For those of you that travel, how do you go about reserving your hotel rooms?
I'm a hotel manager and I'm interested in finding out what ways people use most often?
Do you call 800 #'s? Hotwire, priceline, expedia? Call the hotels directly? Hotel specific websites? Like Marriott.com or Choicehotels.com?

Last time I traveled I booked it through an online site and confirmed by phone the reservation about two weeks before the trip.

did you use the website for the hotel? or something like priceline or hotwire?

cheaptickets.com, where it booked flight, car and hotel all in one!

did it all work out? And you got a good deal?

I used Hotwire once and I was very dissapointed. They screwed everything up and once I made my 6 hour travel, the hotel said they never got payment. I was quite pissed!

I usually book online, using the hotel's website.

Next choice, is calling a 1-800 # for the hotel chain.

Third, is just show up and hope they have room.

Last time for me was, I booked online using credit card...everything went well, without a hitch...even got bonus points to redeem later.

that is what we do

So did I

Didn't have any problems. I think I got a good deal. When I figured everything myself separately... it did come to more.

they didn't have your room reserved?

the biggest problem with 3rd party websites, such as priceline or hotwire in my opinion is you don't get to guarantee your preferences. It books whatever is available at the hotel with your 'preferences' noted in little print down at the bottom. For exampe= I want to book a non smoking room with a king size bed, but all they have available is a room with 2 queens in smoking, that's what I end up with. It basically promises you A Room. Not always the room that you wanted.
Sometimes you get a better deal when you're going to destination areas, like Orlando, Chicago, NY, big hotels. But while you're just travelling to smaller areas, you don't always get a better deal.

And if you have a problem with your stay, or you need to cancel, the hotel staff can't refund you... you have already paid another company for it. You have to take it up with whatever website you booked it thru.
Now, I'm not slamming hotwire or priceline or anything like that. In a lot of cases you can get really good deals. But I would suggest checking with them and also checking the hotel's website or calling the hotel to check their rates as well.

I've gone thru them for airline tickets and have gotten pretty good deals too.

Kinda depends.

For US travel I look up the area and find where I want to be. I then call the hotel directly.

For Europe, I rely on travel guides for recommendations, then call the hotel directly.

For Asia I either book a package or just wing it and walk up to a place that looks OK or is recommended by someone.

For sport related travel such as scuba, skiing, etc., I contact the sport package provider and let them handle the hotel or at least make a recommendation.

I have had generally bad luck using the booking services on the internet. I almost always get a better deal by just calling the hotel.