I continue to update the section «Preparing for the trip». Today we will focus on the search and selection of hotels using the Roomguru website. Also, to help independent travelers, we have instructions on how to find and book flights through Skyscanner. And now about what kind of beast RoomGuru (RumGuru) is and my detailed instructions on how to use it.
The content of the article
What is Roomguru
RoomGuru is a hotel SEARCH system. They do not book hotels on the site, but they are looking! Because this is a metasearch engine, not a booking system. Why is Rumguru so good? Why is it better than a booking system, such as Booking or Agoda, for example?
The answer is that Rumguru is a search engine and he is looking for great hotel deals, both in the Booking database, in the Agoda database, in the Ozone database, in the Ostrovka database, and in many, many others. That is, you can see what the price is for a room in the same hotel, but in different booking systems and choose where it is cheaper. Rumguru unites dozens of databases, compares rooms and prices, the system has more than 5 million offers, which is more than any single booking system.
For reference, RoomGuru was previously called Hotelscombined, but the company decided that in Russia it should be under its own name, so Hotelscombined remained to work for English-speaking users..
How to book a hotel room
Filling out the form
Now let's figure out how to use the Rumguru website. In principle, there is nothing complicated there, everything is intuitive and well thought out. All important points in the screenshots will be highlighted with red lines.
The first thing we see when we go to the site is the classic search form on the main page.
Search form on the main page
We choose where we will look for the hotel. The system offers options, with the number of hotels and other tips. You can enter a city, a district, or even a hotel right away if you know its name. We will pick up Phuket.
Choosing the direction of hotel search
We choose the dates of arrival and departure. Possible dates are shown in the form of a list or in the form of a calendar (for this you need to click on the icon that looks like a mesh bag). Let's choose, for example, June 7-8, 2015 - one night, double room. It is clear that usually they stay more than one night, but it's easier.
Choosing the dates of your stay at the hotel
searching results
Click on Search and on a new page we see the search results as a list of hotels sorted by default by the Recommended parameter (usually these are the most expensive hotels). As we can see, the list is very long - 1639 hotels to choose from. It's too much. It won't be easy for us to find the right one. It is necessary to set more precise search criteria. Please note that at the top there is a line indicating the nesting level, with links.
Search results for hotels in Phuket
Let's go to the Phuket page by clicking on the corresponding link in the line. Here on the right there is a map with all the hotels, that is, you can search for the desired hotel using it. Below the map we see a list of places in Phuket that may interest us: nearby airports, attractions, different areas of Phuket, etc. All this in the form of links. Let's choose in Phuket, for example, Karon. This is both the beach and the adjacent resort area. That is, at first we found hotels in general throughout Phuket, and now we will look the same way, but only in Karon. You choose what suits you best..
It is worth noting that Rumguru knows an area like Karon (he knows many areas in general), so from the beginning we could not type Phuket into the search bar, but Karon.
Phuket Destination Page
The search form for the direction of Karon is the same as on the main page. The site remembered the data we entered on the main page, so the form is already filled out. It remains only to click Search.
Search form on Karon destination page
We see the search results, now there are only 266 of them. We can sort, for example, by price (by default, they are always sorted by the Recommended parameter). On the left there is a list of filters (underlined in red), where you can choose the one you need. For example, price range, availability of Wi-fi, air conditioning, pool, number of stars, rating, etc..
List of hotels in Karon
Filters and sorting search results
Rumguru provides a lot of opportunities for filtering and choosing the right hotel. Therefore, I will tell you how I would do it. But in this case, the sequence of actions is not so important, and you can do as you like..
So, despite the fact that we received a list of hotels in the required area, firstly, there are still too many of them, and we need to choose one, and secondly, the hotel may be too far from the sea. Thirdly, you need to understand how good he is. Therefore, I put the filters I need - checkboxes opposite the price of 3000-5999 rubles, air conditioning, WiFi, and a rating of 8-9. And then I will sort everything by price. Filters, respectively, you can choose others and any number.
But you need to understand that you can filter in such a way that nothing will remain in the results, so if you get too few hotels or not at all, then you should remove some of the filters. By the way, pay attention to the rating of the hotel and the filter by rating - this is the very criterion of quality. I always try to choose hotels with a rating of more than 7, and preferably more than 8. This is a kind of guarantee that everything will be in order..
We put the checkboxes in the necessary places, we get only 12 hotels in the results. Now it will be much easier to choose. Please note that we have sorted hotels by price.
Filtered search results for hotels in Karon
Initially, we were looking for a hotel for one night, so they showed us the price for one night too. And if you choose, for example, a week - June 7-13, then the site will show the price for the whole week. Well that's it, for your reference.
Hotels search results for the week
Hotels map
There are also 12 hotels to choose from. Now is the time to look at the map where these hotels are located. Since, in general, they all fit (I set the filters I needed) and everyone has a good rating (from 8 and higher), then I'll just take and see the location of the first 3 hotels on the map, they are the cheapest of the selected.
There is a link to the map for each hotel immediately under the lines of the name in Latin and Cyrillic. Click to open the map. Please note that the marker of the selected hotel is displayed in red, blue markers are the rest of the filtered hotels, and yellow markers are all hotels in general, without filters. The hotels that are on our search page (after filters, that is, 12) are numbered as they appear in the list (which we have sorted by price). That is, the marker with 1 is the first hotel on the list. It is not necessary to open a map for each hotel, you can see them all at once on one map.
Map with hotels marked on it
Opening the map, I saw that the first hotel was located somewhere on the outskirts of Karon, the second in the very center, the third not far from the center. Suppose I would like to live in the center, so I will choose the second hotel. It became Karon Sea Sands Resort & Spa rated 8.6.
Hotel page
By clicking on its name in the search results, we will go to the hotel page. It will contain a description of the hotel, short reviews, photos, ratings and a map. Already at this stage, you can understand whether it is worth watching it further or not..
If it is, then we turn our attention to the bottom of the page for a list of booking systems with prices. Actually, for the sake of this everything was started. You can choose both the cheapest and simply the most familiar booking system. The trick is that the price can sometimes differ by 10-40%.
Hotel page
Go to the booking system
Quite often I choose Agoda and Booking, unless, of course, there is nothing else with a dramatic difference in price. Now let's do the same. Click on Forward (in other browsers there will be a button instead «Book now») in the line where Booking.com is written and go to the booking system.
Message about the transition to the website of the booking system
From Rumguru we will be redirected directly to the part of the page where the price for the room is indicated. We check the prices for compliance with what we saw in Rumguru. Please note that, for example, in Agoda the price will be shown without fees, so it will be lower than it was in Rumguru, and you will see the final price already on the payment page. Booking shows everything as it is at once.
Room prices on booking.com
The first thing to do after checking the price is to look at the rating again, because Rumguru shows the average rating for all booking systems, and I'm interested in the rating in Booking, it can be either lower or higher. To do this, you need to scroll to the top of the hotel page on Booking. Where we can see that the rating is 8.2. Quite!
Hotel page on booking.com
Everything is in order with the rating, but it still makes sense to read at least a few real reviews from the guests before deciding whether there are any pitfalls. Click on the rating and go to the reviews page.
Hotel reviews page on booking.com
If everything suits you, then now it remains to book a room. Check the dates again, check the location of the hotel on the map (you never know), read the conditions of the hotel (at the bottom of the page block «Good to know» about the time of arrival / departure, transfer, accommodation of children, etc.) and proceed to booking. I won't go into details, it's simple. Enter your full name, bank card details (if necessary) and book. If you have a Booking account, then after authorization, most of the data will be filled in automatically.
Choosing a room for booking on booking.com
P.S. Good hotels to all of us!
