[LINK] Online hotel booking? Forget it!

[Ash Nallawalla]

From: Rick Welykochy

> Has anyone tried similar here in Aus?

I go to San Jose about once a month and during the northern summer it was
impossible to get more than 2 nights in the same hotel if you didn't have a
prior booking.  I often use http://www.funtastikcalifornia.com/ but I found
that in practice many hotels have a couple of "hidden" rooms for
emergency/VIP guests.  You need to front up to plead for one of these.

Last year we used some other system to find accommodation in DC and FL.  For
NZ I have used http://www.solarsystem.co.nz/mtl/ . It also covers Australia
but I haven't tried this option.  The reservation system seems to be run by
an owner-operator, as I asked them if I was seeing a total or a daily rate,
and they told me that there was a pricing change in my favour, which they
passed on.  I always carry a hard copy of an online booking, as this does
speed up check-in in some cases.

So far I have had no difficulty with any Internet-based booking but a human
travel agent let me down once by booking my stay commencing the date of the
*booking*, not my date of arrival.