The Best Hotel Booking Sites for 2023 (2024)

Best Hotel Booking Sites

Best Hotel Booking Sites

This hotel booking site sports one of the largest numbers of hotel accommodations around the world, and guests often gravitate toward it to find a great deal. In addition to hotels, Booking.com allows guests to search for car rentals, flights, and flight and hotel packages.

Booking.com is an aggregator site known for its volume of hotel options at all price points, though many travelers turn to the site to compare rates on hotels around the world. The site has been known to deliver some of the lowest rates on the internet. Reviews of hotels displayed on the website are written by individuals who’ve booked and completed travel through Booking.com. It also makes a point of including taxes as part of published rates for hotels located in Europe and Asia.

In 2022, the Amsterdam-based company eliminated a few thousand call center jobs, while existing positions were outsourced, which might mean customer service challenges on the consumer end during this transition.

A bulleted list of fees and policies makes listed hotels easy to compare.

Hotels.com is one of the longest-running hotel listing sites in the business and publishes more than 3 million different listings in nearly 20,000 locations around the world including in cities like Cape Town, Lisbon, countries within the Caribbean, and Japan. Use its search engine to filter hotel results by category, such as by accessibility requirements—like a roll-in shower or sign-language capable staff—preferred neighborhood, and must-have amenities such as an ocean view or free airport shuttle. Search also by type of accommodations, including motels and apartments.Its app also offers an additional 10 percent off bookings.

Its collection of 10,000 VIP Access properties are cream-of-the-crop listings that have received top ratings for exceptional service by Hotels.com guests. Hotel reviews by Hotels.com guests indicate how long and what type of trip users took (business vs. leisure) for additional context.

Discerning traveler-curated boutique hotel listings include exclusive perks when you book with this site.

The U.K.-based Mr and Mrs Smith considers itself a global travel club. Guests booking through its site receive access to a curated list of more than 1,700 upscale hotels and villas throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean, among other locales. Peruse listings by categories, such as child-friendly hotels, properties ideal for a honeymoon, and pet-friendly hotels.

Each Mr and Mrs Smith property must be invited into its roster after passing a strict, anonymous review by one of the company’s in-house travel specialists. Most of the listings are boutique hotels with a penchant for considered aesthetics and lots of unique touches (such as an onsite restaurant that produces its own olive oil). Many unique accommodations are offered, with options including treehouse hotels and tropical retreats with both overwater and underwater rooms.

The site offers three membership tiers. Its second and third tiers are paid options (choose to make either a monthly or an annual payment, beginning at $150 annually) and include perks like priority booking on exclusive offers, discounted access to airport lounges, and room upgrades as available.

Socially minded and budget-conscious travelers turn to this hotel booking site for affordable rates and a flexible cancellation policy—24 hours prior to arrival.

Budget travelers looking for a hostel or cheap hotel should check out Hostelworld. It lists 36,000 properties in 178 countries, with more than 13 million verified guest reviews to back them up in backpacker-friendly locales from Amsterdam and Berlin to New Zealand.

Filter results by room type (such as all-female dorms or en-suite family rooms), distance from the city center, and accommodation type. Although the site is called Hostelworld, you can also book bed and breakfasts, apartments, and campsites. Overviews of each listing are provided by the property owners and are accompanied by a Hostelworld description of the property, a summary of amenities like free WiFi or complimentary breakfast, and other travelers' reviews. Select your room type, pay a nominal deposit to reserve your room, and receive instant confirmation.

Traveling in a group of 15 or more? Use the site’s group travel bookings feature to plan your friend-cation, reunion, and more. And since hostels typically have a social, communal vibe, in 2022, Hostelworld announced its platform now offers the optional capability to interact and connect with other Hostelworld guests checking in to the same city and hostel 14 days before arrival.

Travelers with flexibility and those in need of last-minute accommodations find this app-first hotel booking service offers heavily discounted rooms in a pinch.

Need a last-minute hotel room, or have a flexible schedule and like to make travel plans as they unfold? The HotelTonight app, owned by Airbnb as of 2019, is your answer to discounted hotel rooms in a pinch (though the app will allow bookings up to 100 days in advance). Search for a hotel by date and location, and if it’s available, choose your room type. Insider tip: HotelTonight lists excess hotel room inventory, which is why you aren’t always able to select your room.

Hotels are categorized with descriptors like Hip (stylish and quirky), Charming (intimate, and can include bed and breakfasts), and Luxe (for impeccable service and impressive amenities). Its tiered loyalty program unlocks steeper discounts the more you book with the app, and its Deals offers are occasional flash sales that offer even deeper discounts if you book within a 15-minute window. Note that as of October 2022, specific requests like early check-in can’t be made within the app, so you’ll have to coordinate with the hotel directly.

There are 30 brands under the Marriott name and growing, and you can sign up for its free travel rewards program to begin earning points and perks.

If you’re booking a hotel, chances are it might be a Marriott brand property. Marriott boasts 30 brands at all price points within its portfolio, from SpringHill Suites to Design Hotels, and Westin to the Ritz-Carlton. That said, travelers should take advantage of its free loyalty program, Marriott Bonvoy. When you sign up, rack up points to climb its tiered status levels. The more you stay, the more points you earn toward perks like free upgrades, access to club lounges, late check-out, and upgraded WiFi. And the higher up in elite status one goes, the higher the percentage increase in points you receive per booking.

There are a number of ways to earn points with Marriott Bonvoy in addition to booking a hotel room, including making purchases with a Marriott-branded or partner credit card (like The Platinum card by American Express), and booking a car rental with Hertz. Note that points expire after 24 months if you do not complete at least one of a host of actions to remain eligible in the program.

As of 2023, this hotel booking site is still arguably the only one out there with a business model that accounts for social and environmental impact.

Travelers in pursuit of peace of mind knowing their travel dollars are making a direct impact on the destination they’re visiting will enjoy perusing the hotels listed on Kind Traveler. This hotel booking site’s get-and-give model asks travelers to make a $10 donation to a charity in exchange for a dollar amount off nightly rates. Booking with Kind Traveler also means exclusive perks and amenities—for example, a reservation at pet-friendly Kimpton Armory hotel in Bozeman, Montana, includes a room upgrade and late check-out (though both perks are dependent on availability). At this property, your $10 donation goes toward funding day camp experiences for people with disabilities.

We also love that each hotel listing includes several recommendations to “do good for the day” near your selected hotel. In Bozeman, for example, Kind Traveler suggests a visit to the Emerson Center for Arts and Culture to support its art community, or a donation to No Kid Hungry Montana, an organization serving the food-insecure.