Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - Quickbook.com

I don't see much mention of quickbook.com on the boards. I had a good experience with this hotel booking tool recently.

With the low hotel rates in January, my friend and I were taking a winter trip to NYC for museums, sales, etc. We wanted a very specific location right at a subway stop, in case of hideous weather and for nighttime safety. I did a lot of web research and we decided on the Metropolitan, a 3-star Leows property right at a subway stop - 51st St. & Lexington. I booked for 4 nites at what I thought was a good rate for midtown Manhattan, $119. I had trouble with booking directly on the website, so just "registered" there and completed the booking on their toll-free number.

A few days before the trip I checked the quickbook website again and the rate for our chosen hotel/dates had dropped to $105. Although I figured they would balk, I called quickbook to request the lower rate. The phone person put me on hold to phone the Metropolitan and when she came back she confirmed the lower rate! I received an e-mail with confirmation of the rate.

I put both names on the rez and my friend did check in before me, she had no problems. I'm sure we received the standard room, but we were pleased with the layout and amenities. The staff were consistently friendly and polite.

After this positive experience with quickbook I would definitely use them again. I guess lower rates are available on some of the other "bidding" sites, but we wanted a specific hotel. I highly recommend quickbook.com.

Of all the hotel consolidators that disclose the identity of the hotel, Quikbook (note the spelling) is definitely the best. But you still have to be diligent in checking other sources because even though they often have the lowest available rate for a particular hotel, they are also higher than booking directly through the hotel in some cases (either on the hotel's website or by calling) and it's not prepaid, so no cancellation fees.

I just wish they would update their site so that you didn't have to click through so many screens to find the rate for each night of your stay. They only list the first night's rate until several screens later, and often there can be a huge difference in rates among the duration of your stay.

Dianne:
Cheryl:

I think the price for the NYC hotel was a good deal, and Quikbook even matched the new price.

I took Cheryl's advise, made a test, typed the +"hotelname" +"New York" into YAHOO and got several matches.

And http://www.greathotelprices.com was even cheaper than Quikbook, at least on 2 hotels I checked; one of them was the Metropolitan.
However, I know nothing about Greathotelprices. But Yahoo showed several other links which I did not try out.

Until now I have never used one of this consolidators. I have used Sheryls' Priceline.com to make a hotel reservation in a small town in Sonoma Valley, CA. Which turned out to be a pretty good deal. I am not so sure if it is a smart thing to reserve a hotel in NYC with Priceline.com. I would like to know which hotel I get before I make a reservation in NYC. However, I would try a low price bit for a weekend stay in a high/good class hotel range, and see what happens.

Sheryl, you are imminently correct about checking all resources for the best pricing. On the same trip last week I also stayed at the Franklin Hotel (boutique on 87th between Lex & Third Ave.) and their own website had by far the best rate, $87. I find that often the hotel's own websites often have the best rates for Las Vegas, but again, not always!

I never have tried priceline, mainly because I'm such a control freak that I like to know the exact hotel I'm getting.

I've been reading all the priceline hints and might try them sometime for a city where you would pretty much know what you were going to get, depending on the zone you asked for.

[This message has been edited by Dianne47 (edited 01-18-2002).]