That applies to airlines too

It pretty much always costs more going direct though, which is counterintuitive and annoying. Unless you call and negotiate which I ain’t doing.

All the hotel brands offer best price guarantees where they will give you a discount if you are able to reserve with a lower price elsewhere.

The reservation systems are setup so that the pricing that goes out to priceline and Expedia is higher than what is on the hotel brand’s website.

https://www.marriott.com/look/claimForm.mi

https://www.hyatt.com/info/best-rate-guarantee

https://www.hilton.com/en/p/price-match-guarantee/

https://www.ihg.com/content/us/en/customer-care/best-price-g...

https://www.choicehotels.com/deals/best-rate

https://www.wyndhamhotels.com/hotel-deals/best-rate-guarante...

https://www.radissonhotels.com/en-us/best-rate-guarantee

Unless you do a “mystery” deal, where you can save a ton in exchange for some uncertainty.

It’s always worked pretty well for me, tbh.

Those are called opaque rates in the business, but not comparable to being able to reserve a hotel room directly via a website for less than the hotel’s own website.

It does mean when people/hotels say “you’ll get the lowest/best rates direct so don’t use an OTA”, that’s a lie/not exactly true.

They don’t like it when you book through a travel agent, but they really have a love/hate opinion when you book an express/mystery deal

A reasonable context of “you’ll get the lowest/best rates direct so don’t use an OTA” is reserving a specific type of room at a specific hotel at a specific time.

It is unusual to be willing to gamble on which hotel one is reserving in exchange for an uncertain amount of savings.

They usually publish what the discount is, but yes, there is uncertainty in which hotel you’re getting.

The problem with that is they don't honor most of the deals. A lot of the OTAs do the 'member only' 'mobile only' etc style deals which are not covered.

That said I would book direct from Hilton but every time I do they only allow pay later which in certain currencies, I'd rather not risk (Looking at Japan right now). I'd rather pay now and lock in the rate.

Can you give an example?

I have never been able to find an Expedia/Priceline price that is lower than the Hyatt/Hilton/Marriott/IHG/etc rewards member price. And being a rewards member is free, so effectively you get cheaper prices directly.

I also do not see how it would be technically possible. The hotel brands’ reservations systems are surely set to offer a discounted price on their own website than they send out to Expedia/Booking.

> they only allow pay later which in certain currencies, I'd rather not risk (Looking at Japan right now). I'd rather pay now and lock in the rate.

Hiltons are usually individually owned and managed. I would try emailing the front desk and see if they will accept a prepayment from you. I was able to prepay a Hilton in Hawaii earlier this year by contacting the front desk.

my experience is the opposite. i want to book direct, but OTAs are 70% of the time cheaper. Its "technically possible" because the OTAs in most cases have contract terms that prevent the hotel from undercutting their negotiated rates, at least in advertised online prices.

OTAs do not have negotiated rates.

The hotel owner/management sets the price, or the automating rate setting programming sets the price based on its parameters and shop of other hotels in the “comp set” (competing hotels in the area). This rate is the “best available rate” (BAR) or “best flexible rate” (BFR), and there may be a prepaid non refundable discount rate option too.

The OTAs then get this pricing information via the central reservation system and then either sell a reservation where the guest pays the OTA the BFR, and the OTA pays the hotel 85% (typically). Or the OTA offers the guest to pay the the hotel directly, in which case the hotel pays the OTA 15% commission.

Either way, it is all very automated, and there is no specific negotiated pricing. But the big brands will typically offer 2% to 6% or so discount (depending on how much hotel management wants to do) on their BFR/BAR pricing as a “rewards member” discount, as a way to avoid paying 15% to Expedia/Booking.

Restricting it to rewards members avoids the hotel from violating any agreement with the online travel agent that they also get the same BFR/BAR as everyone else.

i mean you're just proving my point. They all involve onerous claim forms, or having to call... and just read and try and navigate all the conditions and caveats on those links. No thanks, i never want to navigate that mess, who has time for that? So it ends up being, you can instantly and effortlessly book for _cheaper_ with an OTA vs the hotel website, or you can navigate some byzantine claims process and _maybe_ it ends up being cheaper if your claim is accepted.

Its not a real option for most people who value their time, and thats by design.

Can you show me an example of an Expedia or Booking price that is cheaper than a rewards member price from the hotel brand’s official website? A specific major branded hotel, on a specific date, specific room type, where the price is less on OTA versus the official hotel brand website.

Note that it is free to be a member of a hotel rewards programs, and requires giving the hotel brand no additional information, so the rewards member price is the effective price for a hotel brand.

For work travel, you may not have a choice. (I can and do book directly when I sort of have to but I shouldn't and don't make a habit of it as it's against policy.) And you run into small foreign hotels that aren't really set up to take direct reservations especially from those who don't speak/read the language.