joeduck - 11:48 pm on Apr 12, 2006 (gmt 0)

This is another case where using URLs would be helpful in the explanation, but by "consolidators" I mean the household name online places everybody knows as well as the smaller consolidators. Example: Last week I used a small flight consolidator to book Delta to Boston and paid about $100 less than the cheapest fare Delta had online at the same time. [edit - travelin noted this type of advantage over airline sites in his post as well though I'm saying it also is true with hotels].

This situation is common in travel because pricing is very market driven and surprisingly inconsistent both for flights and hotels.

As a travel publishing guy I know how some of the deals are cut and it's a very sloppy and counter-intuitive process where some consolidators will force properties to sell them blocks of rooms far below rack rate in exchange for a guarantee of selling those rooms.

If, at the last minute, the consolidator has a lot of rooms left they may sell them at rates far below what the hotel will charge if you call them. You especially see this in places like Vegas.

All that said I think the hotels are getting smarter and some provide a low price guarantee at their own websites, so you are certainly right that you should check the hotel site as well as other places.