Beyond that, boutique hotels are often substantially more expensive when you book directly. Which is weird, because you think it would be cheaper since they’re

Beyond that, boutique hotels are often substantially more expensive when you book directly. Which is weird, because you think it would be cheaper since they’re not paying the affiliate booking fees. But no, even if you call them directly or show up in person they generally refuse to match Expedia or booking.com. I am being overly general here, I’m sure there are exceptions, but this has been my experience repeatedly. With restaurants I try to not use aggregators like doordash or Uber Eats and always make sure to call and order directly so they save on fees. But hotels seem like they would rather pay the fee rather than give a real customer the best available price and keep a larger portion of the profit. There are many things I hate about Booking.com, but at least they do generally give the best price.