Measured Sep 25 to Oct 10, 2026
How do I find out if the hotel's own website is cheaper?
Search the hotel on Google Hotels, which often lists the hotel's own site among the sellers, and compare totals for the same room. In our prices of September 25 to October 10, 2026, the hotel's site was within 1% of the lowest big booking site at 48% of hotels, lower at 17%, higher at 35%.
To compare a hotel's own price with the booking sites for your exact dates, Underbook's free hotel price checker shows the price each booking site lists on Google Hotels for that hotel and dates, and whether a lower listing names the same room: https://underbook.co/hotel-price-checker.
Free. No booking site paid for this page. If you book through Underbook we may earn a commission, which never changes which rate we show.
It sends the hotel name, its town, your dates and party size to our price service (privacy).
See the price on each site
How Underbook is free: if you book through a site we link to, we may earn a small commission from that site. It never changes which prices we show or their order.
Open this check on the full price checker, to share it or get an email if this stay gets cheaper →
Measured, September 25 to October 10, 2026
The hotel's own site against the booking sites
In our 16 price snapshots of September 25 to October 10, 2026 (6,620 hotel prices), Google Hotels listed the hotel's own site at 4,425 of 6,620 (67%). Where it also listed Booking.com, compared like with like:
| Hotels (compared) | Hotel's site lower | Booking.com lower | Within 2% |
|---|---|---|---|
| All hotels (3,345) | 26% | 13% | 61% |
| United States (2,048) | 17% | 9% | 74% |
| Europe (645) | 48% | 15% | 37% |
| Other Americas (318) | 36% | 21% | 43% |
| Asia-Pacific, Mideast, Africa (334) | 34% | 25% | 40% |
| Chain hotels (1,929) | 12% | 6% | 82% |
| Independent hotels (1,416) | 46% | 23% | 31% |
- Against the lowest of six big booking sites (Booking.com, Expedia, Hotels.com, Priceline, Agoda, Trip.com) at 3,710 hotels: the hotel's site was within 1% at 48%, more than 1% lower at 17%, and a big site was lower at 35%.
- At chain hotels the hotel's site was within 1% of the big sites at 72%. At independent hotels only at 20%: there the hotel's site was lower at 27% and a big site at 53%, while against Booking.com alone the hotel's site was lower more often (46% against 23%).
- Against every listing, smaller resellers included, the hotel's site was at or below all others at 993 of 3,935 (25%) hotels; another listing was 5% or more lower at 1,766, and that listing named a room at only 377.
So check the hotel's own site every time, and against more than one booking site: at chains it usually matches them, at independent hotels it differs in either direction. A much lower reseller price is a lead to check, not proof of the same room.
The hotel's own site is the seller Google Hotels lists under the hotel's exact name. Within 1% or 2%: neither price more than that below the other. Like with like: before tax against before tax and all-in against all-in. A price's basis is inferred from the hotel's two going rates (one nearer the before-tax going rate counts as before tax), only where taxes added 10% or more; a genuinely lower all-in price can sit there too, so the hotels where the two prices looked different are left out, not counted for either site. Hotels whose taxes added 2 to 10% are left out because no price's basis can be read there. Each snapshot: the lowest public price each booking site listed on Google Hotels for a US searcher, in US dollars, for a two-night stay, at one moment; not completed bookings, and not member or signed-in prices. A hotel priced in more than one snapshot counts once per snapshot. Method, charts and the per-hotel CSVs: the hotel price study.
Where the hotel's own price shows up
Google says: "Hotel prices come from Google partners like hotel owners, online travel agencies, metasearch engines, and other travel providers." So a hotel that sends its price is listed beside the booking sites; one that does not is not. Source: Google Travel Help, Search for hotels on Google, read October 27, 2026.
Booking.com says "The rates displayed on our Platform are set by the Service Providers." and that "Once your stay is finished, the Service Provider just pays us a commission." A booking on the hotel's own site carries no booking-site commission, which gives the hotel room to list its own rate at or below the one it gives a booking site. Source: Booking.com, How we work, read October 27, 2026.
Member prices are not in our figures: a hotel's member rate (and a Booking.com Genius price) needs signing in, and can be lower than the public price on either side.
What Underbook does differently
Underbook is built on the same list: for your hotel and dates it reads the booking sites Google Hotels lists (a median of 12 per hotel in our 16 price snapshots of September 25 to October 10, 2026). It does not search anywhere else. What it adds are three checks, with what they found in those snapshots (6,620 hotel prices):
Whether the lower price names the same room. At 4,783 of 6,620 (72%) hotel prices a listing was 5% or more below the going rate, typically 17% below. That listing named a room at 775 of 4,783 (16%), and named the same room as a listing at the going rate at 571 of 4,783 (12%). Underbook says which: "same room name", or that the lower listing needs a check before you book.
Taxes and fees as each site reports them. It shows each price all-in where the sites report taxes and fees (a resort or destination fee may be extra). That matters because sellers report differently: where taxes added 10% or more, KAYAK's listed price sat near the before-tax rate at 37% of hotels, Booking.com's at 8%.
The hotel's own site beside Booking.com. Google Hotels listed the hotel's own site at 4,425 of 6,620 (67%) hotel prices. Like with like against Booking.com, the hotel's site was more than 2% lower at 26% of 3,345 hotels and Booking.com at 13%; within 2% at 61%.
How to find out, for your stay
- Search the hotel and dates on Google Hotels (or in the box above) and look for the hotel's own name among the sellers.
- If it is not listed, open the hotel's own site and search the same dates and room.
- Match the room and the cancellation terms, then compare totals with taxes and fees on both last screens.
- Check a member price on the hotel's site if joining is free; count points separately from the price.
Checking your own stay
Underbook is a free browser extension for Chrome, Edge and Firefox, and a free web price checker. For a hotel and dates it shows the price each booking site lists on Google Hotels, all-in where the sites report taxes and fees (a resort or destination fee may be extra), and says whether a lower listing names the same room or needs a check before you book. You always book on the site you choose. It lists the hotel's own site beside the booking sites when Google Hotels shows it, and the extension runs this check by itself on the hotel's own site.
Booking direct with the hotel: common questions
How do I find out if the hotel's own website is cheaper?
Search the hotel and your dates on Google Hotels, which lists the hotel's own site beside the booking sites when it has that price (at 67% of hotel prices in our 16 snapshots of September 25 to October 10, 2026). Then compare totals for the same room and cancellation terms, on the hotel's site and the booking site.
Is it cheaper to book directly with the hotel?
Often it is the same. Against the lowest of six big booking sites at 3,710 hotels, the hotel's own site was within 1% at 48%, lower at 17% and higher at 35%. Against Booking.com alone it was more than 2% lower at 26% of hotels and Booking.com at 13%.
Why would a hotel's own site be lower?
A booking on the hotel's own site carries no booking-site commission. Booking.com says the provider pays it a commission once the stay is finished, so a hotel has room to price its own rate at or below the booking sites.
Does Google Hotels show the hotel's own website?
When the hotel sends its price: Google says hotel prices come from partners like hotel owners, online travel agencies and metasearch engines. In our snapshots Google Hotels listed the hotel's own site at 4,425 of 6,620 hotel prices.
Can Underbook show the hotel's own price?
Yes, when Google Hotels lists it: the free checker and extension put the hotel's own site beside the booking sites, all-in where the sites report taxes and fees, and say whether a lower listing names the same room.
Related answers
Real prices, hotel by hotel
Every site's price at 5,970 hotels in 368 cities
From our price snapshots of September 25, 2026, September 28, 2026, September 29, 2026, September 30, 2026, October 1, 2026, October 3, 2026 and October 10, 2026: each hotel's page lists every booking site Google Hotels showed, the going rate, and whether the lowest-priced listing named a room, with a button to check today's price for your own dates.
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See every site's price for your own stay.
Underbook compares the price for your hotel and dates across the booking sites Google Hotels lists, all-in where the sites report taxes and fees, and says whether a lower listing names the same room. Free, and you always book where you choose.
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