Mazlina
I always book holets on the GDS (in my case, Amadeus (worse luck come back Sabre, all is forgiven!!!)) as being the safest way to book a hotel. This means the booking is made, effectively, directly with the hotel concerned. Never had any problem with getting the best rate, save where a manager is doing his own thing, which can happen. This occurs when an indivdual hotel manager has some spare rooms and basically offloads them; to get this sort of deal you have to ring the right hotel at the right time. The concern with (any) third party booking site/shop is that the money has to go from you to the agent to the hotel and the hotel has to find that money. There must be trust twixt the hotel and the booking agent (apart from twixt you, the end user and the agent). Then there is the issue of being a principal ie who takes possession of the booking and any problems that may ensue. The beauty of the CRS way is that, though they take a credit card to guarantee the booking (needed especially in cases of late arrival) you pay the whole bill when you leave, secondly that cancellation is possible (usually) up to 16:00 hrs day of arrival, so there is none of the brouh-ha-ha getting ones money back form third parties. Thirdly, it is clear where any problems are to be dealt with (the hotel). Remember that any pre-payment (from XYZ booking agents) has to be found by a receptionist, for example, at 06:00 on a cold Feb morning after he or she had a row with the partner/ got a parking ticket/ has 25 other guests wanting to check out/ is trying to deal with someone who is paying in Moldavian Pobble Beads and wants the change in Nigerian Ningi. Bit old hat and old fashioned, I know; but make booking and pay bill when leave, works remarkably well. There are a lot of these third party booking sites about and some are a lot better tha others. I know some that are quite efficient and some that I would not trust to book a well, you know what I mean. Trouble is, there is no way for you, the Great British Public to know which is which. That said, I would certainly trust Trailfinders to do the job properly.
Susi
you can use the regular sites such as troielacvty, orbitz, expedia, hotwire, cheapoair, etc. Remember that the summer months are the most expensive time to travel, but that doesnt mean you can find reasonably priced tickets. Just remember this: Purchase your tickets 8-12 weeks before your departure to insure yourself the cheapest possible ticket. I use this method all the time and it always works for me. And also when you are researching prices on those sites once you have choosen your best price check the price against other sites and the airlines site to make sure its the cheapest.
Mazlina I always book holets on the GDS (in my case, Amadeus (worse luck come back Sabre, all is forgiven!!!)) as being the safest way to book a hotel. This means the booking is made, effectively, directly with the hotel concerned. Never had any problem with getting the best rate, save where a manager is doing his own thing, which can happen. This occurs when an indivdual hotel manager has some spare rooms and basically offloads them; to get this sort of deal you have to ring the right hotel at the right time. The concern with (any) third party booking site/shop is that the money has to go from you to the agent to the hotel and the hotel has to find that money. There must be trust twixt the hotel and the booking agent (apart from twixt you, the end user and the agent). Then there is the issue of being a principal ie who takes possession of the booking and any problems that may ensue. The beauty of the CRS way is that, though they take a credit card to guarantee the booking (needed especially in cases of late arrival) you pay the whole bill when you leave, secondly that cancellation is possible (usually) up to 16:00 hrs day of arrival, so there is none of the brouh-ha-ha getting ones money back form third parties. Thirdly, it is clear where any problems are to be dealt with (the hotel). Remember that any pre-payment (from XYZ booking agents) has to be found by a receptionist, for example, at 06:00 on a cold Feb morning after he or she had a row with the partner/ got a parking ticket/ has 25 other guests wanting to check out/ is trying to deal with someone who is paying in Moldavian Pobble Beads and wants the change in Nigerian Ningi. Bit old hat and old fashioned, I know; but make booking and pay bill when leave, works remarkably well. There are a lot of these third party booking sites about and some are a lot better tha others. I know some that are quite efficient and some that I would not trust to book a well, you know what I mean. Trouble is, there is no way for you, the Great British Public to know which is which. That said, I would certainly trust Trailfinders to do the job properly.
Susi you can use the regular sites such as troielacvty, orbitz, expedia, hotwire, cheapoair, etc. Remember that the summer months are the most expensive time to travel, but that doesnt mean you can find reasonably priced tickets. Just remember this: Purchase your tickets 8-12 weeks before your departure to insure yourself the cheapest possible ticket. I use this method all the time and it always works for me. And also when you are researching prices on those sites once you have choosen your best price check the price against other sites and the airlines site to make sure its the cheapest.