Marco Urban of Frankfurt found the offer on the internet portal attractive: an overnight stay at a bargain rate in Amsterdam's Aalborg Hotel. So his disappointment was all the greater when he learned on arrival that a room too few had been reserved for him and his friends.

Instead of beginning their short holiday with a stroll around town, the group had to look for another place to stay, a place that put their travel budget under more strain than they had anticipated.

Budget savings

It can pay to book hotel rooms on the web. In Germany, online intermediaries like Hotel.de and Ratestogo.de wage veritable price wars with each other as marketplaces for hoteliers' last-minute offers. Many of them give what they call budget-price guarantees for individual offers.

The Cologne-based hotel reservation service Hrs.de, for example, advertises exclusive bargains that managing director Tobias Ragge says are 10 per cent cheaper than those of the company's competitors.

Rates can change quickly and vary greatly, however, so bargain hunters should shop around. Companies like Trivage.de, based in Dusseldorf, give an overview.

"According to our data, rates for a hotel on the internet vary by 32 per cent on average, so a comparison is often worthwhile," said company spokeswoman Ulrike Pithan.

There are other things to look out for when booking on the internet, as Marco Urban now knows all too well. "As far as photos and room descriptions are concerned, you've got to pay attention to the small print - sometimes the photos are only examples," warned Falk Murko of Stiftung Warentest, a Berlin-based independent consumer- protection group.

Lowest common denominator

It is also important to note the category of the room to be booked, Murko said. Web bargains often involve the most spartan rooms in a hotel.

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