When booking a hotel, you may by default turn to third party sites like Expedia, Kayak, or Orbitz so that you can see all of your options in one place. But in nearly all cases you’ll find the cheapest possible rate by booking straight through the hotel thanks to rate match guarantees.
Hotels often have some sort of best rate guarantee. Third-party sites sometimes will try to undercut the hotel by offering a cheaper rate than what’s offered through the brand. The guarantee ensures that the hotel itself has the lowest rate. In some cases the hotel will not only match the third-party price, but will even offer an additional percentage off or other incentives — sometimes you can even get the first night free. So the next time you find an extremely low rate, it’s definitely worth it to cross check with the listed hotel price and find out the rate guarantee the chain offers so you can capitalize on those perks, as noted by the travel blog Travel Is Free.
