Vacations could be fabulously relaxing.
But booking one is one other story.
The typical traveler views 141 pages of travel content within the 45 days prior to booking a visit, in response to an Expedia Group report.
The most well-liked site to go to was an OTA — or “online travel agency” — which is an industry term that describes booking web sites like Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz and Priceline. Some 80% of travelers visit one, whether or not they book on it or not, in response to the report.
But which one has the most effective prices?
The travel company RatePunk has a browser extension that compares hotel prices pulled from major hotel web sites and tons of of OTAs, said company CEO Justin Albertynas.
The corporate reviewed greater than 198,000 user searches from Jan. 1 to Dec. 1, 2023, to search out which web sites offer the bottom hotel prices, he told CNBC Travel.
Lowest hotel rates in Asia and the Middle East
The corporate found that, globally, Agoda had the most effective rates 34% of the time, followed by Priceline (23%) and Booking.com’s mobile site (16%).
From 198,418 hotel searches. B. = Booking.com’s mobile site.
Source: RatePunk
RatePunk’s regional data showed Agoda had the most cost effective rates in Asia and the Middle East. Â Â
From 39,679 hotel searches.
Source: RatePunk
The Singapore-based company offered the bottom rates in nearly half of the hotel searches in Asia.
“Agoda … they’ve the really great prices,” said Albertynas. “What we see from our user bookings, they sometimes like to begin to book, or discover accommodations, from one in all the most important, like Booking.com or Expedia, and so they find yourself buying from Agoda.”
From 17,875 hotel searches.
Source: RatePunk
Albertynas told CNBC Travel that Agoda’s rates are about 10% to fifteen% lower — and now and again “even as much as 20%, but no more.” For expensive bookings, “you may you may save plenty of money. But in the event you’re booking one night somewhere in Asia for $50, so it is going to be like much less savings,” he said.
Agoda is targeting Asia countries, said Albertynas.
“Asia is growing market but, within the sense of spendings, it’s quite a sensitive market,” he said. “I feel it’s a part of the strategy to amass users.”
Lowest hotel rates in Europe
In Europe, Agoda had the most effective rates 38% of the time, but Booking.com — through its mobile and desktop sites — had lower rates barely greater than 40% of the time.
From 123,304 hotel searches.
Source: RatePunk
Across every region, Booking.com’s mobile site — accessible via mobile phones and tablets — had higher prices than its desktop version.
“We see that not just for Booking but for our providers as well. But Booking has probably the most significant amount of cheaper properties on mobile,” said Albertynas.
Desktop sites have greater customer acquisition costs, said Albertynas, adding that the majority desktop users find web sites via searches. Â
Which means web sites “must pay for Google ads … they should bid for keywords … and reacquire users every time the user books through them. And in case of the mobile or mobile app, it’s like way more retention by way of getting users back.”
Moreover, some hotels provide higher prices for mobile users.
“Booking.com, they’ve three different rates: desktop, mobile, and in addition a mobile app,” said Albertynas. “In what we see from our data, 80% of mobile and mobile app prices are similar, but there are cases where we will actually find the cheaper rate on the app.”
Lowest hotel rates within the U.S.
Travelers headed to the US should want to lean on Priceline. The Connecticut-based company, which is owned by Booking Holdings, had the most cost effective rates in nearly half of the some 40,000 searches that were analyzed.
From 40,656 hotel searches.
Source: RatePunk
Agoda only had the bottom rates in 13% of the searches.
But Albertynas said people traveling in the US should regulate Booking.com in 2024.
“Booking Holdings, mainly the Booking.com brand, is absolutely attempting to expand into the States,” he said. “They shall be making some promotions and a few type of direct deals with the chains, with the hotels to supply a greater price.”
Lowest rates in certain countries and cities
A deeper look into RatePunk’s data revealed that some web sites have higher overall pricing in certain countries, reminiscent of:
- Hotels.com — in Maldives and Mexico
- Booking.com — in Italy
- Agoda — in Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia
- Priceline — in France
- Expedia — in Brazil
- ZenHotels — in Spain
The information also showed booking web sites had higher rates for hotels in certain cities: Booking.com for Recent York, Priceline for Miami and Los Angeles, and Expedia for Honolulu.
