Hotel Supermarket

Hotel Supermarket websites are everywhere. You know, those sites like GTA, Hotelopia and Superbreak that sell you great deals on bargain hotel breaks. But to use them to your best advantage you have to know how they work and how they make their money.
The most obvious method a hotel site earns revenue is by getting a commission on sales. The hotel tells the site what the lowest price they need to receive per night for a particular room is, the hotel booking site sells it it that price and charges the hotel a commission, usually in the range of 8-15%. It's a win-win-win situation. The customer gets a cheap room, the hotel fills an otherwise empty room and the Hotel Supermarket earns some money.
But beware of some other, less scrupulous websites. In my experience, you're fine with GTA, Hotelopia and Superbreak but certain other sites – including one of two very big names – will not hestitate to rip you off. First of all, take the claim "cheapest prices online – guaranteed" with a shovel-full of salt. Deep down in the terns and conditions no one reads is a clause that will let them get away with charging more. Because that's just what they do. Big travel firms negotiate low rates with hotel chains and then sell rooms for much more; in many cases you'll be paying more than if you just dropped in off the street. And just you try and get a refund! The best you can hope for (after many hours holding on premium telephone lines) is something like a "BedsBucks" voucher, which gives you money off future bookings.
My advice is to check out the ads - you'd be a fool not to – see what prices you are being quoted and then try the hotel's own website and the other Hotel Supermarkets I mention above. See who's offering the best deal and go for it.
By the way, ever wondered why all of the reviews on the hotel supermarket websites are positive? That's because they censor bad reviews. It's usually done by software looking for negative words, so one way to get round them is to use a double-negative such as "far from the best hotel in the world - or even in the top 50,000". Another way you can try is to use spam techniques such as "they s uck" and "terr ible service".
Good luck with your chosen Hotel Supermarket!