The fact is there are many hotel booking sites out there and it’s common place for people to use hotel comparison sites when booking accommodation instead of going direct through hotels. We were asked to review Easytobook.com and so I’ve just finished having a look through their site and here are my thoughts.
easytobook.com
First Look
On the homepage the first thing that jumps out at me is the is the ‘Find Hotel Deals’ search box. This is exactly what I want from a hotel booking site, chances are I’ve come to the site because I know where I’m going and want to quickly and easily book a hotel.
The rest of the homepage is cleanly set out offering stats from users of the websites. It also has a featured destination and popular hotels if you have come looking for some inspiration for your next getaway or perhaps just cheap hotels around the world with up to 80% off some stays and no extra charges.
How Does It Work?
As mentioned above the search box is right there in front of you. Just simply enter the destination you are interested in, the dates and number of people and you’re away.
A list of results is displayed but unlike many comparison sites you are able to get the information you want all on this page rather than having to click through each individual hotel.
Search Results
Rooms availability and rates are clearly shown on the results page so you won’t be disappointed about unavailability after clicking through like on many sites I have used in the past. One of my favourite features about this page is the option to ‘show the map’ on each hotel. Again this doesn’t load to a new page wasting time but instantly expands the box showing you the location of the hotel.
Once you’ve found a hotel that has a room you are interested through you can click through for more details such as a full list of details, more pictures and previous customer reviews.
When searching for rooms it’s common to find a few options that seem reasonable, easy to book has made the decision easy with a….
Comparison Tool
When on the search results page, if you spot a room you are potentially interested click the compare box next to the room and it will be added to the comparison tool in the bottom right of your screen. Now you can continue to filter through the results adding all hotels of interest to me.
You can also add hotels from their specific pages by clicking the save box next to the room you like the look of.
Once you have finished browsing through the search results you can click the compare button in the bottom right to be presented with a comparison of all the rooms you have selected.
This includes:
Room
Conditions (such as available refunds)
Recent Reviews
Star Ratings
Location
Facilities
Comparison Box
In my opinion this is a great feature that makes choosing the right hotel for you much easier. Once you have decided on a hotel you can go direct to the bookings section from the comparison screen, make a booking and receive instant confirmation of you’re planned stay.
Overall
This is one of the better comparison sites I have been mainly because it’s ease of use and simplicity. I like the fact all the information is available on search results page and hotel details aren’t cluttered with useless information.
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{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
I used easytobook.com to reserve a room for work the night before I was arriving. Rates were extremely high, which I expected because much of the city was sold out. When I checked out of my hotel, I received a receipt from the hotel and the charges listed were nearly $100 less then what easytobook.com had charged me. When I contacted them as to why their was a difference and how they would be processing my refund, they told me that the hotel should not have disclosed the information and there’s nothing that can be done about it. I spoke to two different people who gave me the same canned answer. Won’t be using them again!
We also used EasyToBook to book a vacation at a resort and during the check-in it came out that of the $1,178.00 we paid, only $862.00 went to the resort. We were initially ok with the $1,178.00 because that is what we expected to pay at the time of booking. With the high fee difference and the fact that our credit card was charged and billed 3 weeks before our check-in came the realization that easytobook has nothing to offer for their high booking fee. We had already paid the credit card company, so this little incident will go down as an education to becoming a savvy traveler. The Resort does not charge credit cards until arrival and we have since booked two events direct with this wonderful place (fishing trip and Wedding Reception) and saved ourselves 30%
We won’t be using EasyToBook again as I feel the smart travelers will soon be going elswhere.
I booked a hotel in Birmingham with Easy to Book. I did like the look of their website and well, it was easy to book. However, while I picked 17 February for a check-in for one night, when I received my confirmation, it was for 3 March. I live 3.5 hours away from Birmingham and was only going for a doctor’s appointment the next day. I called them and they would not switch the day. They said no refunds. I wasn’t asking for one, just a switch in the day. And the hotel, Country Inn & Suites was no help either. I offered to pay the difference between the price I paid online and their regular price and the 15 year old kid at the front desk said he couldn’t do it. Of course, the manager was not available either. I don’t think that I will be using them again.
Rate for hotel was lowest advertised, made booking through website and folllowed up with phone call to confirm. (Traveling from Indiana to Virginia) Credit Card charge on my bill was substantially higher than quoted and there was an additional charge of a “foreign transaction fee”. Called them and was told I made the reservation through the UK and paid in Euro..higher amount due to exchange rate. I was never informed of this..why would I use a foreign country to book a hotel in the same country I live in?!! Told to email my complaint and they would investigate…they claim they cannot locate the IP address of computer used, or location of rep I talked to by phone, and that the email confirmation I received stated booking was made in Euro. Email confirmed price originally quoted…I should have read the entire email. ..euro/exchange rate details are in fine print at end of second page. The email is evidence they lied about not being able to locate my computer.
It would have been cheaper for me to book directly through the hotel. They blame my credit card company for the addtl fees. Will NEVER use them again….BUYER BEWARE!!!
Easytobook.com an OXYMORON to say the least….NIGHTMARE to say the most!
First off, I’m in the USA and the dates I plugged into their online booking system, for a 3 night hotel stay for late August , also USA, magically changed by one day SOONER on the arrival and departure dates upon completing the transaction! ….stupid me, expecting an “easytobook” transaction, I did not catch that until after I discovered it 2 days later from the print-out of the booking confirmation page I made at the time of the booking. But, I thought how hard can this be to fix…as per the “easytobook” contract there were NO CANCELLATION FEES of any kind and this was not a cancellation anyway, and, per the hotel, the dates, were doable…I just needed them slid ONE DAY FORWARD.
Booked on Thurs. night July 25th., and starting the following Sun. I began to attempt to rectify the above mentioned situation, therein is the genesis of my NIGHTMARE.
HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED in the FIFTEEN days after the erroneous booking (no fault of my own) on July 25th.
I spent approx. 6 hours of my time, 10 phone calls (both to EASYTOBOOK and the hotel) with like 14 attempts (all failed attempts with EASYTOBOOK) and 5 emails later and the situation has only been PARTIALLY corrected. Please READ ON to understand why only “PARTIALLY”:
SUNDAY, July 28th, 2013:
I confirmed I never got a booking confirmation email even though the website stated it had been sent AND I even used their “re-send” button several times to insure I would get at least one…NOTHING. So I emailed them Sunday, of which, the website states you have to wait up to 48 hours for a reply…OH, but wait, what if time is of the essence? Which it was, so, I attempted to call the customer service number…..crickets….I would let it ring 20, 30 40 times NO ONE ever picked up.
MONDAY, July 29th, 2013:
I started calling the hotel. The hotel had a record of the booking but stated that the booking company was EXPEDIA not this “EASYTOBOOK.COM, and that I would have to deal with them. So, I called EXPEDIA, they stated I would have to deal with EASYTOBOOK.COM. …that they, EXPEDIA, were simply the booking company…but aren’t they, too, making money off my transaction?
So I just went full circle…but wait TIME WAS OF THE ESSENCE because I was booking a hotel for a convention in 4 weeks and rooms were going up and going away.
So to cover myself, I booked, directly with the hotel, the 3rd and final day being needed so now all I would have to do with “EASYTOBOOK.COM” is simply “cancel” just ONE day (the first day) of the THREE day original booking, now how hard could that be….OMG, I was about to find out.
So I continued to try calling EASYTOBOOK.COM…crickets! I continued with emails asking for a “booking confirmation” and a change of dates request ( to cancel the one day of the three), ….any reply? …nada, zip, nunca, NOTHING!
TUESDAY, July 30th, 2013:
I called the hotel again, they stated they had NOT received a “fax” from EASYTOBOOK / EXPEDIA for ANYTHING on my behalf pertaining to changes. So, I tried calling the “EASYTOBOOK.COM” customer service number again……CRICKETS! …despite letting it ring dozens of times each time I tried.
WEDNESDAY, July 31st, 2013:
Called the hotel, they stated they STILL HAD NOT received a “fax” requesting the change of days for my reservation. So, I called EXPEDIA and pleaded my case and begged for help. The supervisor at EXPEDIA placed a call on my behalf to EASYTOBOOK.COM and VIOLA I got a customer service rep. Immediately. Gee, go figure, what has EXPEDIA got that I don’t in relation to EASYTOBOOK, oh I found out later THEY (Expedia) allegedly own EASYTOBOOK!
The lady at EASYTOBOOK assured me they had “faxed” the change request to the hotel. So, I called the hotel to verify. THE HOTEL STATED NO “FAX” HAD BEEN RECEIVED! Hmmm???? Someone is either misled or lying!
So now, I called the EASYTOBOOK.COM customer service number, AGAIN, and this time I let it ring about 80 times, LO AND BEHOLD, SOMEONE PICKED UP! This lady told me they were waiting to hear back from the hotel….I informed her the hotel had just assured me no “fax” had been received….going in circles again. I asked her why I should have to wait for this process to play out as “TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE” and it’s just an “EASYTOBOOK” dropping of ONE DAY of the THREE day reservation. She informed me that they needed permission from the hotel to drop that “one day”. HUH????? I paid EASYTOBOOK, they pay the hotel, plus don’t forget, they advertised NO CANCELLATION fees 72 hours or more out, I’m out THREE WEEKS and this is not a cancellation per se, so why do they need permission from the hotel??????
AND, it’s not like I was asking for a room date that was not available at the time, and that they were waiting for availability….just cancel the requested day, the end.
But NOOOOOO, what was really going on, folks, is that there are THREE LAYERS involved here that are dipping there greedy little hands into the process. This poorly ran, OVERSEAS company, EASYTOBOOK.COM, then EXPEDIA and then the hotel. Everybody wants their money and everybody points the finger at the other. NET RESULT, I got abused and fell threw the cracks.
But, I fault, EASYTOBOOK.COM 100%. My contract was with them, they are suppose to service me per their “terms and conditions” which have NO MENTION of them having to wait for the hotel (for anything) much less to notify them of such a simple request of dropping one day off a three day reservation. And they proclaim a 48 hr. or less reply, NOT TRUE!
And, in reality, the 2 ladies I talked to at EASYTOBOOK told varying stories of what was allegedly really going on. AND both stated emails had, indeed, been sent to me….BUT, I CHECK MY EMAILS AT MY SERVER SITE…including the SPAM FILTER and VIRUS BLOCKER (at the server site)….NO EMAILS from them!
AMAZINGLY though, I asked the first lady I talked to at EASYTOBOOK.COM, on Weds., to email my now SEVEN DAY LATE “booking confirmation” right then and there….and VIOLA, it arrived instantly. HMMMMMMM?????
And, I still HAVE NOT received REPLY EMAILS (as mandated by their own terms) concerning my other three emails I sent earlier in the week requesting the previously mentioned changes.
FRIDAY, Aug. 9th, 2013, after two more phone calls, (1 on the 7th, one on the 9th), I finally got an email (dated July 31st) validating my cancelling the ONE of the THREE DAYS hotel booking.
TUESDAY, Sept. 10th, 2013 (FORTY-ONE DAYS after the cancellation), and I STILL HAVE NOT RECEIVED MY REFUND for the cancelled day even though I was told it takes 7-30 days to process and send the refund. So now, I’m letting my credit card company handle it. STAY AWAY FOLKS….EasyToBook.com is NOT EASY, it’s a RIP-OFF!
BOTTOM LINE: Seems nothing adds up OR RATHER nothing is what it seems with this EASYTOBOOK.COM company. EASY TO BOOK my BUTT …LOL, yeah rrrrriiiight!!! I WILL NEVER USE THEM AGAIN…I don’t approve of their smoke-and-mirror tactics and I certainly can’t afford the time or aggravation.
we are having the same issues how did you finally get your money back?
I used my dispute resolution service with my credit card. I lodged a complaint and my card company immediately refunded my money, then they made various attempts to contact Easy-to-book to get their side of the story…..Easy-to-book, never replied (typical) and I got to keep my refunded money. SHAME ON THEM.
BTW, this company is owned by EXPEDIA which also owns Hotels.com. Expedia has their own issues for service….so instead of fixing them, they simply spread their bad business practices out among satellite companies. Be advised, ETB is worthless and a scam of a company….possibly the WORST TRANSACTION EXPERIENCE of MY LIFE.
It’s companies like this that me mad, suspicious and wanting to shoot first and ask questions later when a transactions goes awry.
HORRIBLE!!!! I made a reservation and the system had an error and booked me for different dates than what I booked, got to the hotel and had to pay for another room because my reservation I made for the night wasn’t actually for about 2 more weeks! Now I am having trouble getting in touch with someone including the disconnected phone number that was in my confirmation email! I really hope I don’t have to use a lawyer to get my money back!
I second all the horrible experiences people have had. Their customer service is non-existent. I had to cancel a reservation and finally had to put it into dispute with my CC company and I am getting a credit. These people are horrible, do not use them.
Oh wow, out of all the reviews I saw here it made me think of cancelling my reservation within the free cancellation period, would you guys recommend that?
Wow I’m soooo glad I checked these reviews before booking anything with them! You guys have saved me a lot of hassle so thank you and good luck!!!!
they are the worst in booking websites
their price is good but their cancellation free period is 72 hours which you can’t see in all of the other booking websites . i had put my own country currency for reservation but at the final step they changed it to USD and just because of this change my hotels rate became more the all of the others websites . these are cheaters be cautious and pay attention to all of the detail the reservation is not just the price all of the policies and conditions are important . so don’t get your hotels from them they are the worst
Stay away from this scam known as easytobook.com
I booked a room on 9th Feb for 2 nights in early March in Ambleside at our favourite hotel. No other website appeared to have rooms available for both nights – nor did the hotel! Entered card details on EASYTOBOOK website, received email back to say full payment made. 15 minutes later, I received another email to say booking cancelled and refund would be issued within 24 – 48 hours. 3 weeks later, nothing. No emails, no promised phone calls etc. Even Trivago cannot reach these SCAMMERS!
AVOID AT ALL COSTS and check out other similar reviews on Tripadvisor – I am not the only one this is happening to!
I booked 1 single night at Mantra Mooloolaba Beach on the Sunshine Coast in QLD through Easytobook as they had the best rate on hotelscombined. We were going to Mooloolaba for a dive experience that had a very early start. At the last minute the dive was cancelled due to weather (cyclone). I knew that I was outside of the cancellation period, but called them (in the netherlands) to see if there was anything that I could do. They said that if I got approval from the hotel I could change or cancel the booking (and therefore not forfeit the money I had already paid). I gained approval from the hotel to change the booking. However despite this, and several phonecalls to easytobook (in the netherlands) on the day of the booking, no change had been confirmed. Each call I spoke to a different person and had to explain the whole situation again (This was despite getting names and asking for particular people most of the time. I also tried asking for a supervisor – but none were available!) Finally, on my last call I was informed that the hotel was not available on the night that I requested and therefore I had forfeited my money (it was then too late for us to drive to Mooloolaba and save this situation). They said that they would try for another date, but when I followed up (again) at the end of the week, they then wanted written confirmation from the hotel. I have not heard from them since. The Mantra hotel Mooloolaba Beach were not particularly helpful in the situation either, clearly annoyed that I’d booked through a third party. It was a very unsatisfactory outcome! If they had simply said that their terms were not negotiable, we would have driven up the coast. I am very unhappy with the way that this was handled and will never use this service again.
I meant easytobook.com
Don’t book through these guys! I had a 15 year old make a fraudulant booking under my name, and I was told they can’t refund as it was a no cancelation booking.
How can a business like this, which clearly state users must be 18+ To book on their site, Breach their own contract!!?? It’s disgusting and I am now $500 out of pocket because someone stole my credit card and used it to book a hotel.
I’m appalled and urge others to not bother with easytobook, avoid being scammed by them.