Save Time and Money Searching for Hotels With Hotelwatchdog

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There’s a new way to search for hotels online that could save folks time and money.

Hotelwatchdog compares prices, value, location, and ratings, and includes only what they consider to be the best hotels in search results.

So instead of sifting through hundreds of hotels, you’ll get a short list of their ~20 top picks.

Hotelwatchdog is operated by Airfarewatchdog, a site that lists airline ticket deals and ultra-low fares.

Is this a better way of searching for hotels?  Let’s find out.

How Does It Work?

Link:   Hotelwatchdog

Hotelwatchdog analyzes different factors before including hotels in their search results, including:

• Price (they’ll look for hotels that are cheaper than similar hotels in the same area, and compare the current price to the average cost of a room)
• Location (close to attractions, restaurants, nightlife)
• TripAdvisor reviews (only highly rated hotels are included)

When you search for hotels in a city, they’ll list their top choices in the most convenient locations.  And they’ll show you prices from different booking websites so you can compare.

If you need more information about a specific hotel, you can access it directly from the hotel listing screen.  For example, if you want to read TripAdvisor reviews, click the “Reviews” tab. 

Clicking the “Map” tab shows you the hotel’s location, with a list of nearby attractions and their distance from the hotel.  You can also pan and zoom in or out on the map.

And if you want to see the hotel’s features, click the “Amenities” tab.  You can also scroll through pictures by clicking the arrows on either side of the hotel photo.

You can filter hotels by location, TripAdvisor rating, and the hotel’s number of stars.  But when you do this, they’ll give you a list pulled from all the hotels in that city (not just from their top hotel list).

There’s also an option to see the full list of hotels in a given city.

To book a room, click on the price you want on the right-hand side of the screen.

A new window will open up.  I like that you can still compare prices on other booking sites at the top of the screen.  Click the arrows to scroll through the tabs.

Note:  You can NOT book a room directly through Hotelwatchdog.  They’ll just give you options, including booking directly through the hotel website.

That’s important to keep in mind, because some hotels won’t recognize your elite status, earn you points, or credit your stay if you book a room through a discount website or online travel agency.

Plus, some credit cards (like the Chase Ink Plus) only give you bonus points for stays booked directly through the hotel.

How Does Hotelwatchdog Compare to Other Sites?

I like that Hotelwatchdog does the work of finding the best prices and hotel locations for you.  Some folks don’t have time to comparison shop!

While other sites, like Kayak and Google Hotel Finder also offer price comparisons, maps, and reviews in their search results, you have to apply your own filters to narrow down your search.

Hotelwatchdog automatically gives you the best deals from the start (but you can always see a full list of hotels if you want).

I did some dummy searches on both Hotelwatchdog and Kayak.  They returned almost the same prices for specific hotels.  Here’s an example from Hotelwatchdog:

And here’s the same hotel listing on Kayak.  They don’t list HotelTravel.com as an option, but the rest of the prices are identical:

I also checked TravelPony as a comparison.  Their price was ~$93 plus tax after applying a promo code.

So in this case, Hotelwatchdog lists competitive prices, though I can’t guarantee that will always be the case.  Their strength is really in narrowing down searches to only include the best deals.

You might start your hotel search with Hotelwatchdog to find out what their top picks are.  Then, from that list, compare a few hotels with the prices on Kayak, or discount sites like TravelPony.

That way, you’ll be sure to find the best deal.

It’s still up to you to pick the site you want to book with.  Some folks favor Orbitz, because they collect Orbucks (their loyalty program currency).  Others prefer Hotels.com because you get a free night after booking 10 nights.

Bottom Line

Hotelwatchdog is a new hotel search tool that lists only hotels that are highly rated, in good locations, and have the best prices.  They do much of the comparison shopping for you.

And you can read TripAdvisor reviews, find the best deals, and check the hotel’s location and features directly from the search page.

You can NOT book a room directly through Hotelwatchdog.  But they’ll give you a list of price options from different websites, which you can click through directly from your search results.

Have you checked out Hotelwatchdog yet?  What do you think?