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The best site for cheap hotels
Holidaymakers are more likely to get the best price on hotels and accommodation if they use Kayak, Which? Travel research has found.
The metasearch engine consistently offered the cheapest price when we pitted the five most-used travel comparison sites against each other.
We checked prices on 10 hotel rooms in 10 destinations in the UK and beyond. Kayak had the cheapest room rate six out of 10 times in our snapshot research.
Want to find the site with the cheapest price on flights? See our price comparison on Skyscanner, Kayak, Momondo and Google Flights.
Kayak best comparison site for cheap hotel prices
The hotel prices we found across the five comparison sites were often the same or just a few pounds different, which is frustrating given how much time many of us spend looking at different sites to secure the best price, but occasionally savings were significant.
A Perth hotel was listed as more than £100 cheaper a night on Kayak compared with Hotelscomparison.com.
TripAdvisor: most popular, but expensive
A huge 70% of you use TripAdvisor to find accommodation. But the site didn't once have a price that couldn't be matched or beaten by one of its competitors.
In fact, it was the most expensive option three out of 10 times.
Of course, price isn't everything. TripAdvisor was rated the second best comparison site overall, after Skyscanner, with a customer score of 62%.
It scored three stars across the board, including for its market coverage and functionality. Users liked being able to compare room availability and customer reviews side by side.
Others treated its write-ups with scepticism. A recent Which? Travel investigation revealed how suspicious reviews had helped some of the 'world's best' hotels rise up the rankings.
Best and worst hotel booking sites
The booking journey doesn't end with a comparison site. Users then have to click through to book and pay with a third party - either an online travel agent or the hotel direct.
Sites, including Booking.com and Expedia, have come under pressure from the Competition and Markets Authority for misleading sales tricks.
While many have cleaned up their act, there's still work to be done. Find out which brands you can trust with our best and worst hotel booking sites.
