Posted on: Monday, January 10, 2005

SAVVY TRAVELLER

By Irene Croft Jr.

If you're the kind of research-oriented traveler who likes to make your own arrangements, hotel discount reservation services can save a bundle off standard published (rack) room rates. If you can live with a few restrictions, you will sleep like a lord for less, a lot less.

Before you commit to the price quoted by a discount service, call the hotel on its toll-free line or check its Web site to see what rates may be offered for direct booking. Also, compare the hotel's rates as listed on travelocity.com, orbitz.com, or expedia.com.

At travelaxe.com, you can download (Windows only) a free consumer hotel rate comparison program that searches more than 20 different travel Web sites for hotel rates in nearly 3,200 cities from 96 different countries. Prices are compared side-by-side, with the cheapest prices highlighted. It's a terrific tool for Internet users.

And check with your professional travel agent to see if a special price or perhaps a tempting upgrade and other perks are in the offing. Once you've done this investigation, you will know the benchmark price for your room category and dates and will recognize a deal when you spot one.

Always determine up front whether the reservation service issues a prepaid voucher, charges your credit card immediately or sometime prior to arrival, or takes only a credit card guarantee and allows you to pay upon checkout. Ensure that you understand the specific cancellation, change and refund policies of the service and/or hotel. And check if the service offers a low price guarantee by which it will meet or beat any advertised Internet rate for the same room category and dates that you have booked. Many do.

Following is a list I have compiled of top picks that provide reservations in the United States and abroad. Many services can supply rooms even during special events and on sold-out dates.

North America, Europe and beyond

• Hotel Reservations Network, (800) 715-7666, www.hoteldiscount.com. One of the largest discount services and a pioneer in the field, HRN negotiates contracts at up to 70 percent off with a wide range of hotels in scores of U.S. cities. Most popular are New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Orlando, Washington, D.C., and Atlantic City. Its reach now extends to many major European cities, as well as to those in the South Pacific, Asia, Africa, Middle East, and Latin America.

• Hotels.com at (800) 964-6835 or www.hotels.com. Hotels.com offers accommodations at budget to deluxe properties at 10 percent to 65 percent discount for Boston, Chicago, Lake Tahoe, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Orlando, Reno, San Diego, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and many other U.S. cities. Also low rates for hotels spanning the globe, including those in London, Paris, Rome and points east.

• Quikbook, (800) 789-9887, www.quikbook.com. Quikbook offers 20 percent to 60 percent discounts at a wide array of mid-level to deluxe hotels in domestic cities such as Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., plus a number of properties in Canada and the Caribbean.

• Travelweb.com, (800) 818-0033, www.travelweb.com. Travelweb.com advertises savings up to 50 percent off rack rates through special negotiated i-Deal prices in more than 10,000 hotels in hundreds of cities worldwide.

• Lodging.com, (888) 563-4464, www.lodging.com. Lodging.com offers proprietary discounted rates up to 70 percent off hotels throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Caribbean, Britain and France.

• PlacesToStay.com, (877) 469-4683, www.placestostay.com. PlacesToStay.com boasts savings up to 70 percent on more than 35,000 independent inns and chain hotel properties in the United States and around the world.

Australia and New Zealand

• Travel Mall Australia at www.travelmall.com.au. This highly rated company offers excellent discounted rates for Australia and New Zealand at top properties. It is a full-service agency that also books air, tours and packages down under.

Asia and the Rest of the World

• Travel Interlink, (800) 888-5898 Travel Interlink offers rooms, discounted from 25 percent to 50 percent, in more than 8,000 hotels throughout Asia, Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific, and Europe. The rooms range from 3-star tourist to deluxe and luxury hotels.

• Planet Holiday, (888) 482-2235, www.planetholiday.com. Planet Holiday spans the globe, offering discounts up to 75 percent on 9,000 hotels in Asia, Australia and Papua New Guinea, Europe, Africa, the Mideast and the United States. Its online site states, "Every hotel reservation completed through a Planet Holiday Web site is guaranteed to have the lowest rate publicly available on the Internet."

Regional or One-City Hotel Brokers

• Atlantic City: Atlantic City Reservation Service, (800) 833-7070, actollfree.com.

• Chicago: Hot Rooms, (800) 468-3500, www.hotrooms.com.

• Hawai'i: AAA Discount Hotels Hawaii, (808) 394-2112, www.discounthotelshawaii.com.

• Las Vegas and other casino resorts: Travel Worm, (800) 261-9307, www.travelworm.com.

• New York: New York City Hotels, (800) 458-1227, www.new-york-city-hotels.com.

• San Francisco area: (800) 677-1550, www.hotelres.com.

• Washington, DC: Capitol Reservations, (800) 847-4832, www.hotelsdc.com.

Irene Croft Jr. of Kona is a travel writer and 40-year veteran globetrotter. Her column is published here every other week.