maps. The menu is usually there.