It's been a while since I had a holiday abroad so have not used hotel booking sites recently, I think a few have gone wallop since I last used them. Which ones are considered safest and best at the moment, preferably ones where you just pay a deposit or have a good cancellation policy just in case!
are pretty good as a hotel website search engine. You don't book directly through them, instead they pull as many hotel websites for you to compare and highlight the best deal
It may not be completely relevant, but I created a starwood preferred guest account, sherraton etc. and after booking through hotels.com I got no member credit as I had booked through a third party.
So if a loyalty program with a certain hotel chain is important to you, best to book through their website.
I would also give a shout out to Bookings.com. Have used them many times and have found their descriptions accurate and in the most part, honest. If it's an area I don't know, I usually also go on to google maps and drop in the "little man" and have a look around the area!!
Have also used alpharooms. It was fine to book somewhere that I had been before and knew it was alright. But had a bit of an issue when we booked a hotel in Manchester. Location was spot on and just as central as described. BUT!! Had a bit of a problem when I noticed mushrooms growing in the carpet on the corridoor!! And yes - we did get moved and upgraded to a better room. The poor girl on reception got the full benefit of my rant!!
If you are thinking of the States, then is very good, also [broken link removed]. Also agree that both Hotels.com and Booking.com are very good, specially in Europe.
I have used travelrepublic.ie several times in the past 2 years. I find they don't have all the hotels but if they do they are usually the cheapest. They would be similar to alpharooms in price but charge a lower credit card fee. I have had no issues dealing with them at all.
Thanks for all the suggestions, went with travel republic, similar price to bookings.com but with option to pay just deposit with balance due 4 weeks before departure. The cheapest prices in general were non-refundable so this is a better option just in case! I had a specific hotel I wanted so that made it easier to compare.
Have used Alpharooms with excellent results over the years. Always found them to be cheapest and on one memorable occassion they were ONE THIRD of the price quoted by the hotel itself.