Hotels.com review
Booking hotel booking site.
Good points
Good support options, including an Australian phone number
Very easy to use different currencies
Bad points
Not possible to search for "1 guest 1 room" when you can only search for "1 guest" which returns hostel dormitories as well
Can't search based on user reviews
Only the last 5 user reviews for each hotel are available
No details on languages spoken at each hotel
In 2016, the ACCC found that the parent company, Expedia, were forcing accommodation partners to provide them with the cheapest rates, via parity clauses. This stopped hotels and motels from offering cheaper rates on their own sites, over the phone or at the hotel desk. These clauses have since been removed.
In early 2019, Hotels.com was subject to an enforcement action from the UK Competition and Markets Authority (which is similar to the ACCC). This was related to pressure selling; misleading information regarding discounts and hotel popularity; hidden charges; and withholding information regarding the impact of commission on search results. As of February 2019, Hotels.com has agreed to not engage in these practices.
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Performance score
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Performance score is made up of total number of search results (70%) and price (30%). Assessed across all services at the same time per location, on 22 January, 2019.
- 71%
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Ease of use score
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Ease of use score is made up of comparison (50%), search (30%) and general navigation (20%).
- 63%
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CHOICE Expert Rating
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This overall score is made up of ease of use (60%) and performance (40%).
- 66%
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Booking score
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This does not contribute to the overall score, as aggregation services do not support booking within the website.
- 77%
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Recommended
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As of February 2019, we cannot recommend any hotel booking sites due to the ongoing investigations into anti-competitive behaviour.
- No
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Multiple currencies
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Can the website show the price in currencies other than AUD?
- Yes
- Advertising on the website
- Yes
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Multiple languages
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Is the website available in languages other than English?
- No
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Holiday home or apartment booking
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Does the service offer holiday houses and apartments as well as hotels?
- No
- Hotel and flights (package booking)
- No
- Flights and car (package booking)
- No
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Cruise booking
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Can you also use the service to book a cruise.
- Yes
- Car rental booking
- No
- Gym filter
- Yes
- Pool filter
- Yes
- 24-hour desk filter
- Flight booking
- No
- TV filter
- Cable
- Accessible building/room filter
- Yes
- Hotel, flights and car (package booking)
- No
- Parking filter
- Yes
- Kitchen filter
- Yes
- Airport transfer booking
- No
- Internet filter
- Free
- Hotel and car (package booking)
- No
- Pet policy filter
- Yes
- Air conditioning filter
- Yes
- Hotel restaurant filter
- Yes
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Travel insurance booking
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Can you also use the service to book travel insurance?
- Yes
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Activity booking
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Can you also use the service to book tourist activities in the surrounding areas.
- No