Why you should never book a holiday online

IT’S something that most of us do, but a travel expert claims hotels have ways to penalise those who choose to book online.

THE internet has revolutionised the way we travel — from cutting out travel agents to providing inspiration for unknown destinations through social media sites like Instagram.

But it turns out that we should all be using the old fashioned phone method when it comes to booking our next trip. That’s according to travel expert Peter Greenberg, who hosts the Travel Detective show on American TV channel PBS.

He told Forbes that most holiday companies don’t offer up all of their deals and hotel rooms online, so online customers will never have the best choice.

“Only 52 per cent of all the available inventory is online — it is only there as the travel providers want to make it available,” he said.

“Pick up the phone, have that conversation … what you’re seeing on your screen is not what they’re seeing on their screen.”

If you pick up the phone, you may end up with a better deal.

Sun Online Travel previously reported that hotels also tend to save their best rooms in every price bracket for people who book with them direct, rather than on third party booking websites.

That’s because they have to pay between 10 and 30 per cent commission to booking sites for every reservation that comes through them — a big chunk of their income.

However, if you book with the hotel direct, all of the payment goes to them, which means they are far more likely to be generous with upgrades, Wi-Fi and all of the other add-ons.

Shane Lambert, a former hotel manager said: “A lot of hotels punish people for booking through third-party sites.

Some hotels reportedly punish people for booking through third-party sites.

“They don’t like paying the commission and would rather you booked with the hotel directly — the consequence is that you get the worst room within the room category you book a lot of the time.”

Often, if you call the hotel direct, they will be more than happy to match the price.

If you do insist on booking online though, a recent investigation revealed that clearing your cookies before searching for a holiday could knock hundreds off the cost of a package.

This story originally appeared on The Sun and was republished with permission.