Sorry not been around for a while, been so hectic with Uni! I'm going to try and get back into the s...
Sorry not been around for a while, been so hectic with Uni! I'm going to try and get back into the swing of things and start by catching up with all my COT!
Member since:22.10.2005
Reviews:22
Members who trust:73
Late Rooms, founded in 1999, is an online hotel booking facility which allows you to search for multiple hotel vacancies in one area at a single time. It covers every country in the developed world including the whole of the EU and all popular holiday resorts too. They pride themselves on offering greatly discounted rooms as no hotel wants to be left with empty rooms and so as time depletes hotels often discount their rooms drastically rather than be faced with empty rooms for the night. Unlike most hotel booking sites Late Rooms actually states that it does not charge a booking fee and so saves you paying the middle man.
The website's homepage offers you a simple drop down menu containing all the countries it covers to choose from. The EU countries are listed at the top with all over countries being
below in alphabetical order. There's also an option further down on the page to take you direct to "Popular City Breaks" if you need a bit of inspiration before you book. You can also search for hotels based on airport nearness and seaside resorts too.
Once you've selected your country you're taken to another page which lists all the hotels in that country along with their exact location, their star rating, how many a room sleeps and prices for the forthcoming 3 nights. At the top of the page there's fortunately a search option which asks you to enter the specific town or region you're interested in visiting as well as your date of visit, number of nights you want to stay and how many people are travelling. As you can imagine this will extensively cut down the list of hotels and make it much more relevant to your particular search.
When you've found a hotel that suits you on star rating and price you can click on either the hotel name for more details or the "details" button. This will take you to a new page with exact pricing information on depending on the types of room on offer (single/double, with breakfast/without breakfast) as well as a description of the hotel.
Once you've found a hotel to suit your needs to can click on the "book it" button which will then give you the option to book by telephone or online. If you choose the former you're given a number to call with a reference number to make your call quicker. By choosing the book online option you'll be asked to confirm your arrival date, number of nights and number of people staying. Next step is paying for your room which is done by filling in the usual details and then payment details (all normal cards are accepted but are used only to reserve the room, money is not actually deducted). Once you've completed the booking they send you a confirmation email with a code in to take to the hotel with you and that's all there is to it.
I personally find this site very convenient to use as it allows me to search all hotels in a certain area in one easy step. If you know the exact town you wish to stay in you can have a hotel booked within about 10 minutes using this site. By accessing one site you can gain a list of anything from 10 to 500 hotels for one town and be informed of the star rating and prices all on one page. I honestly don't think I've come across another site so compact. The only problem I've found is that if you're looking for a hotel near an airport you'll be presented with a list of about 10-40 but without clicking on the "details" button you won't be told the exact distance from the airport.
The one thing that does let the site down in my opinion is the attractiveness of the pages. The homepage is rather dull looking and overloaded with information which all seems to be crammed in. It's a cream colour with light brown writing which I'm sure you'll agree isn't too pleasing on the eye and certainly doesn't entice me to go any further on the site! The pages that list all the relevant hotels for one area appear to be rather crammed once again with too much text in too little space. The whole appearance of the site is rather old fashioned; I think a revamp is in order!
I've used Late Rooms about 5-10 times for personal use and about 30-40 times for booking in company business trips over the past 2 years and in all that time have only ever encountered one problem reservation. Unfortunately when a member of staff arrived at the hotel they had no knowledge of her booking but luckily managed to squeeze her in. My advice to anyone using this site in the future would therefore be to ring ahead beforehand and check they do actually have a copy of your booking in the hotel. I did however follow up the complaint with Late Rooms staff who were most apologetic and offered me a further discount on my next booking within 48 hours of contacting them so I've certainly no qualms with the customer service provided by the site. The cancellation policy is similar to that of many other hotels, 24 hours notice is required and you will not be charged for the booking.
If you're someone who does love to get the cheapest price I'd recommend this site to you. It may be worthwhile to check out the hotel price directly but Late Rooms do pride themselves on offering up to 70% off the normal price and can be great if you're looking a late booking. I've saved anything from £5 to £40 a night by booking through them in the past so next time you need a hotel in a hurry, try them.
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Advantages: Great deals, comprehensive information about the accomodation, maps, easy to use Disadvantages: Would like to sort results, would also like to see what price includes
moose 01.07.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of LateRooms.com
Advantages: Offer some outstanding rates, efficient booking by phone, get to stay in some cracking hotels at vastly reduced rates Disadvantages: Difficulties in confirming e-mail bookings, search facility only looks for single rooms making multiple bookings difficult, not always the cheapest
sue.51 26.02.2003 (14.05.2004)
·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of LateRooms.com
Advantages: Great deals, comprehensive information about the accomodation, maps, easy to use Disadvantages: Would like to sort results, would also like to see what price includes
moose 01.07.2001 ·
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of LateRooms.com
Oct 24th, 2005
exceptional by (5%):
very helpful by (92%):
helpful by (3%):
