We've all heard about Booking.com by now. This website lets travelers book any hotel they like, not just anywhere in the world but at the lowest available rates. How does Booking.com do it? Is it legitimate? What's the catch?
Well, you'll be pleased to hear that Booking.com is fully legitimate and there's no catch. . These aggregate websites, as they are called, are actually a win-win-win situation for all parties concerned. Booking.com has shaken up the travel industry with their successful online platform and happily, everybody benefits.
For starters, hotel owners are happy, because they get much more bookings, and hence increased revenues, than when relying on traditional marketing. Of course Booking.com earns some commission from the system they operate, so Booking.com is happy too.
But, best of all, travelers can more easily find a hotel of their liking without having to browse endless brochures or websites to compare and contrast complex pricing structures or confusing websites. And the rooms on Booking.com are actually cheaper than when you book a room from the hotel website direct! So travelers are happy too.
But how can room rates be lower on Booking.com than on the actual hotel website itself? There are a few reasons for this. Let's go over them one by one.
First of all, Booking.com books their listed hotel rooms in bulk from the all participating hotels. That means Booking.com receives much lower rates from the hotels than average travelers do. But the other reason Booking.com secures a lower rate from the hotels in question is because Booking.com carries out all administration duties that hotels would otherwise have to do themselves, including all payment processes.
In effect, this means that the hotels may perhaps earn a little less per room booked than a regular booking, but their Booking.com revenues come with significantly lower administration overheads. In other words, life for all participating hotels is a lot easier with Booking.com.
Booking.com's main benefits for travelers, apart of course from the lower room rates, are the fact that it's much easier to select a hotel that meets with your preference and budget. There are various search filters that can be used to narrow down the many choices to just the hotels and just the rooms and just the price that you want.
In addition, only available rooms are displayed, so there's no irrelevant results that only clutter and confuse. In fact, when you do a search, you'll see only the rooms you need, at the exact budget you set.
The other great benefit of Booking.com is that by now it offers a wealth of hotel reviews from previous guests pertaining to hotel service, room size, cleanliness, value for money and general satisfaction. What better way to find out how great a hotel is than by hearing it from others?
You're also be able to tell instantly when your preferred hotel is in danger of being fully booked, because the number of still available rooms is always stated whilst booking your room. And, if all this is not enough, Booking.com offers a
Best Price Guarantee and a Book-now-Pay-later policy.
Check out Booking.com's lowest room rates
on this link.
