After booking air tickets, the next thing is to look out for cheap hotel deals. Here’s some tips on how to start looking for cheap hotels using the online hotel booking websites like Wotif.com and Agoda.com.
Wotif
Wotif.com is usually my first website stop when looking for hotel promotions. What I like best about Wotif.com is that you get an ‘instant’ overview of the hotels and their rates all summarized in a table form. This gives me an excellent ‘baseline’ comparison of the current hotel promotions, and to-date, I have not found another website that does this as comprehensively as Wotif.com. And on more than one occasion, I have been very tempted to try the ‘WOT Hotel’ deals – mystery hotels at special deals.
WOT hotel mystery deal allows hotels listed on Wotif.com to drop their prices so low (lower than their hotel chain or group) that they have to hide their brand name. It’s quite thrilling as you only get to know the hotel’s name after you have made a booking. However, right from the start before you make the reservation, you know the general information of the hotel location and its star rating. For example, you’ll know it’s a 5-star hotel in Bali.
Wotif.com works great for me when my holiday dates are more flexible – they show hotel rates according to the days in that week, and I can also choose to view rates for the next couple of weeks. So when I am really keen to save and my travel dates are flexible, I like having the option of choosing the days of the week where the hotel offers are the lowest. So far, I have found the KL hotel promotions on wotif.com comprehensive.
Despite its great rates, I usually want to check out other websites for reviews and more information about the hotels. For this, I switch to Agoda.com.
Agoda
I like Agoda.com because it allows me to search for hotels according to several categories such as Best Value for Money, Best Location, Best Hotel Cleanliness/Condition etc. Although I know such categories are subjective, I like the option of reading up on reviews left by users who have stayed in that hotel.
I also like the map function that helps me orientate myself around the main areas of the place I’ll be traveling in relation to the hotels I was looking at. When I compared Agoda’s rates with the rack rates offered on the official hotel’s websites, I liked the fact that the online rates offered by Agoda.com were noticeably lower in most cases.
I especially liked their Special Offers page for limited time deals for hotel promotions such as stay for 2 days and get 30% off etc. The online booking facility was easy to use, and based on the numerous reviews by other users who had used it, I felt safe providing my credit card details.
The best part about Agoda.com is that it gives me cash back rewards that I can redeem for my next online hotel booking with them. Given the wide range of hotel offerings in many cities, this is a nice plus point for me.
