Hotel booking agency around the world. The best hotel booking services

This article discusses in detail various ways to book hotels without prepayment and a card. The reasons why a hotel administrator can block funds on your credit card and how to avoid this are described. Given step by step instructions with screenshots for booking hotels without payment or credit card.

Why does the hotel need your card details?

In most cases, the online system requires you to enter your bank card information to complete your hotel reservation. This is not surprising if a tourist plans to immediately prepay for accommodation. But Why do you need credit card information? if it happens hotel reservation without payment?

The fact is that hotels impose fines in case of no-show or late cancellation of a reservation. This information can be found on the online system website in the hotel room descriptions. As a rule, you can cancel your reservation without penalties a day or three before your expected arrival. At the time of booking a hotel without prepayment, the tourist accepts the cancellation conditions in accordance with the hotel policy.

In turn, the hotel has the right to have guarantees that in case of no-show the tourist will pay the cost of the fine. This guarantee can be obtained by saving data bank card(credit or debit) tourist.

If you are not yet strong in matters of hotel reservations, then I recommend first reading the general article: .

Who can benefit from hotels without prepayment?

A few examples when you may need to book hotels without prepayment:

• Visa. Many consulates require a hotel voucher. IN in this case It is advisable to make a hotel reservation without paying for a visa.
• Fuzzy plans. I want to go on vacation, but I’m not sure that my boss will let me go.
• Lack of funds. There are situations when you need to urgently book a hotel room while there is a good choice, and salary is not coming soon.

If you intend to make a hotel reservation without payment through popular specialized platforms such as booking.com, agoda.com, roomguru.ru, hotellook.ru and others, you need to choose hotels with the following characteristics: "Free cancellation, pay later" or similar. Hotels without prepayment are most from the list proposed by the online system. In this case, without any debits, the reservation can be canceled 24-72 hours in advance (there are other requirements; you must first read the cancellation conditions). That is, there is no need to worry until this deadline.

What happens during the period when free cancellation is no longer possible:

• There is no way to withdraw money from the card; you need to pay at the hotel after the fact.
• Payment is made for one day or for the entire period of intended stay.

It all depends on the hotel and booking system. For example, Booking is inclined to the first option, and Agoda is inclined to the second. By the way, the latter accepts credit cards only.

How to book a hotel without prepayment:

1. We switch to one of the booking systems or a search engine. Let's say on agoda.com =>>
2. In the search window, fill in the destination, dates, and number of guests.

1. We sort the results using the horizontal menu, and also set the necessary characteristics using filters in the left column.

1. We look through the generated list. We search for hotels using the phrase “Free cancellation, pay later.” The “free cancellation” filter is only available on the hotellook.ru search engine. On other platforms, selection occurs visually.

1. We select a hotel and proceed to booking. Once again we make sure that we are satisfied cancellation conditions And payment period.

1. Fill in the required fields and enter your bank card details. Once we complete your booking, an email with a voucher will be sent to your email address.

⚠ Important to know! Unfortunately, this method of booking a hotel does not require prepayment. does not provide a full guarantee that no actions will occur with your bank card. To check the solvency of a future guest, some hotels may block funds on the map. This procedure is called pre-authorization (or Hold). The amounts vary: a dollar, the price of one night, and the entire cost of the reservation. In this case, the money is not physically written off, but it will be impossible to use it until it is unlocked. In turn, the banking system is designed in such a way that the lock is automatically released in about 30 days(depending on the bank). Credit card owners may not feel this discomfort, since potentially borrowed funds are blocked, and this process does not entail interest charges, since no debiting actually occurs. But debit card holders can find themselves in a difficult situation when they get blocked from the amount they were hoping to use while traveling. Blocked in cash You can’t even pay at the hotel, which is what started all the fuss.

For example, a tourist booked a hotel without prepayment in Nice for two weeks for 1000 €. The hotel administrator verified his debit card, pre-authorizing the entire amount. The bank, in turn, did not remove the block manually, and automatic cancellation will occur only in a month. Let’s say a tourist flies out on vacation in a week, and after another two, he checks out of the hotel. But the money with which he planned to pay is still blocked, since only 21 days have passed. It’s good if the vacationer has sufficient cash reserves. What if he is not there at the end of the vacation?

One good thing is that such cases do not happen often. But you need to know about them and be prepared for such a scenario. Hotel booking without prepayment guaranteed can only give a hotel reservation option without a bank card.

When is it useful to book hotels without a card?

A few examples of reasons why you may need to book a hotel without a card:

• 100% no blocking . If necessary, unconditionally receive a hotel reservation without payment and blocking a bank card (credit or debit).
• The card is about to expire . If your bank card expires at the time of check-out, your reservation may be denied.
• Card type is not suitable . Sometimes the simplest (non-embossed) Visa Electron and MasterCard Maestro cards are not suitable for booking.
• No map at all .

I found 3 ways to make a hotel reservation without a credit card. Let's look at each of them in detail.

Book a hotel without a credit card viabooking. com

Unfortunately, everyone’s favorite booking did not provide special filters to automatically select hotels without paying by credit card. However, this can be done in other ways:

• By manual search.
• In a tricky way.

Manual method

1. Go to booking.com =>>
2. Fill out the form: city, dates, number of guests.

1. Let's sort and filter the results according to the necessary parameters.

1. Scrolling through the results, visually look for the phrase “You can make a hotel reservation without a credit card.”

1. Having decided on a hotel, select a room and proceed to booking.

1. Fill in the required information. Be sure to check the box next to “Ability to change reservations online.” Click “Continue”.

1. Fill in the latest information: country of residence and phone number. No credit card details are required to make a hotel reservation.

1. Within a few minutes the voucher will be sent to your email. It will need to be presented in paper or in electronic format upon check-in at the hotel.

Tricky way

1. We repeat points 1-2 of the previous section.
2. We go to any hotel from the proposed list and simulate a reservation (steps 5-6).
3. When you need credit or debit card information, click on the “No card?” icon.

1. In a pop-up window, information appears about why a bank card is needed when booking a hotel, and below it offers options for hotels that can be booked without a credit card. The absence of such a list means that you cannot book hotels in a given area without a map through booking. Then the methods described below will be useful to us (they are much simpler).

1. We go to the proposed hotels, make a choice and complete the reservation, as described in previous paragraphs 5-8.

The easy way. Update dated July 25, 2016

Recently, Booking has expanded its functionality and now includes filters for booking rooms without cards and prepayments.

Hotel reservation without card payment through domestic online booking sites

One of the most convenient options is to use domestic systems online booking: hotels.ru, oktogo.ru, ostrovok.ru. The search on these sites is identical, so let’s look at booking a hotel without a credit card and prepayment using one of them as an example.

1. Go to the website hotels.ru =>>
2. As usual, fill in the destination, arrival/departure dates, number of guests, and click “Find hotels.”

1. A column with various filters will appear on the left. Find the “Payment” filter and select the “Do not require a bank card” option. In our example (Haapsalu, Estonia), there were 19 hotels out of 34 that did not require a card to book.

1. We select a hotel and proceed to registration, be sure to fill in your first name, last name, e-mail, phone number, country and city of residence. Additionally, you can enter the name of the second guest (if there is one). This may be required if you need to provide a voucher for a visa.

1. When you confirm your reservation (the “book” button), you will receive an email with a voucher. You can print it out for your visa. For a hotel, it is not necessary to provide a printed form; an electronic file is quite suitable (the main thing is not to forget to save it to your mobile device).

You can change or cancel your reservation at Hotels Ru via Personal Area=> section “My bookings” => tab “Orders”.

Find the required reservation and click the “Reservation Details” button. A window will open where you can cancel or make changes.

Hotels.ru presents more than 877 thousand hotels in 225 countries (its own database, as well as the database of the Expedia system). Good help for Booking, which has slightly lower figures: 855 thousand hotels in 223 countries.

Make a hotel reservation without a map through the metasearch engine hotellook.ru

Now I will tell you about the most universal way to book hotels without a card - search through the hotellook aggregator.

1. Go to the website hotellook.ru =>>
2. In the search form, fill in the destination, arrival and departure dates, and number of people. By the way, you can fill it out here too.

1. In the top horizontal menu above the issue, find the “additional” item and select the “without card” option.

1. Using the sorting of the second horizontal menu, we select hotels.

Do you know why I like this method of booking a hotel without a card the most? Because the hotellook search engine displays results from oktogo, ostrovok, and booking, as well as other online booking systems (except hotels.ru, which we looked at before). It defines the option “hotel booking without a card” for any of the given hotel platforms.

Example. Let's say a certain hotel "X" onostrovok you can book without a card, but onbookingAndoktogo- No. At the same time, the hotelY» on Booking is displayed with the status “card not required”, but other platforms do not have such a function for this hotel. Hotelluk will also show the hotel "X", and the hotel "Y", at the same time displaying prices for other online booking systems.

It turns out that the search engine finds the maximum number of possible hotel booking offers without a map. All that remains is to select a hotel from the proposed list and go directly from Hotellook to the selected option on any platform.

If you know other ways to book a hotel without a credit card or prepayment, share them in the comments - this information may be useful to other users. Your experience with blocking money on your card by a hotel will also be interesting.

We were looking for a hotel reservation without a card and payment

Marina and Konstantin Samorosenko

Useful and interesting articles:

85 comments

Typically, the two most significant costs when traveling are airfare and hotel accommodation.

A lot has been written about how to save on flights (), and many already use search aggregators to find good air tickets.

At the same time, to book hotels, it turns out that the majority, in the old fashioned way, use familiar services, and few people think that they can also save money on this (or find the best option for the same money – it’s whatever you like best).

We conducted a small survey among our friends and found out that many use the booking.com and agoda.com systems for searches, while the argument in favor of the second is often given that this service works better in Asia.

I decided to check whether it is advisable to search for hotels through these booking systems or, after all, it is better to use aggregators and did a little research - I will talk about its results in this article.

What are search aggregators?

First, a little explanation of what search aggregators are.

There are 3 search levels:

1. Hotel websites.
2. Reservation systems that have contractual relationships with hundreds of thousands of hotels around the world.
3. Search aggregators (metasearch engines) that search for offers among many booking systems.

Each next level covers a larger number of hotels than the previous one. There are several dozen booking systems; in addition to the most famous ones, which are well-known, there are many that are popular in one region or another, but are unfamiliar to many in Russia. For example, have you ever heard of such systems as laterooms.com, asiarooms.com, easytobook.com, hotelclub.com, hrs.com, hotel.info, splendia.com, hotelopia.com? So we haven’t heard =) But they exist, and tens of thousands of people use them.

All of them enter into contracts with certain hotels, and it is clear that each of them individually is not able to cover absolutely all hotels (even such mastodons as booking.com and agoda.com, which have captured the overwhelming market share).

And this is where search aggregators come into play, searching across most booking systems, and thus providing the end consumer (that is, you and me) with the most complete selection of hotels with the greatest variety of prices for the same rooms.

The search aggregators themselves do not process hotel reservations; their only task is search. Those. as a result of their work, you will see a selection of hotels and for each a list of reservation systems in which this hotel is represented.

It is worth noting that for the same hotel, in different systems bookings, prices may differ, and the same one will not always be cheaper - it depends on many factors, the main thing is that you can see the prices offered by all booking systems, compare, and choose what you like.

Comparison of search engines and booking systems

For comparison, I chose 2 reservation systems - booking.com and agoda.com, as well as 2 aggregators - the largest international aggregator roomguru.ru (aka roomguru.ru) and the Russian project hotellook.ru (a subsidiary of the Russian air ticket aggregator aviasales.ru). The regions include several popular destinations in Asia, Europe and the USA.

I won’t bore you with screenshots, I’ll give you just one as an example

The main task was to compare the number of hotels found in one system or another. I chose the same date for all systems, the table shows the names of the destinations, the total number of hotels that are in this direction in a particular system, and the number of available hotels on the selected date.

Hotellook does not show how many hotels are available, it displays them in one list, and places occupied ones at the very end, so there is a dash in the corresponding columns.

What conclusion can be drawn from these comparisons?
Firstly, agoda in Asia, indeed, most often produces more results than booking.com, but not always - for example, in Ubud, it turned out that booking’s database is larger.

Secondly, in Europe and the USA booking.com is ahead of Agoda.

Thirdly, it is quite obvious that in all cases, without exception, aggregators find more hotels than booking systems. Actually, that’s what needed to be proven =)

Tips for booking hotels

1. If you are booking an expensive hotel (from $100 per day and above), then after you have selected the right one, take a look at their official website. Sometimes, on the hotel website, you can find good discounts and offers - for example, we booked our “wedding room” for the promotion of 3 nights for the price of two. Some hotels offer free transfers when booking directly on the hotel website. But sometimes it happens the other way around - the discounts given by the booking system may not be visible on the official website.

1. Agoda.com and roomguru.ru offer a “guarantee best price" Those. if you found a hotel through roomguru and booked it for $50 per night, and then saw it for about $45, then they promise to refund the difference ($5 in this case) - however, we never used this option.

1. Prices on agoda.com are excluding taxes, so it may seem cheaper there, but you usually need to add about 17% to the price (the exact amount is indicated in the room description)

1. Please read the cancellation conditions carefully. On agoda.com, as a rule, a reservation can be canceled only with the loss of some amount (from $15 and more). On booking.com, cancellation will often be free if you do it no later than 3-7 days before arrival. Of course, there are not always areas in which free cancellation is also impossible.

1. Booking systems often use the trick of crossing out the price - “special offer, 50% discount, last 2 rooms left.” Don’t rush to grab such a “hot offer” without thinking – often it’s just a ploy to attract attention. But, however, sometimes there really are discounts, just study carefully.

1. It is also worth considering that in addition to hotel search and booking systems, there is also a service for booking private accommodation airbnb.com - and this ranges from hundreds to several thousand offers in each city (I talk in more detail about this service in separate articles about and about ). By the way, they also have hotels in their database, for example, we once booked through them nice villa on the island. Lembongan(in Indonesia), and also booked an apartment through them for a month in Phuket. And considering what you can get bonus when registering (here) – it’s generally very profitable.

That's all I have. I wish you to find great accommodation and have an unforgettable vacation!

How are you looking for housing? Write your version in the comments!
P.S. Please note that the links to booking systems and aggregators in the article are affiliate links, which means that if you click on them and make a reservation, we will receive an affiliate commission (the price will not change for you). We use these systems regularly ourselves and recommend them because we find them useful and trustworthy.

Updated: 03/13/2019

Oleg Lazhechnikov

79

The most important thing is where planning begins independent travel- this is buying tickets and booking accommodation. Tickets are a separate matter. Now let’s figure out where to start and how to properly book online accommodation for your trip, be it a hotel, guesthouse or hostel. Now there are many booking systems (such as Booking, Agoda, etc.) and services (for example,), where you can search for hotels and compare prices in different booking systems.

First, let's talk about everything in detail. At the very end of the post I’ll tell you how I book hotels myself, in what order.

What do you need

To book a hotel yourself, you will need a little time and three simple things that most people already have:

- Access to the Internet. Now it is available almost everywhere: home, mobile, in cafes, shopping centers, hotels, etc.
— Bank card (debit or credit) Mastercard, Visa or similar. You need to do it in advance, before the trip, in your hometown
- Email. You must indicate her address when booking, and you will receive a booking confirmation email and a booking code there.

By the way, some systems now allow you to book a hotel without a card.

What is a reservation system

A booking system is a website that allows you to book a hotel, essentially a database of hotels around the world. Hotels themselves are added to it in order to be able to rent out their rooms via the Internet. Reservation systems do not charge users a commission for using their database, and receive money directly from the hotel. That is, as a rule, the cost of staying in a room via the Internet or on site (at the reception) does not change for you. But it all depends on the specific hotel, because it is the hotel that sets these prices; for example, it can run a promotion whereby booking in advance you get a discount (but there will be no discount on the spot).

In any booking system, you can select hotels according to different criteria - country, city, dates, number of people, availability of certain services. Payment is made by bank card (). After payment, you will receive an email with your reservation details (reservation confirmation).

Which booking system should you choose? There are no clear rules here, it’s a matter of habit; some people understand one interface, others understand another. However, still the number of hotels in different country differs in booking systems. Therefore, there is an unspoken rule: there is a greater choice of Asian hotels, and more suitable for Europe and Russia.

List of hotel reservation systems

The most popular reservation systems: Ostrovok, Hotels.com, Expedia.com. There are also booking systems specializing in hostels, but now the same Booking and Agoda have become very large services, and they have hostels, apartments, and even houses with villas.

Here are my instructions for each service:

You can search for hotels in different booking systems and compare the results. In some places the interface is more convenient, in others there is a larger database of hotels. Therefore it is best to use Hotel search engines, which are searched across all booking systems at once. Essentially, such services do most of the work for you. More about them below.

Apartment booking system

I would like to make a separate point about Airbnb. This is a service that offers private housing. Most of them are apartments, rooms in apartments or even houses local residents. This service helps home owners make money by acting as an intermediary between them and you. By the way, you can also rent out your apartment by the day this way if you wish (anyone can participate).

If you are not yet familiar with the service, be sure to read about it, where it tells you what it is, how to register correctly, how to book accommodation, etc.

So, Airbnb offers really cool options that are primarily of interest to families with children and groups of several people. Because often an apartment can accommodate not two people, but 4-6 or more. And with this approach (you usually pay for all accommodation at once) it turns out to be several times cheaper than in a hotel. After all, a hotel would have to take several rooms for such a number of people. Moreover, living conditions in an apartment can be much better than in a hotel. For example, most apartments have kitchens, and many also have a washing machine. These are very relevant points when traveling with children.

What are Hotel Finders?

A hotel search engine is a service where you can search for hotels in all popular booking systems at the same time. That is, such a service searches for the hotels you need right away, both in Booking, and in Agoda, and on Ostrovka, and in other systems. It would be a pain to sort them out manually. Hotel search engines are also called aggregators and metasearch engines. In essence, this is a hotel Google.

How does this happen? You also specify the search criteria you need (country, city, dates, room services) and the search engine gives you the results - a list of hotels. And then, having selected a specific hotel, you will see the cost of living in this hotel in various booking systems (Booking, Agoda, Ostrovok, etc.), that is, you have the opportunity to compare and choose. When you make your choice, the search engine will redirect you to the website of the selected reservation system, where you will make a hotel reservation. That is, the search engine itself does not sell anything, it only searches. There are no additional or hidden fees. The principle of operation is reminiscent of those already familiar to everyone. You can read more about the services in my instructions:

One of the best hotel search engines in my opinion is . It has very good integration with Booking and other systems, it has everything necessary filters, the hotel rating is immediately shown. I personally also like the display of hotels on the map, since I often look for accommodation in a specific location. And when you move the map, hotels are shown throughout the entire territory, even if I initially specified a different city in the search. This makes it easy to find hotels between cities or on specific beaches without even knowing their names. You can try searching for yourself using the form below.

Book a hotel in advance or search locally

Local search is more relevant for low-cost Asian countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and where there are many small hotels at every step. But in Hong Kong, Singapore, or Europe it is cheaper and easier to book everything in advance. However, I still prefer, if possible (when I know the exact dates), to book everything in advance so as not to waste my time searching, there are all the tools for this, it’s stupid to ignore modern technologies.

• By booking in advance, you will be sure that you will have overnight accommodation upon arrival. You can adjust and plan the entire trip at once and, thus, the likelihood of falling behind schedule is minimal. This is especially true if you are traveling during the season. popular place, you can just stay on the street and not find any empty seats.
• Again, during preparation, you can read real reviews from guests in booking systems and take into account all your wishes: distance to the beach, air conditioning, swimming pool, WiFi, etc. On the spot, you will have to go to all the hotels in a row and ask what is available, and it will also not be entirely clear what the actual service is, do not ask people on the street.
• The most important thing about booking in advance is saving time and effort. The fact is that searching on the spot is far from a romantic activity, and not everyone will like spending even 1-2 hours walking around various hotels in the heat and after a long flight. No, of course, if you come for several months and you need to carefully select housing for this period, then this may be justified.
• It often happens that prices when booking online are lower than directly on site. I remember I made a reservation right at the hotel reception (it was almost 2 times cheaper), no matter how strange it may sound.
• When you receive your visa, you may need printouts from the reservation system to confirm that you have a place to live. For example, the French consulate (and many other European countries) accepts printouts from

Despite the fact that the databases of reservation systems are huge and include hundreds of thousands of hotels, the smallest and cheapest hotels may not be available (sometimes such hotels do not even have their own website). Therefore, if you have time, but you are very short on money, then it makes sense to go and look for housing directly on the spot.

Some nuances when booking

• Check the check in time (usually around 14:00) and check out time check out(about 12 noon). Some hotels are very strict about this and may charge you for another day if you are late. You also need to understand that if you arrive earlier, the hotel will only be able to accommodate you if it has such an opportunity, otherwise you will wait.
• Check the opening hours of the reception desk, otherwise if you arrive late in the evening or at night, you may arrive to closed doors.
• The debiting of money for a hotel or the possibility of booking a hotel without payment (with payment at the time of check-in) depends entirely on the specific hotel and its policy.
• Please read the cancellation policy carefully, especially if there is a possibility that you will need to cancel your reservation. Usually, a reservation can be canceled without any penalties some time before arrival. In some cases (for example, there was a special offer), the reservation is not canceled and the money is not refunded. All this is indicated on the page of a particular hotel. Also, in case of no-show, they may begin to write off money for accommodation.
• Sometimes it is possible to book a hotel not only without prepayment, but even without providing your bank card details. Of course, you can score and not cancel the reservation later, but I would not recommend doing this, there is a risk of getting fined (the cost of one night). Alternatively, you can register a new account each time, but IMHO it’s easier not to go through with it.
• If the type of bed is very important (a large double or two singles), it makes sense to contact the hotel or at least read the reviews, since it is not always clear what is meant in the room description. Although I personally have never encountered any problems.
• It is best to always have a printout of your hotel reservation (voucher) with you or a file with it on your phone to show on the screen. But usually just giving your last name or reservation number is enough.

How I book hotels and life hack

Life hack for those who are used to . Search for a hotel on your usual Booking website, copy its name and paste it into the search window for the dates you need. Thus, you will find out whether the hotel is offered at a cheaper price, for example, on Agoda, Ostrovok and others.

After using a little different sites, both booking systems and search engines, you will figure it out yourself. There is nothing difficult about finding and paying for a hotel or guesthouse. I am looking for housing in the following order:

In Thailand, if I don’t know exactly when and where I’m going to stop (for example, I’m traveling 800 km by car), then I look for accommodation right along the route of the service. But again, not without the help of services. I have a mobile application from Hotellook (Android, iOS, Windows Phone), the convenience of which is that it can show hotels right next to your location. Sometimes it’s enough to walk 100-200 meters and the hotel you need will be there. Actually, these are not all the possibilities; there you can search and book hotels in advance, which is what I also do.

But in general, it’s better to book in advance; during the peak season in Thailand, it happens that all suitable hotels are already completely booked on the day of booking, and you have to check into places where you wouldn’t otherwise be able to.

P.S. Add if you forgot something :)

Life hack 1 - how to buy good insurance

It’s incredibly difficult to choose insurance now, so I’m compiling a rating to help all travelers. To do this, I constantly monitor forums, study insurance contracts and use insurance myself.

Life hack 2 - how to find a hotel 20% cheaper

Thanks for reading

4,78 out of 5 (ratings: 67)

Comments (79 )

petruchenzo

Gennady

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Alexander

Great hostel.

Great hostel. Very convenient location, close to Red Square and other attractions. No problems with the reservation, polite administrators. Everywhere is tidy and clean. The toilet and shower are clean, I was pleasantly surprised. The bed linen is clean and smells nice. There are some minor drawbacks: foreign guests are accommodated in the same room as Russian guests, this is very inconvenient! The Chinese do not understand when they are asked to be quiet and act as if they are alone in the room, talk on the phone in the middle of the night and ignore requests to be quieter from the management. Also, taxis don’t come close to the hostel; you have to walk about 100 meters. A huge request from the hostel administration to explain to its employees, in particular the cleaning ladies, so that they don’t get indignant and swear at the hostel guests because they didn’t put away their things somewhere or didn’t label their food in the refrigerator! They took this job and knew what awaited them. If you are not satisfied with the work, let them make room for more educated staff! Such employees spoil the mood and opinion of the hotel as a whole.

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Anonymous Russia

8,0

In two days I managed to visit several places.

In two days I managed to visit several places. Since we settled not far from Red Square, we decided to start there. We walked along clean and cozy streets to Red Square, visited the Armory Chamber and Cathedral Square, then took the metro to shopping center Filion, the most delicious Pokrovskie gingerbreads are sold there, there is a company store there, from there you can take the metro to the hotel. On the second day we got to Timiryazevskaya, switched to the monorail and went to VDNKh. On the way you can see the industrial zone and residential areas and Ostankino, quite interesting. VDNKh is very beautiful, the place for walking is very good, there are many places to eat for every taste, music plays, you can go roller skating, there are interesting exhibitions, you can spend the whole day there, then we took the metro from VDNKh to Kropotkinskaya, we wanted to see the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. From there, walk along the streets to Arbat. We didn’t see much in two days, but we had a lot of fun.

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Alena Russia

8,0

Over the Christmas holidays I was able to show my wife and son the most...

Over the Christmas holidays I was able to show my wife and son the most iconic places in Moscow, while almost all of these places can be reached on foot from the Kitai Gorod hotel! All our meals were organized in the Mu-Mu cafe chain, good quality prepared dishes with an average price tag for lunch of 350-450 rubles per person. The cafe closest to our hotel is on Maroseyka Street 12 (we usually had dinner there). The most impressive event for all of us was celebrating the New Year on the "Singing Bus" excursion on the Patriarch's Ponds and a night tour of Moscow with singing guides - Father Frost and Snow Maiden. Near the hotel there is Orthodox church"All Saints", where the service follows the canon of the Alexandrian Patriarchate. I advise you to attend the service, very unusual melodies of prayers and the ceremony itself. The Moscow Planetarium was also impressive; it made a strong impression on our youngest son (he is 17 years old).

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Igor Russia

Beloved Moscow forever!

Didn't go for the purpose of visiting historical monuments, but for the purpose of visiting parks and modern places. Best places by convenience of location to the metro: Tverskoy Boulevard - especially beautiful in the evening, Sokolniki Park (for active tourists), Red Square, Alexander Garden, Izmailovsky Park, Victory Park. Far from Gorky Park and Vorobyovy Gory metro stations. We took the bus. sightseeing tour for rent to the main attractions. We were not very pleased with the zoo - there are huge areas for walking, large animals are located at a fairly far distance from the field of view, many cages are empty - because... the animals are sleeping, there is no full-fledged hot food on the territory - only hot dogs and all that. We will definitely return to visit the Tsaritsyno Nature Reserve and Chistye Prudy.

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Anonymous Russia

The Kremlin, especially the excursion to the Diamond Fund, the Armory...

The Kremlin, especially a tour of the Diamond Fund, the Armory Chamber, Red Square, the Church of the Ascension and the Palace of Alexei Mikhailovich in Kolomenskoye, Tsaritsyno, Historical Museum and the Museum of the Patriotic War of 1812, the Tretyakov Gallery, the MU-MU cafe chain. Special thanks to the cafe staff!!! Well done!!! Thanks to the staff of museums and exhibitions, very polite and attentive! Didn't like the location seats in the Kremlin concert hall(we were sitting in the fifth row, the ballet "The Snow Maiden"), complaints came from everywhere! And also the low culture of the Moscow audience, during the performance they ran from place to place, at the end of the event, instead of applause, they turned their backs to the artists and left the hall. Nightmare!

Using the best hotel booking services is good way online find the most suitable accommodation for your vacation or business trip. In addition, if we are talking about traveling abroad, confirmation of the number reserve may be required at customs or when obtaining a visa. To avoid any mistakes, it is important to use only trusted sites, the advantages and disadvantages of which are discussed in this rating, compiled based on reviews from experienced travelers.

To compile this TOP, real reviews from tourists were taken. All contenders for the title of best were compared with each other, their advantages and disadvantages were taken into account. Here is what was a priority when analyzing the opinions of travelers:

• Wide choice of hotels;
• Convenient selection filter;
• Ease of search;
• Speed ​​of results;
• Interface clarity;
• Number of languages ​​supported;
• No hidden fees;
• Time to confirm the reservation;
• Possibility of free withdrawal of reserve;
• Payment Methods.

Naturally, the technical support of the site and its readiness to meet clients halfway in case of unforeseen circumstances were also taken into account.

Best Price Comparison Sites for Hotel Booking

As the name of the category suggests, such sites provide information on prices for hotel accommodations offered on the most popular resources for booking hotels. They save a lot of time, because you can immediately choose the most advantageous option in terms of cost and comfort and immediately make a reservation.

This is an aggregator for finding the most best hotels among various booking agencies. He gives everything away possible options, among which you can select the most profitable one for yourself. The company is German, but don’t rush to abandon it or take on a translator, it also has a Russian version. A very convenient option is to select suitable hotels by rating, location in the city, distance from the center, number of stars and various secondary filters - free Internet, parking, swimming pool, etc.

Of course, there is no way to look at reviews and detailed characteristics of hotels on the website, but real photographs of rooms are shown here, sometimes speaking more eloquently than the most detailed descriptions. Moreover, partners provide complete information on where you can complete the reserve. Among them there are only proven services - Ostrovok, Agoda, Booking - those that are included in our rating of hotel booking sites.



Advantages:

• Quick search;
• Price comparison down to the penny;
• Use only available numbers;
• Displaying offers with discounts.

Flaws:

• Users would like more detailed descriptions proposals.

Compared to other hotel booking sites from this rating, the Oktogo service has taken care to provide detailed information about room prices via mailing to subscribers. He also thought about the safety of his clients, having thoroughly checked all candidates by the appropriate service, which minimizes the likelihood of fraud.

The cost of reserving a bed in a hostel or a room in a hotel is not set just like that, but based on the results of a long comparison of all prices in other agencies. At the same time, the service provides the final amount, without hidden fees, and this inspires confidence among users. Compared to competitors, it looks more interesting due to the provision of detailed information about the location of objects, services and amenities in hotels.

Oktogo does not have the simplest interface, but it is not difficult to understand, especially since it is in Russian. In addition, there are clear instructions on how to proceed in order to do everything correctly. A convenient personal account eliminates any questions at all, and bonus points upon registration are even more impressive. True, you won’t be able to get a reservation on this site; to do this you need to use the resources of partners.



Advantages:

• A large number of hostels;
• Prompt resolution of difficulties encountered by clients;
• Payment from cards and electronic wallets;
• Speed ​​of sending a voucher by email;
• Possibility of payment both upon check-in and at the time of reserving a room.

Flaws:

• Not detected.

This is a simple and fast system for searching and comparing the cost of living in hotels that work with the same Agoda, Hotels, Ostrovok, Booking, etc. Compared to alternative options, for example, Oktogo, here you can find a suitable option with a maximum discount of up to 60%. The most important thing is that the service’s services are completely free - it analyzes more than 700,000 guest houses, hostels, hotels around the world, from the USA to Australia.

Compared to the prices on the hotels' websites, hotellook's prices are more favorable. At the same time, users have no complaints about the design or the menu; everything is assembled as compactly and conveniently as possible. Among the advantages, one should highlight a large number of fresh reviews and photographs of objects that are real.

The selection of the best results for reserving a room is carried out here using a special filter, which allows you to select the appropriate currency from more than twenty. According to this indicator, Hotelluk is clearly in the lead; Of course, it only takes a few seconds to display search data. Opposite each proposal is a rating that helps you make the right decision.



Advantages:

• Loading and operating speed;
• Several partners;
• Analysis of multiple prices from different agencies;
• Many languages;
• Discounts;
• Filtering by type of accommodation, amenities and many other parameters;
• Object location map.

Flaws:

• Not detected.

The Hotellook system automatically redirects to the sites of partners for room reservations.

Roomguru is also an international search aggregator, only comparing prices on resources for booking rooms and displaying several results. This significantly saves time on choosing housing and allows you to save money. If we compare it with similar services from our rating, then it is interesting because it offers reservations not only with partners, but also on the official website of the hotel.

The creators of the Roomguru system were definitely not mistaken when they divided by cost. Using this option, you can select only options that are suitable for the price and search among them. You can often see lucrative offers that are not available on every similar site. Another advantage is the ability to sort according to guest ratings, which the service carefully checks.

A special advantage is access to a search by the name of a specific hotel and its location, taking into account the map. A very good mobile application simplifies the use of services, and is not inferior to the applications of competitors from this rating.



Advantages:

• Benefits for your wallet;
• Time saving;
• Various booking options;
• Advanced search form.

Flaws:

• Previously, Russian transliteration worked when searching, but now the flaw has been removed.

The best sites for booking hotels in Russia

Naturally, in the services presented in this category, you can book a hotel room or a bed in a hostel not only on the territory of the Russian Federation, but also far beyond the borders of Russia. It is the winning sites that have the most impressive selection of hotels in a given country.

The Ostrovok hotel reservation site is not inferior to Booking in terms of the number of accommodation offers, and in its types, perhaps even surpasses it. Here you can not only book a room in a hotel or hostel, but also rent a room in guest house, as well as apartments, villas and even a camping spot. It is not necessary to pay for the reservation immediately; this can be done upon arrival.

Unlike booking, prices are controlled more strictly here, and popular destinations they are not overpriced. This service also deserves a place in the TOP of the best hotel booking sites because it provides personal discounts of up to 20%, which not all competitors can afford. It stands out from similar sites due to the security of online payments due to working directly with leading and trusted banks and payment systems.

The ostrovok website has a fairly simple and intuitive interface; it is easy to navigate. Everything is organized here and there is a convenient search filter, which includes a full range of options - from the type of accommodation and number of beds to the services and entertainment provided. Of course, compared to the same Booking, translation from Russian is available only into 3 languages ​​- Danish, English and Spanish.



Advantages:

• Bonus points;
• Convenient sorting;
• Adding your favorite options to a separate list for quick search;
• Real reviews from guests;
• Placement in catalogs of available hotels around the world;
• Possibility of choosing an object taking into account the distance from the city center.

Flaws:

• Not detected.

agoda

This site is regularly included in the ranking of the best hotel and hotel booking services due to the fact that it has an open pricing policy, without hidden fees, and at the same time provides truthful, comprehensive information about accommodation options. Undoubtedly, his practiced descriptions of resorts and areas of various cities, which should make it easier to make a decisive choice, are useful.

Agoda's discounts for registered users, which can reach 30%, are especially noteworthy. Rarely do you come across such a convenient division by country, city and even region, which speeds up the process of choosing a suitable housing option. Otherwise, the site is not very different from its competitors, it is just as practical - there is free apps, 24/7 chat support, fast feedback.

In the Agoda service, prices are indicated without taxes, so you still need to add a certain percentage to them.



Advantages:

• Speed ​​and ease of site search;
• Bonus system;
• Efficiency of obtaining information;
• Transparency of conditions;
• Flexibility of pricing policy;
• Selection of offers.

Flaws:

• You may lose a little when paying in another currency due to conversion;
• You can only see taxes in your personal account.

As reviews show, agoda is very often used to find housing in Asia, although there are many interesting options for placement in Europe, USA, Australia.

Compete on numbers best offers This service is quite difficult for other systems. On home page There are always available accommodation options in the most popular cities world with an incredible discount of up to 70%. Moreover, for one reservation, miles are credited to your account, which can be exchanged for a discount.

True, if it is not necessary to register on Booking to make a reservation, then with IGlobe it is impossible to bypass this stage. But this should not be taken as a minus, because it only takes a few seconds. In the form you need to fill out your last name, first name, email address and phone number. In case of low rates, the prepayment made in case of no-show is not refundable and changes cannot be made after that.



Advantages:

• The service is responsible for the information provided;
• You can pay not only with a card, but also with Aeroflot bonus miles;
• Electronic money accepted;
• Speed ​​of funds debiting and confirmation;
• You can book your hotel and flight immediately.

Flaws:

• There are cases of overvaluation of rates;
• Phones do not work around the clock, which is something iGlobe loses to its competitors.

The reviews write that you need to be careful when paying for services through the site with a card if you need to issue documents for business trips. The fact is that they are provided through a Swiss company, and they may not be accepted by the accounting department in Russia.

The best sites for booking hotels around the world

Perhaps this is the most famous and one of the oldest hotel booking systems in different parts of the world globe. It was founded in 1996 and since then has confidently maintained a leading position in this service market. Everything here is done for the convenience of users - a choice of 43 working languages, no mandatory registration to reserve a room.

The booking service is interesting because right on the website you can read real reviews from tourists, look at many photos of a particular accommodation option and select suitable offers taking into account their user ratings. This way, you can avoid checking into an initially bad hotel and not spoil your vacation.

One of the advantages of this hotel booking site is its simply huge database of hotels, guest houses, and hostels for both budget travelers and wealthy people. In this case, you can reserve several rooms at the same time, and cancel the reservation for free before departure, this helps to be on the safe side.



Advantages:

• Convenient, clear and simple interface;
• Many offers of any level around the world;
• Reservation without payment;
• Free cancellation;
• Email confirmation speed;
• Exclusive and special offers;
• Convenient selection filter (by city, price, number of stars, etc.);
• Compliance of photographs and reviews with reality;
• Possibility to rent a car and buy air tickets here;
• Detailed descriptions.

Flaws:

• Protection against fraud would be nice;
• There are some price markups.

According to user reviews, Booking has excellent technical support; if any questions arise, they respond in a timely manner and provide detailed answers.

Expedia

Among the best hotel booking services there are resources for English language- for those who are well versed in it. It could be given first place in our TOP due to the lowest prices associated with the purchase of blocks of seats in different hotels Worldwide. The system has been working for a long time and reliably, so, according to reviews, there are practically no problems with mandatory prepayment. But, despite this, the company meets customers halfway and is developing a version of depositing funds upon check-in.

It is unlikely that Russian services can afford the same “trick” as expedia, which guarantees reimbursement of the difference between its price and a more profitable one from competitors, and also gives a coupon with a nominal value of 50%. But there is a catch - more low price must be found only in American systems, and offers must be consistent by check-in date and room category.

What can we say, this is the largest such platform in the United States, the advantage of which is the provision of other services - purchasing air tickets and renting cars around the world. Finding suitable options is quite fast compared to Agoda. The procedure for making a reservation is standard, in a few clicks.



Advantages:

• There are both inexpensive and luxury hotels;
• To check into a room, it is not necessary to present a printout of your reservation;
• The cost is even lower than that of the hotels themselves, there are preferences;
• Wide range of possibilities;
• Exact match of results to the request;
• Quick display of information of interest;
• Practicality of filters.

Flaws:

• There is no Russian-language interface.

In the case of expedia, you need to be careful when canceling a reservation, this service is free, but if currency conversion is carried out, you can lose on the difference.

This is one of the best hotel booking sites; you can highlight it in the TOP because of the most complete database of accommodation facilities for holidays or business trips. Where else can more than 1.6 million profitable and interesting offers be collected on one resource! Instant confirmation of reservations from hotels, as well as prices lower than official rates, allows him to be among the leaders. This is one of the few services where there is no commission, there is no need to pay an intermediary.

Hotels gets a big plus for its user-friendly interface, everything is organized in the system, there is a minimum and maximum cost threshold, a map of hotel locations, the choice of booking without a bank card, with the possibility of canceling it. Information about the distance to the metro, train station and other important places in the city is very valuable. It would be even better if the reviews were located on the specific offer page, rather than separately.



Advantages:

• Safety;
• Good mobile applications;
• Availability;
• Clarity of actions;
• Operational technical support;
• Filter quality to choose from;
• A variety of offers for tourist accommodation.

Flaws:

• Not detected.

Which hotel booking service is better to choose?

Those who want to find the best deals should first use a search aggregator that compares prices in different hotel booking services. When choosing a suitable system, make sure that you can cancel the reservation for free or with a minimal commission. Make sure there are no hidden fees – taxes, interest for checking the card’s functionality, etc.

• The simplest and most convenient service, especially for a novice traveler, will be booking.
• Those who want to find something good among hostels can pay attention to ostrovok.
• Those who want to save money and choose the most cheap option For accommodation, you should use price comparison services oktogo, trivago, hotellook.
• For those who want to find good number with a discount, agoda, roomguru and hotels are suitable.
• Expedia is recognized as the most reliable and proven system; here you can not be afraid to make an advance payment.
• If you often use Aeroflot and have accumulated a large number of miles, you can exchange them to pay for a room on iGlobe.

All online hotel booking systems are very popular, in particular among Russian tourists. They have a good reputation and mostly positive reviews.