HotelTonight, Hotels.com and more: A traveler's guide to navigating hotel deals

For budget-minded travelers, the search for the best price for an overnight stay is as much about the journey as it is the ultimate destination.

To start, deciding which online travel agency to use from the seemingly ever-growing roster of platforms may seem like an expedition itself. These websites and apps promise to unlock last-minute deals, special offers and flash sales. Some voyagers use only one booking site to look for a cheap hotel room, especially if making reservations can unlock exclusive discounts or earn points toward free stays when booking on the site in the future. Other penny-pinchers scour several sites at a time, in a quest to comparison shop to find the best bargains and access lower prices at a wider array of hotels.

As its name might give away, the global HotelTonight mobile app and website are known for offering steals on last-minute lodging. At some point, the Airbnb-owned company expanded to allow bookings a little more than three months in advance. In a recent check for a March 12-13 stay at hotels in Manhattan, deals included $167 at Midtown’s playful Staypineapple hotel. According to the site, the room with one bed had been previously listed on that date for $479. Similar offers marked as "deals" on that day included the bustling Residence Inn New York Manhattan/Times Square ($256, down from $448) and the stylish Moxy NYC Lower East Side ($299, down from $403).

On the East End, Hotels.com offered some deep savings. A junior suite with a king-size bed and partial ocean views at newly renovated Gurney’s Montauk was $307.50 for March 12, compared to the resort’s "best available rate" of $475 (a less expensive $357 rate was offered for a limited time as part of a spring sale on the website). The king suite in the quaint main inn at The Sagaponack was available for $284; on the hotel’s website, the standard rate was $389 and a winter sale brought the price down to $311 if purchased online.

If you’re overwhelmed by the booking options, you might want to start with Trivago, which compares prices across many sites. In looking at hotels near the North Fork’s Wine Country, it found a slightly better deal at the Inn at the East Wind Long Island in Wading River on Expedia than from the spa-hotel itself: $121 versus $139.

Whether you reserve a room through a third-party site or the hotel itself, account for taxes and sometimes hefty additional fees. Some online booking portals estimate what the total cost will be alongside the hot-deal price. Look at reviews, but note whether they’ve been verified. See whether you can get better rates booking on a platform’s website or app. Some will partner with Rakuten to get cash back if making reservations on a browser, but flash sales may only appear if securing a room on an app. Prices may be better if you book directly with a hotel, which may thank you with a small token such as a gift certificate for gourmet coffee.

"Always call, that way the hotel has an opportunity to match whatever rate you're seeing online," says Sara Dubow, manager at The Sagaponack. This helps a hotel avoid paying commissions, which Dubow says can be as high as 18%. Booking directly might also end up being a better customer experience, she says. "A lot of times, if you book on Expedia, the hotel won't refund you if you change your dates, or they'll maybe give you a worse room," she says. "So it's really more about customer service at that point than getting a lower rate."