I know I should know this already the amount of Hotels ive stayed in but anyone know the best way to get the best price !
I normally use Laterooms (not happy with the prices currently though)but I wondered whether phoning up the hotels directly works
Also if I leave it later could the price go down ?

Laterooms etc for availability, then phone the hotel direct to book the room

Interweb is often cheaper than phoning.

Googling can often throw up cheaper prices than the hotel's own site too.


Anyone yearn for the days when everything had a set price and life was simple?

Depends on the standard of hotel you want to use. You'll find that with the chains like Travelodge$4$5 for instance,the price will always climb as the reservation date gets nearer - due to advance block booking by businesses/businessmen (and women) so that as soon as they release 50,000 rooms @ £9 you'd need to book immediately,as next time you check,they'll be £19,then £23.50, £25.50, and £29 and these are all non-refundable if you cancel,the alternative being to book at the rack rate of £58. You can only reserve at these special prices on-line,and if you try to book direct with the hotel,that's what they'll tell you,or refer you to central reservations where you'll only be offered the rack rate. Premier work much the same way,except their(better class) rooms are not usually offered below £29.
For upmarket hotels,I'm out of touch now,but lastminute.com. is still worth checking I think.

I travel a lot and always use http://www.booking.com/index.en.html for my Hotels. I used to use Laterooms but got pissed off when they phoned me up once to confirm my double room reservation and my wife answered the phone. I ended up having to take her away for the weekend as I told her that it was a "surprise" treat. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, I hate Laterooms.

Have used them too as well as http://www.hotels.com/

Discovered laterooms's iPod/phone app tonight. Seems quite good actually

I always look on www.laterooms.com and then find the phone number for the hotel from our friends at google, then call myself and ask what the best price is.

Similar to you Bear, I have noticed that the laterooms www is getting more expensive!

http://ww w.quidco.com/laterooms-com/ 5% cashback

http://ww w.topcashback.co.uk/search/merchants/?s=laterooms 5.05% cashback

Mention this when you phone to get a bit more off

Tips for getting 3 to 5 star hotels cheaper on Lastminute:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-hotels

Agree that laterooms.com used to be the best, but their prices have definitely gone up now that they have made a name for themselves. Don't know of a suitable alternative though. bookings.com looks like it might be owned by the same organisation if you ask me.

Some general rules about online agencies:

1. A hotel will offer a number of rooms to a number of online travel agents. So Booking.com might get 5 rooms to sell, as will laterrooms.com. Most times the rooms are priced the same, but similar to an Easyjet flight, the first room might be cheapest, the last room, most expensive. So often you might be able to save some money just by shopping around and booking early. Online agencies can always give unsold rooms back to hotels - so there is no good example of online agencies selling rooms cheaper the nearer you get to the date.

2. Booking.com and Expedia have the same owners - howeverExpedia will often have cheaper rooms (might just be a few ££s). This is because you have to pre-pay for Expedia; whilst you only reserve on Booking.com. Hotels don't like last minute cancellations (and neither do agencies), so they encourage you to pay upfront to guarantee your money (and for the agencies that means gauranteed commission). So if you know you are definitely going on thr trip, pre-pay can save you a few quid.

3. Generally, online agencies should be cheaper than hotels directly. Why is that? For every room the online agency sells, they get a commission from the hotel directly. So if the hotel gives them a £200 room to sell, they might sell it for £190, knowing they get a 20% commission. Better off getting some commission and profit, than nothing at all. Hotels generally have a price structure that they keep to.....

4. However, depending on the rating of the hotel can make a difference on their policy. 5 star hotels in London often run a policy that is "an empty bed is lost revenue". Therefore you can sometimes get hotel rates at a fraction of the room rate if you book the afternoon of your arrival. Often you need to speak with the manager directly and also mention that some of their competition is offering some nice discounts - what can they do?

5. Finally, booking a hotel room with another aspect (eg rental car, flight, train ticket etc) can lead to an overall saving than doing separately.

For what it's worth, I use:

Booking.com for reservations if not sure if definitely going
Easytobook.com if I know I am going
Priceline.com if travelling to US
Agoda.com for travel outside of Europe (although they are getting a lot better at negotiating good rates within Europe now)

Sale for 72 hours, closes 3rd March, 23.59

http://www.hotels.com/deals/uk-72-hour-sale/

£20 Tesco vouchers are worth £60 in Best Western Hotels.

Get her to pay her share - you do all the work in bed.