What's involved in booking a hotel online? You select the hotel you want from our search engine or from our directory. You click on 'Rates' or 'Info', depending on which you want. If you know the hotel you may want to go straight to 'Rates' which will lead you to availability and real time rates available for the days you're wanting to stay. If you want information on the hotel click 'Info' and you'll be provided with detailed information, probably a photo, area attractions, distances from major points of interest, airport and so on. Once you decide you want to proceed you click on 'Click Here for Prices and Availability'. You will then be asked to nominate your arrival date and your departure date and the number of people to occupy the room. That's all. You will then be shown the range of rates available at the hotel for the dates you nominated. Usually this will include the hotel's standard rates, rates for different bed types (king or two queen beds and so on), special rates, package rates and often government and military rates. You then select the rate you want (or qualify for) and if you wish to proceed and make a booking just click on your nominated rate. You are then asked for your email address so you can receive confirmation, your name, address and phone numbers for the booking, any special requests you may have to be passed on to the hotel and your credit card details. Once you submit the information you will receive confirmation and that completes the process. You will instantly receive by email a confirmation of the booking with the hotel details, what you need to do if you wish to cancel and so on. It's all very easy and very quick, it just takes a few minutes.

How easy is it to make a reservation? It's very simple. If using the search form you just type in the city you want and the state (if the city is in the US) or the country, and press search. If you go to the International Hotel Search Directory all you need to do is locate the city and click on it. If you're accessing from a page already designated to a city then you just click on 'Click here to make your search'. In each case you will be taken to a list of the available hotels in your city of choice. You then click on either 'Info' if you want information on the hotel, or 'Rates' if you just require the rates information. In each case you will be guided through the site to access all the information you need, and if you need to make a booking then this is easy as well, as you will be prompted for the information needed, and everything will be done for you automatically. It really is a simple process and once you've used it you'll find you'll be wanting to do all your hotel bookings this way.

Do I have to give my credit card details? In some cases you will be required to submit a credit card number at the time of booking. The hotel needs your credit card number to hold your room and to send a confirmation number. Your credit card will not be charged until you check out of the hotel unless the type of room you selected states that a deposit is required. We recommend using a credit card to guarantee your reservation. The majority of the hotels will not hold rooms without a credit card number.

Is it safe to give my credit card number? For your security, we utilise Netscape's secure commerce server which encrypts the credit card number, encoding it into a non-usable form. You may well ask what encryption is. Netscape describes it as follows: Encryption is the process of transforming information so it is unintelligible to anyone but the intended recipient. Decryption is the process of transforming encrypted information so that it is intelligible again. A cryptographic algorithm, also called a cipher, is a mathematical function used for encryption or decryption. In most cases, two related functions are employed, one for encryption and the other for decryption. With most modern cryptography, the ability to keep encrypted information secret is based not on the cryptographic algorithm, which is widely known, but on a number called a key that must be used with the algorithm to produce an encrypted result or to decrypt previously encrypted information. Decryption with the correct key is simple. Decryption without the correct key is very difficult, and in some cases impossible for all practical purposes.

What if I want to cancel a reservation? This is easy. When you get your confirmation by email (at the time of the booking) you'll be given an itinerary number, a confirmation number from the hotel and an email address where you can simply send an email to cancel. Usually you can cancel up to 6pm on the day you'll be arriving. In some cases it is 4pm. There are some hotels that require 24, 48 or 72 hours notice, particularly at busy times when hotels sell out. Whatever the situation you will find the information on the Information page of our site when you're making the booking.