What is the difference between booking w/hotel or through agent?
It's usually cheaper to book everything yourself: hotels, cars, airfare, DL tickets, than it is to get a package. (Not always, but more often than not, so you have to do your homework.) Even to book hotels, agents usually charge more per night or charge a service fee on top of what you would pay to stay at the hotel. For example, I recently booked through Hotels.com for a hotel stay. I went through them because the hotel price is refundable if I change my mind. They charged me an $11 service fee over and above what I would've paid if I just went through the hotel website directly. In that particular case, if I had booked directly through the hotel, the rates I was charged would've been cheaper but non-refundable. (Which is fine if you know you're not going to cancel. I wasn't sure and wanted to know that I had a room that was cancelable/refundable if needed.)
In the case of HOJO I called them (the hotel) directly and asked for specific discounted non published rates and I got it. On the website sometimes you can't get it or it doesn't show up and vice-versa, and if you call the corporate number you won't be able to get it. They'll say it's not available or they never heard of that rate, etc.
Many times, you'll get better price online because it saves the company money -- they won't need as much cust service staff manning phones, etc. Most airlines now will penalize you by charging service fees if you call and need to book or change existing ressies over the phone, and I believe based on my experience, that is the way all travel business is headed. Hojos is the opposite. We seem to do better by calling them directly. I think it's worth putting in a call and seeing if there are price differences. If it's cheaper by phone, book. If cheaper online go that route.
In the case of Priceline, well they want bodies in the rooms. So if hotels think they might not fill it, they release blocks of rooms to Priceline for people to bid on because they'd rather have some money than none coming in for that room.
HTH!
ETA: In short, hotels and Airlines used to pay commission to agents. Over the years the amount of commission has been chipped away to nothing. So, they've resorted to charging fees or higher prices for the rooms or airfare. That's why it's usually cheaper to book directly with the source. Also, it's supply and demand, that's why the bigger agencies like GAT and
AAA can sometimes give better deals than booking direct. They block out x amount for a lower price than smaller agencies can block out at. And when that block starts filling up, they raise the room rates to make up some $$$. Then the great deal you found suddenly becomes not so great for the next guy that wants to book.
