This online travel reservations service has specialized in finding and booking discounted hotel rooms for more than 15 years. One of the world's largest providers of discounted lodging reservations, Hotels.com has a portfolio of more than 70,000 properties in countries all over the globe. As its inventory of hotels has grown, so has the site, which now operates as a full-service online travel agency, where travelers can research and book flights, buy package deals and get travel information. But Hotels.com remains first and foremost a site for discounted lodging, offering online and telephone reservations services.

The Basics

Enter your desired destination, and Hotels.com comes up with a list of available hotels along with the lowest average nightly rate, plus ratings and reviews from travelers. Click on any hotel and you'll get a full description of the property (location, main features, types of rooms); a virtual tour and photo gallery of rooms and public spaces; ratings and traveler reviews; and a list of amenities. Entries also provide an "expert tip" - information about special events, for example, or a notable amenity. Room availability is listed below the hotel description, with prices for the night requested as well as surrounding dates for those guests whose travel times are flexible. The site also features top-10 lists ("Top 10 Hotels with Amazing Fitness Facilities," for example) to help consumers choose accommodations as well as seasonal travel deals and online specials.

Other Major Services

• Room rate calendar: Located on the "Rooms Rates" tab for each property on the Hotels.com site, this tool shows travelers the lowest rates available for the property of their choice and lets them compare costs on different dates.
• Cell phone and MP3 access: In 2007, Hotels.com made its database of properties available on Sprint Vision mobile phones, letting consumers make online travel bookings using their cell phones. In 2008, Hotels.com introduced a Web application that allowed iPhone and iPod Touch users to book hotels.
• Travel specialists: Hotels.com offers personalized travel assistance for group travel.

A Few Competitors

• All-hotels.com: This Website, which links to more than 140,000 properties around the world, searches for discounted rates on hotels as well as air and lodging packages.

• Hotelbook.com: This service boasts some 5,000 independent properties - no chains - in more than 1,800 cities worldwide.

What Makes Hotels.com Noteworthy

Even though Hotels.com offers many of the same full-service booking features that other online travel agencies do, it has stayed true to its roots as a discount lodging specialist. It does so by saturating the market through its Web presence, toll-free reservations number and affiliated booking Websites; by way of its continued inroads in the cell phone and PDA market; and through various supply agreements with a number of major hotel chains. It has one of the largest inventories of lodging choices on the Internet, from hotels to resorts to inns - including more than 1,000 B&Bs. Another perk for budget travelers: Hotels.com does not charge customers for changing reservations.

A Brief History

Hotels.com started in 1991 as a toll-free reservations service for discounted hotel rooms and became an online presence in 2002.

Ownership

Hotels.com is an operating company of Expedia, Inc. The company's address is 10440 N. Central Expressway, Suite 400, Dallas, Texas, 75231.

LifeWire, a part of The New York Times Company, provides original and syndicated online lifestyle content. Alexis Lipsitz Flippin is a writer living in New York City.