Hotels

Price-comparison websites provide a short cut to wading through the online agents to find the best deal. You can either use them to give you as wide an overview as possible of all the hotels available in a destination (you can typically find twice as many listed on a price comparison website as on a single on-line agent). Or, if you already have a hotel in mind, you can search on the name, and the dates you want to stay. Then you will see which agent is offering the best rate. (If you have already chosen your hotel, see also step five, below, so that you can see what rates the hotel itself is offering on its own website for those dates - they may be higher, or lower than the agents).

Note that all the price comparison sites search slightly different selections of hotel provider websites, so it’s worth spending a few minutes checking them all.

travelsupermarket.com -Trawls for deals with the most providers, and provides TripAdvisor ratings and guidebook reviews. You have to state a hotel star rating before it will do a search which isn’t very helpful, and summary information and the map opens in a separate window, which is a little clunky.

kayak.co.uk - Very clean and simple presentation and clear summaries of the hotel location and standard on search results page. Cheapest result for each hotel is shown but click on the “select” button under the prices to compare what’s offered by different agents.

Many hotels offer their best deals through on-line agents - indeed rates can sometimes be as much as 50 per cent lower than for booking direct on the hotel’s own website (though, occasionally, they can be more expensive - see step five below). Such agents also feature dozens, and sometimes hundreds, of hotels in a particular city or resort, and their search facilities let you see at a glance a choice of properties that may suit your needs. More and more agents also post up reviews from previous guests, which can help you judge the quality of the place you're thinking of booking.

Note that most hotels appear on several agents' websites: it's always worth getting a number of quotes (or using a price comparison site - see step one), as prices for the same hotel can vary significantly. When comparing prices, be sure to establish whether breakfast and local taxes are included in quotes - it's not always clear - and check carefully you're happy with the cancellation terms before you book. And remember that some sites charge fees for booking with a credit card. If you are thinking of booking flights or car hire as well as a hotel, skip to step three, below, for online agents.

lastminute.com - Especially good for UK hotel deals, including cut-price "Top Secret Hotels" (you're not told the hotel's name until you've paid), and hotel/theatre and hotel/theme park packages.

booking.com - Rivalling hotels.com in the numbers game, this is another site with a huge choice - over 71,000 hotels in 71 countries.

laterooms.com - The best of the sites for late deals, particularly for UK and European stays. Big discounts are often available, with savings off hotels’ rack rates shown; consider the cut-price selection of "Secret Rooms" if you're happy not to be told the name of the hotel until after you've booked.

agoda.com - A leading Asia specialist which searches 9,000 city and resort hotels in all price brackets, most in India, China and Thailand. Owned by the American site priceline.com and so also offers its worldwide selection of hotels.

quikbook.com - Excellent deals for stays in the main US cities, especially New York.

totalstay.com - choice of hotels in European resorts and cities, and strong in Australia and the US.

hotels.com - This offshoot of Expedia has a vast inventory: 100,000 hotels worldwide, over 1,700 in Paris alone, for example. Excellent search options to help meet your requirements, clear pricing, guest reviews and ratings, and properties marked up on maps.

octopustravel.com - Not the biggest database - about 44,000 hotels - but very slick place and date search, and good, detailed information on each hotel (though you have to click to get this). Includes ratings and reviews from TripAdvisor.

superbreak.com - UK hotels and theatre breaks are its strength, so worth checking for short breaks in the UK.

opodo.co.uk - Database of 65,000 hotels worldwide, strongest in cities. Particularly easy to filter for price preferences, and useful tab to plot locations on Google maps.

While many of the agencies in step two will book airport hotels, there are some sites which specialise in them, and also offer deals on extras such as parking, and entrance to airport club lounges.

holidayextras.co.uk - One of the leading sites and my first port of call when booking airport hotels.

aph.com - Covers hotels and other services at all the main UK airports and always worth trying to compare quotes with holidayextras.

The following companies not only offer on-line hotel-only bookings, but also tailor-made packages combining the hotel booking with flights, car hire and so forth. Not only can this be convenient, but bundling the various parts of the booking together and paying for them in one transaction, often works out cheaper than booking them separately, and gives you increased legal rights and financial protection.

expedia.co.uk - Offers a vast choice of hotels (80,000 worldwide) often at great rates, good search filters, excellent detail on hotels (including virtual tours for many), and extensive reviews.

ebookers.com - Sophisticated site which searches about 65,000 hotels worldwide. Very good summary information on location, amenities etc - you click on the tabs to see this. User reviews of hotels are still fairly thin on the ground, however.

travelrepublic.co.uk - A quality agent offering a variety of travel services - from tailor-made holidays to hotel-only bookings. Offers over 60,000 hotels, apartments and villas in major holiday destinations around the world, and has lowest-price guarantee.

For really cheap rooms - either in hostels, or small budget hotels and b&bs, two sites feature a very wide range of options. Both display helpful ratings for cleanliness, location, security, staff and so forth, based on previous guests' feedback, along with guests' reviews.

hostelworld.com - Huge choice of over 20,000 hostels and budget hotels in 170 countries worldwide. Note that it charges a small booking fee or service charge, so when comparing prices with other sites you need to look at the bottom line, to be sure which is offering the best deal.

hostelbookers.com - Only half as many properties as hostelworld, but still a good choice of over 2,500 destinations, and it doesn’t charge a booking fee.

If you want to be absolutely sure how good a deal you are getting, make sure you also go to the hotel's own website, and establish the best rate for booking direct. Then, if you choose to shop around with online agents, you know what you're trying to beat. Also bear in mind that cancellation terms are often far less punitive for bookings that are made direct with a hotel than through a third party. Moreover, hotels' own websites may well give you more comprehensive and accurate information than you'll find on agents' websites.

The following are examples of big hotel chains that promise their best deals are available through their own websites:

marriott.co.uk - Reliable chain of 2,800 upmarket city and resort hotels in 70 countries.

travelodge.co.uk - Would be my second choice to Premier Inn for a low cost room. Has 380 hotels in UK, Ireland and Spain.

hilton.co.uk - Just over 3,000 mainly high end hotels worldwide, grouped under several brands including Conrad, Waldorf Astoria and Doubletree as well as Hilton.

The following websites are highly selective about the accommodation they feature, and offer often insightful reviews. They either give you the hotel website address, or they take or facilitate bookings, while promising you will end up paying no more than if you turn directly to the hotels (though you might still find better deals through online agents).

mrandmrssmith.com - Style-savvy yet practical reviews (best rooms are highlighted, for example) of boutique and luxury hotels, ideal for naughty and/or indulgent stays.

travelintelligence.com - Well-presented assessments of appealing hotels in all price brackets around the world, written by travel journalists and professional hotel reviewers.

i-escape.com - Concentrates on chic, small-scale hotels and b&bs. The excellent professional reviews, which are based on detailed inspections, go in to exhaustive detail and point out drawbacks.