April 28, 2004 -- A new reservations site currently dedicated to stays in London and Dublin came to our attention recently, and it looks like a winner. Frommer's publisher, Mike Spring, recently got a single room at the Kensington Close, just steps from Kensington Park, for a July 24th stay for just £85 ($152) through www.visithotels.com. The cheapest he found for the same hotel through other sites was £130 ($233). Launched in February 2004, the site plans to expand its coverage to most of the UK & Ireland by the end of the year. Martin Kleinman, the director, says it's designed to provide a more user-friendly experience and cheaper prices than that of his competitors.
Running with that idea, we checked out eight sites attempting to reserve a double room for the first Sunday in May at the Kensington Close. Overall, VisitHotels.com saved us a minimum of $20 when compared to the others on that specific date. Here are our results (original price quotes are followed by converted prices)
VisitHotels.com: £65 ($116)www.hotels.com: $121 (£67.50)
www.hoteldiscounts.com: $121 (£67.50)
www.london-discount-hotel.com: £96 ($172)
www.travelocity.com: $135.55 (£76)
www.lodging.com: $131.99 (£74)
Finally, on checking the Kensington Close's own website (www.kensingtonhotellondon.co.uk), we were pleasantly surprised to learn the price was also £65 ($115), matching that of www.visithotels.com.
Two other standard go-to sites for London properties simply didn't list the Close. The Expedia.com listed hotels near the capital's three airports (Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted); and www.asklondonhotels.com listed other hotels in the area.
What did we learn? In this particular instance, the newcomer did offer the best price compared to other resell sites, but was matched by the hotel's own site -- a growing trend as hotels start to reclaim control of their inventories now that bookings are on the upswing. The most important lesson, however, is our old saw - shop around and compare before you book.
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