Hoteldiscount.com: Easy to use, But Lacking in Features
Written: Jan 24 '02 (Updated May 16 '05)
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Most people who frequently surf the internet are fully aware that there are many travel- related sites to assist the tourist with everything from flying to car rental. Lodging sites are in great abundance, and one of them is hoteldiscount.com, an on- line hotel service. Let’s take a closer look at this on- line lodging provider:
What Does This Site Have to Offer?:
To search for lodging, you can either select a city from the drop- down menu, or enter the name of a city and state. There are many international cities to select from also.
After entering your city, you will need to indicate your desired check- in date, number of nights needed, number of adults and children in your travel party, smoking preference, and number of beds.
Your next step involves clicking an icon to search for available hotels, or clicking another icon to look for vacation rentals. If you search for available hotels, the next page will show you a selection of lodging to choose from, showing you the hotel name; the exact price for each night; and a rating, from one to five stars. If you want to know more, you can click on an icon that will then show you a picture of the hotel, with links to more pictures, along with the amenities, area attractions, room information, driving directions, and cancellation policy. You can look at a map of the area, too, but the map is limited to showing only a close- up of the general location of the hotel. You cannot expand or shrink the map.
If your preference is vacation rental property, then you can click the appropriate icon and look at a list of available property and prices. These vacation rentals are usually timeshare condos that are being offered for rent. They are typically much larger than standard hotel rooms, with multiple bedrooms, multiple bathrooms, washing machines, dishwashers, and other luxury amenities that you won’t find in a hotel room. Just like with the hotel search, you can look at close- up pictures, amenities, area attractions, etc.
One thing to note is that the search results will not be in any particular order, unless you specify an order, on the search page. You can list out the hotels in alphabetical name order, price order, or quality rating order. If you don’t specify one of these options, you will get a list in random order.
Other Services:
Hoteldiscount.com has a few links on the home page, to assist the traveler with car rental, flight reservations, and other travel needs. But these are all just links into other sites. Hoteldiscount.com is strictly a lodging service.
If you don’t like the idea of “clicking” your way to a hotel, you can call a toll- free number, and book your lodging by talking directly to customer service. This option is good for people who like the personal service of speaking directly with someone and it’s good for those who are wary about entering their credit card information on- line.
Final Thoughts:
Hoteldiscount.com is a very basic lodging service. It doesn’t offer any unique search functions or any specialized service. It’s just a simple search function to find lodging.
There are some flaws with this service that need to be addressed. First of all, when you search for a city that isn’t in the main database, you will be given a list of search results for the nearest large city (that is in the hoteldiscount.com database) and it will include many other cities that you have no interest in, thereby cluttering up your screen. For example, if I enter my hometown of Dayton, Ohio, the search result page pulls up Columbus instead. There are hotels within the list for Dayton, but there are countless other cities, large and small, between Dayton and Columbus that are included in the search results. Hoteldiscount.com doesn’t provide any means for narrowing down the list. You just have to sift through the results, until you find the hotel location that you want.
In some cases, the search results are a total mess and they can include places that are far, far away from your selected destination. For instance, if I run a search for hotels in Cancun, Mexico, my search results include hotels in places like Acapulco. I’m don’t know if this is a flaw in the search program, or if hoteldiscount.com does this intentionally, to try to entice the traveler to check other cities as possible travel destinations. Whatever the reason, I don’t like this and it should be changed. If I want to look for resorts in Acapulco, I will search for Acapulco.
One good thing about hoteldiscount.com is that you don’t need to setup an account with them first, to book a hotel or vacation property rental. You just proceed to the booking page and enter your credit card data. You don’t need to be a “hoteldiscount.com” member first (like you do with some other travel sites) to book a hotel.
Overall, this site will satisfy some traveler’s needs, but I found it to be sorely lacking in search features and grossly inadequate and inconsistent with its search results. I give this service a thumbs- down. There are much better lodging services on the world wide web than this.
Be Sure to Click the Links Below to Read More Reviews on Other Popular Travel Sites:
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Cheaptickets.com
Recommended:
No
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About the Author
Member: Bryan Carey
Location: Houston, TX
Reviews written: 3613
Trusted by: 1570 members
About Me: Beer Drinker and Libertarian Political Activist. Great Combination, eh?
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