I use HT quite a bit. It used to be significantly cheaper 5 years ago since it was only last minute hotels. They've since expanded to work more similarly to o

I use HT quite a bit. It used to be significantly cheaper 5 years ago since it was only last minute hotels. They've since expanded to work more similarly to other booking sites since you can book way in advance now. You get decent discounts with their loyalty program, which doesn't work with points, but just tracks your spend on the platform and levels you up as you spend more. I think a huge factor for me using it is their customer service. You can text them via the app over anything and they'll respond back pretty quick. You also get upgraded "concierge" service as you level up, though I didn't find this to be that much better. I'm worried that AirBnb will ruin HT since they have such horrible customer service. Hopefully they don't. It's nice not planning your hotels far in advance, land in a city, and take it from there.