It's really easy to go online when you need a room at a hotel. But what's not so easy is making sure that you're actually getting a great deal.
A report by Consumers' Checkbook shows that some travel websites have misled people about how many hotel rooms are left.
Now, we've all seen the alert saying "only one room left!" in big, bold flashing letters. It might make you feel pressured to book it right there before the rooms run out.
Some sites say that rooms just ran out at a certain hotel but there are still rooms at other hotels that you should jump on before they run out as well. Others say that a certain amount of rooms are left just at that certain price you want.
Consumers' Checkbook says that many popular travel sites are using these tactics, and we're talking big ones, like booking.com, Expedia and Hotwire.
Experts found that rooms were still available if they kept looking around. Sometimes they were listed under a different category, sometimes they were just a dollar more.
Now, the experts behind this report say under most circumstances, you don't need to feel pressured. You do have time to price compare.
"We actually find in our research that ... for hotel stays, prices usually go down the closer you get to your booking. As the dates come closer and closer, and they still have rooms left to rent out, they lower their prices or they dump them off onto consolidators and other websites that do discounts," said Kevin Brasler, the executive editor of Consumers' Checkbook.
If a hotel room really does have low inventory, the rooms will be listed at extremely high prices.
