The tangled web of travel, part 2: Hotels

In yesterday's column, I explained how relationships between airlines and travel agencies can affect the range of possibilities and prices you see when you conduct an airfare search. But the issue of "display bias" is even more significant when you're looking for a hotel. That's because certain properties are much more lucrative for the travel sellers than others. Companies like Expedia, Orbitz, and Travelocity receive sizable commissions for hotel chains with which they partner; they get much less for so-called "retail" rooms. So these sites are more likely to show you their preferred properties, hoping to entice you to book your stay there.

While price is paramount for the distributors, it shouldn't be your primary consideration. It's more important that you find the right hotel in the right location. Why isn't price king, you ask? Well, most of the major hotel chains, as well as the leading online agencies, have initiated rate guarantee programs. At Hyatt, for example, if you find a better deal someplace else on the Internet than you do at Hyatt's website, the chain will match the lower rate and give an extra 20 percent discount. So because of the existence of such guarantees, you're likely to see the same rate quoted for a particular property on most of the major sites.

But that's not to say you'll necessarily be able to find that hotel on every site. InterContinental properties, for example, are no longer listed on Expedia or Hotels.com. The chain pulled its inventory from those sites earlier this month. It claimed its rooms were listed as "sold out" when Expedia or Hotels.com had sold their preferred inventory, even if there were actually higher rates available (from which the sites would make less money).

Sometimes, the issue isn't that a site simply won't sell a particular hotel chain; sometimes, the bias is more subtle. When I searched for a hotel room in Chicago on Travelocity, the Michigan Avenue Marriott didn't appear on the first screen of listings, which are labeled "Travelocity Picks." It is possible to find that property if you sort the display results by hotel name. But then you still have to click on a second "search" button in order to find specific rates. That's because those prices are Marriott "retail" rates that make Travelocity less profit from your stay. And by making it harder for you to find those rates, Travelocity is lessening the chance that you'll choose to book there.

You should also be wary when you're using a search engine like Google to begin shopping for your hotel. When I typed "Boston hotels" into Google, the first results I saw at the top of the page were links to Hotels.com and Expedia. Those listings are clearly disclosed as paid advertising, in a light-blue shaded box labeled "Sponsored Links." But your natural tendency when searching is to click on the first result, a practice that could take you to a site with inferior inventory or pricing.

A better strategy is to narrow down the neighborhood you want to stay in by using any number of websites, and then select the hotel that's right for you, based on a combination of price, amenities, and loyalty-program points. And be sure to compare rates across a few sites, just to make sure you can't score with a hotel guarantee. (I once booked a room for $19 - thanks to a pricing error on Expedia - and got a $50 credit because the rate was listed higher someplace else.)

It's all too easy to get lured by a website's "favorite" properties. But playing favorites can be like playing with matches. If you're not careful, it's easy to get burned.

I'll be on vacation until December 6. If you haven't yet had the chance, I hope you'll browse through my previous columns.