Let's face it, booking a hotel over the internet has made life a lot easier. Enter a few words into the Google search engine and up pops a whole page of hotel booking agents.  Click the first one, find a hotel, book it and Bob's your uncle, finished.

Is That Really The Best Way To Do It?

Well actually no.  Hotel booking agencies like any other business are in it to make money.  If they think they can squeeze a  few extra pounds out of you they will.

Most people seem to think that the price being shown by the booking agency is what the hotel is charging, I know I did.

Hotels Combined

I found this facility one day while searching for a weekend break in Rome.   Its a free independent hotel search engine which compares the price on offer from all the major online booking agencies.

Try Hotels Combined Now

Genuine Savings

If I'd known about this facility a few years ago, I could have saved myself hundreds of pounds.  Hotels Combined have the worlds largest online hotel database with 200,000 hotels in over 20,000 destinations they display the prices from over thirty of the main online hotel agencies in a matter of seconds.

And Yes It Does Work!

The first time you use this, you'll be shocked by some of the price differences.  Finding savings of 30€ a night on a 4* hotel is common and on some hotels the price differences shown are unbelievable.

My Own Experiences With Hotels Combined

I'm Peter Brassey owner of the Apartrent website.  I first used the Hotels Combined search engine last year to book a hotel in Rome for a weekend break.  We picked a 3* hotel near to the Coliseum.  The price for the hotel ranged from 59 to 80 euros a night between three different booking agencies.

The accommodation was exactly the same and included continental breakfast.  Naturally we chose the cheapest booking agent and saved 21 euros a night.

Twenty one euros might not sound a massive amount but with coffee in Rome costing up to 6 euros each, it was well worth having.  Remember, this was a 3* hotel.  If we'd pushed the boat out and gone for something a bit plusher, we could have saved a lot more.

How Much Can You Save?

A lot. I did some research into the prices being charged for the most popular hotels in Benidorm, Spain's most popular holiday resort.  I used the  dates August 22nd -29th 2009, the Gran Hotel Bali Spain's tallest hotel and one of the most popular in Benidorm was quoted by three different agencies at 97€, 128€ and 164€ a night.

The 4* Hotel Belroy another popular hotel in Benidorm came in between 132€ and 172€ a night a potential saving of 40 euros  and the 4* Agir Hotel ranged between 118€ and 156€ that's 38 euros a night to be saved.

These are just three hotels picked at random, most hotels (even 2*) had savings.

These results are typical of the savings to made in most regions of Spain

Try It Yourself (It's Free)

The only way to convince yourself that Hotels Combined is as good as I'm telling you, is to try it yourself.  Even if you aren't looking for a hotel at the moment, test it and use it the next time you book.

Here's the search engine, just enter your town or city and the dates then wait a few seconds.