old_expat - 5:52 pm on Apr 13, 2006 (gmt 0)

"perhaps I should not have used the term "always", but in fact most people in the general population will indeed find the best price through direct contact as most do not have a clue as to what a consolidator is."

I believe this depends on the market. In my market, the hotels have contractual relationships with large hotel booking sites and *many* of them will not match those contracted prices when dealing with individuals.