Travel Tip: Booking The Right Hotel Room

June 26 (KGO) -- Independence Day falls on a Tuesday this year, setting the scene for an extra-long holiday weekend. If you're planning a quick vacation, all this week 7 On Your Side looks at the latest travel trends and tips.

When planning a trip, most consumers know that shopping around can help save money. But knowing how and where to compare prices is often the key to getting the best deal. That's especially important when booking a hotel.

Karine Moreau knows a hotel stay will take a big bite out of her tight travel budget, so she spends extra time online to find the right place at the right price.

Karine Moreau: "Price is a big thing. The cheaper, the better."

Scouring the internet can be time consuming, but more consumers are relying on specialized search engines to help with the legwork.

Adam Meron, Mobissimo VP of Strategy & Marketing: "Mobissimo is a travel search engine and we search over 160 different travel sites directly."

Adam meron says San Francisco-based Mobissimo is like a Google for travel searches. It finds prices for you, but directs you elsewhere to do the actual booking.

Adam Meron: "We make it convenient, save you time and money,and we get you to the place you want to go as quickly as possible and as cheaply as possible."

Mobissimo searches hotel sites directly, yet also checks sites like Orbitz. But not even wide-reaching search engines will have the best rates every time.

David LaHuta, Budget Travel Magazine: "Prices can vary anywhere from 10  20%."

Budget Travel Magazine's David LaHuta says that's because each site strikes its own deals with hotel chains, with some buying in bulk so it can offer cheaper prices.

David LaHuta, Budget Travel Magazine: "The point here is to do as much research as you can before you make your reservation."

For example, we chose 10 popular summer travel spots, comparing rates for the same type of room at several internet search sites as well as directly with each hotel.

Half the time, the big-name sites like Expedia and its partner Hotels.com found the cheapest prices -- as much as $57 cheaper per night for the room we wanted in Cabo San Lucas.

In two cases -- San Diego and Hawaii -- rates were the same across the board.

But for two other locations, going to the hotel's site directly was actually cheaper -- $10 cheaper per night, booking through MGMGrand.com for a room in Las Vegas; and $20 cheaper per night going directly through the Hilton in Chicago.

Mobissimo searched out the best price for another hotel in Chicago -- the Millennium Knickerbocker -- directing us to a lesser-known site called TravelWorm to get the deal.

Adam Meron, Mobissimo: "We're not trying to be the end all, be all of travel search. But definitely come back and check with us to see if we're the cheapest or if we have the availability that you're looking for that you can't find anywhere else."

Some travel sites do have low-price guarantees and may offer price-matching, refunds or even a free night's stay.

However, many require that you notify them within 24 hours and may demand confirmation that the cheaper rate is indeed available.

For a full list of the prices we found for each location, hotel name and room type we researched, read The Back Story.

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