Best Hotel Booking Sites Compared

The old advice was simple: search on the big sites, then call the hotel and ask for a better rate. In Europe, the rules behind that advice changed in 2024, and the answer to “where should I book?” now depends more on cancellation terms and loyalty than on the headline price.

This guide takes the three booking sites we work with and puts them up against the option none of them like to mention: booking direct with the property.

Four questions to ask before you book anywhere

1. What happens if I cancel? Not “is it refundable” but: until when, to what payment method, and in cash or credit?
2. Who do I call if something goes wrong? The site, the property, or both?
3. Does this stay earn me anything? Hotel-chain points and elite benefits often depend on where you booked.
4. Is this actually the lowest price for these conditions? Same room, same breakfast, same cancellation window.

The rest of this guide answers those four for each option.

Booking.com: biggest choice, clear cancellation labels

Booking.com Partner is the default for most travellers outside the US for good reason: huge inventory, from chain hotels to guesthouses and apartments, and cancellation conditions shown on every rate.

Cancellation. The key thing to understand from Booking.com’s customer terms is that the cancellation and no-show policy belongs to the property, not to Booking.com. The site displays it and processes it, but the property sets it. Read the rate you choose, not the hotel’s general description.

Payment. Some bookings are paid to Booking.com, others to the property on arrival. The terms say that when the property charges you, it is usually in person at the start of your stay, though some properties charge at booking or check-out; the booking page shows which.

Loyalty. Genius is Booking.com’s programme. Level 1 unlocks when you sign in and gives 10% off at participating properties, before taxes and charges. Level 2 needs five stays within two years and offers 10 to 15% discounts plus free breakfast or room upgrades at participating properties. “Participating” is doing a lot of work in those sentences.

Price match. Booking.com’s terms include a “We Price Match” promise: find the same accommodation with the same conditions cheaper on another website after booking, and it will refund the difference, subject to its terms.

Best for: choice, and independent properties that don’t have a usable booking engine of their own.

Expedia: strongest when you bundle

Expedia Partner makes most sense when the hotel is part of a bigger purchase, such as a flight-and-hotel package. Its One Key programme spans Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo, and hotel stays earn OneKeyCash at a rate that rises with your tier, according to Expedia’s One Key explainer (Blue, Silver, Gold and Platinum). The One Key terms set the rate on eligible Expedia hotel bookings at 1% for Blue, 2% for Silver and Gold and 3% for Platinum, before taxes and fees; flights, including the flight part of a package, earn nothing.

Cancellation terms vary by rate, so treat Expedia exactly like Booking.com: the rate you pick decides your flexibility. Our flight search engines comparison covers how Expedia’s packages compare with booking flights separately.

Best for: packages, and travellers who already have One Key status.

Hostelworld: read the rate type, not just the price

Hostelworld Partner is the specialist for hostels and budget private rooms, and its booking model works differently from the hotel sites. You typically pay a deposit online and the balance at the property. What happens to that deposit if you cancel depends on which of its rate types you picked:

• Free Cancellation: cancel within the hostel’s window and the deposit goes back to your original payment method.
• Standard Flexible Booking: for a small fee, a cancelled deposit becomes a Hostelworld voucher, not cash.
• Standard Non-Flexible and Non-Refundable: the deposit is gone.
• Flexible Non-Refundable: no refund, but date changes are allowed within the hostel’s terms.

The difference between cash back and a voucher is the single most important line on a Hostelworld booking. A voucher is only useful if you’ll book with Hostelworld again.

Best for: hostels, where the reviews from other backpackers are the main reason to use it.

Booking direct: the non-partner option

Booking on the hotel’s own website or by phone is the alternative none of the sites above earn from, and for some travellers it is plainly the right call.

Loyalty. If you collect points with a hotel chain, booking direct is often mandatory. Hilton’s help centre says members who book through a third-party website won’t earn Hilton Honors points, stay or night credits, or other member benefits, and must contact the third party to change or cancel. Other chains have similar rules; check yours.

Changes. With a direct booking there is one party to deal with. With a third-party booking, the property will often send you back to the site you booked on.

Price. In the EU, the property is now free to undercut the booking sites on its own website. More on that below.

Watch for: small properties with dated booking engines, unclear cancellation terms, or requests for bank transfers. If the direct terms are vague, a booking site’s clearly labelled policy may be the safer choice.

Price parity: what changed in the EU

For years, booking platforms used “parity clauses” requiring hotels not to offer better prices elsewhere, including on their own websites. In the EU, that is over for Booking.com.

According to the European Commission’s Digital Markets Act factsheet, Booking.com removed parity requirements from its terms in the EEA in July 2024 and stopped using them as a condition for its Genius, Preferred and Preferred Plus programmes, and its DMA obligations took effect on 14 November 2024. Hotels can now offer the same rooms at different prices or conditions through other channels, including their own sites. Separately, in September 2024 the EU Court of Justice ruled in case C-264/23 that neither wide nor narrow parity clauses are objectively necessary for a booking platform to function.

What it means for you: in the EU, it is now always worth checking the hotel’s own website before you book. A property that saves the platform’s commission on a direct sale has room to pass some of that on. Outside the EU, the rules depend on local competition law and each contract, so the direct rate may or may not be lower.

Which to use, by trip type

• City break, independent hotel: search on Booking.com, then check the hotel’s site for the same rate and conditions. Book wherever the cancellation terms are better.
• Chain hotel and you collect points: book direct.
• Flight plus hotel: price an Expedia package against booking separately.
• Backpacking: Hostelworld, and pay attention to Free Cancellation versus Flexible.
• Long stay for remote work: read our Portugal primer for remote workers, then ask properties directly about monthly rates.

Whichever you choose, pay in the local currency where you can and let your card do the conversion; our travel money cards guide explains why. And check the destination’s public holidays before you lock in dates, because that’s when cancellation windows tighten and prices jump.