American Web Hotels

courtesy oracle.com

So far, I have said that Hotels.com has the best price match guarantee. I thought I’d analyze their policy a little further and compare it to all the price match guarantees from all of the main hotel booking sites.

Hotels.com

And unlike some of our competitors, we will match the price right up to the time of the property’s cancellation deadline, whether that is three days after you made the booking or three months. So stop worrying and start booking.

• You must have already booked a prepaid reservation.
• This reservation cannot be for one of our non-discounted properties.
• The lower rate must be available for booking with identical specifications of the original request (ex: same hotel, same date and same room type.

…The guarantee applies only to the cost of booked travel, as presented in the hotels.com search results, without including taxes and fees.

“…right up to the time of the property’s cancellation deadline.” Any time you see a price match guarantee on the hotel, it means that hotels.com will match it up until the property’s own cancellation deadline, which I have found to be 1-3 days before the check-in day. Not all of Hotels.com’s hotels qualify for this guarantee, but most do. For a hotel search in the Colorado Springs area, 39 of the 55 hotels had the price match guarantee.

“…without including taxes and fees.” What this means is that this price match does not look at the total price, which would include taxes and fees. Considering that the only main difference in pricing among all the major hotel booking sites consists of taxes and fees, this price match policy isn’t much of a price match policy at all. However, after speaking to 3 different Hotels.com customer service representatives, each of them told me that they’d look at the total price. When I pointed out to “without including taxes and fees” in the terms and conditions each of them seemed surprised but reiterated that they’d still match the total price, which includes taxes and fees. What to make of this? Maybe, if the price difference for your reservation is marginal, they look at the total price. If the difference is too large, they might just point out what’s in the terms and conditions.

Expedia.com

It’s simple! Expedia guarantees you’re getting the best price. If you should find a better price online for the same trip within 24 hours, Expedia will refund the difference—and give you a travel coupon worth $50.

Except as noted below, the Best Price Guarantee applies only to the cost of booked travel, as presented in the Expedia.com search results, without including any taxes and fees.

I called Expedia (which has the same prices as hotels.com), they told me that they’d also match the total price, including taxes and fees. When I pointed out to them that the terms and conditions state that the guarantee excludes taxes and fees, they told me that they’d match the price difference regardless. What to make of this? Again, like hotels.com, my guess is that if your price difference is small, they’ll look at the total price. If the price difference is large, they must just ignore you by pointing out what’s in the terms and conditions.

Cheaptickets.com

It took some haggling and arm-twisting, but we’re confident that any hotel rate backed by our Best Price Guarantee is the lowest online. If you book a prepaid hotel rate that’s backed by our Best Price Guarantee, and then find the same room, in the same hotel, for the same dates, at a lower price online within 24 hours, we’ll refund the difference.

There is no mention of whether this takes into account taxes and fees, but I’m afraid that Cheaptickets official policy is to not look at the total price (including taxes and fees), seeing that Orbitz, its sister site does not look at taxes and fees…

Orbitz.com

With Low Price Guarantee, if you find a lower rate, before taxes and fees, for the same hotel, room type, and check-in and check-out dates on Orbitz or any other Web site within 24 hours following your confirmed reservation on Orbitz.com, Orbitz will refund you the difference upon verification you have qualified for a refund. In addition, with Orbitz Price Assurance, ANYTIME after you have booked your hotel, if another Orbitz customer subsequently books the same hotel, meaning the same check-in/check-out dates, room type, room description, number of rooms, number of travelers, at the same hotel and subject to the same restrictions, that is at least $5 lower than the hotel you booked on Orbitz.com, Orbitz will refund you the difference up to a maximum of $500.00 per reservation.

Travelocity.com

If you find a Qualifying Lower Rate within twenty four hours (found on Travelocity or another U.S.-based Web site) of your booking, we will provide you with the following per booking:

• One $50 Promo Code for a future “Good Buy” Hotel or Flight + Hotel vacation package booking on Travelocity and
• A refund of the difference between the price you paid through Travelocity and the Qualifying Lower Rate.

The Low Price Guarantee applies only to the base cost, and not taxes and fees (or service fees), of standalone Flight, Hotel, Car, and Cruise bookings. For such bookings, any service fee or tax recovery charge is not considered in determining whether you have found a Qualifying Lower Rate.

Gtahotels.com

We are so confident that you won’t find a better rate elsewhere that we offer a 100% guarantee. If you find exactly the same deal online elsewhere for less we will match the other price and we will refund you 100% of the difference.

Price Match Refund Request Form located below must be filled out and sent within 24 hours of making your reservation.

After speaking to their customer service representative, he told me that their price match guarantee applies to the total price, including taxes and fees.

Booking.com

Should you find your hotel room, with the same booking conditions, at a lower rate on the internet after you have booked, we’ll match it. Just contact us within 24 hours of booking, with details of the website.

After speaking to their customer service representative, they told me that their guarantee applies to the total price, including taxes and fees.

Reservetravel.com

All hotel reservations are guaranteed to be the lowest rate available, at the time of booking, for the dates requested and the same hotel. If you find a lower rate for the same dynamics the process is simple: Submit our Rate Guarantee Form within 24 hours of making the booking with us. We will either refund the difference or cancel the reservation without penalty.

Although I haven’t yet confirmed whether their low price guarantee looks at the total price, I’ll update this page when I get a response from them.

Hotelclub.com

None

Easyclicktravel.com

None

Conclusion: Price match guarantees from the major booking sites are not as glamorous as they seem. Hotels.com, Expedia.com, Travelocity.com, Orbitz.com, and quite possibly Cheaptickets.com only look at the base price (excluding taxes and fees) to determine if your reservation applies for a price match guarantee. This is disturbing considering that taxes and fees are the only things which make prices different among these sites. The base prices for hotels, from all these sites, is, if not the same, very very similar.

Although Gtahotels.com, Booking.com, and possibly Reservetravel.com say that they look at the total price, I’m not 100% sure that they honor their promises.