Why the prices differ at all
Hotels give wholesalers and membership programs rates they are not allowed to publish on the open web. Booking.com, Expedia and the rest show the public price. Adónde members see the closed rate, which is why the same room in the same hotel on the same night can cost less here. Other services sell that access as a $20 a month membership. On Adónde it comes with the free account.
So we tested it. We picked ten hotels across four continents, looked up the same stay on each site, and copied the total with taxes and fees exactly as each site showed it. Seven of the ten priced the same room type on every site and are in the table. Three could not be compared fairly and are explained below rather than hidden.


The seven like-for-like stays
| Hotel | Adónde | Booking.com | Hotels.com | Expedia | Kayak | Adónde vs cheapest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olivia Balmes, BarcelonaDesign double or twin, room only, non-refundable | $747 | $830* | $831 | $831 | $831 | $83 less, 10% |
| Catalonia Magdalenes, BarcelonaDouble or twin, room only, free cancellation on every site | $737 | $779* | $779 | $779 | $762 | $25 less, 3% |
| The Westin LimaDeluxe king, room only; Adónde non-refundable | $555 | $748 | $748 | $748 | $749 | $193 less, 26% |
| The Alexandrian, Alexandria, VirginiaKing room; Adónde non-refundable, others refundable | $922 | $979* | $980 | $980 | $981 | $57 less, 6% |
| Hyatt Regency LisbonStandard twin, free cancellation; Adónde includes breakfast, others room only | $863 | $1,047* | $1,039 | $1,024 | n/a | $161 less, 16% |
| The Marker, DublinPremium room, room only, non-refundable | $1,329 | $1,497* | $1,483 | $1,451 | n/a | $122 less, 8% |
| Fasano, Rio de JaneiroSuperior twin, internal view; Adónde includes breakfast and is non-refundable | $2,710 | $3,128* | $2,899 | $2,743 | $2,595 | $115 more than Kayak, $33 less than Expedia |
Totals for three nights, two adults, taxes and fees included, in US dollars, as each site displayed them on September 29, 2026. * Booking.com shows some European and Brazilian prices before VAT and city tax; those totals add the taxes Booking itself lists as excluded, at 1 EUR = 1.17 USD and 1 BRL = 0.19 USD. Kayak did not resolve the Lisbon and Dublin properties. Where Adónde's cheapest rate was non-refundable, its refundable rate was usually within a few dollars of the public price. Prices change by the hour; run the search yourself before you believe any of this.
Same hotels, four and a half months out
We expected the gap to widen further out, when hotels still have plenty of rooms and the public sites have not started discounting. So we ran the same seven international stays again for February 12 to 15, 2027. It did not widen. Expedia gets aggressive on far-out dates, Booking.com stays the dear one, and the member rate holds about where it was. Adónde was still cheapest on five of seven, by 5% on average and 18% at best, and lost two by a few dollars.
| Hotel, February 12 to 15, 2027 | Adónde | Booking.com | Hotels.com | Expedia | Kayak | Adónde vs cheapest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Westin LimaDeluxe king; Adónde non-refundable, refundable $656 | $594 | $724 | $724 | $724 | $724 | $130 less, 18% |
| The Marker, DublinDeluxe room, non-refundable on Adónde and Expedia | $792 | $1,095* | $981 | $960 | n/a | $168 less, 17% |
| Catalonia Magdalenes, BarcelonaDouble or twin; Adónde refundable rate $693, within a dollar | $692 | $734* | $727 | $708 | $702 | $10 less, 1% |
| Fasano, Rio de JaneiroCarnival weekend; superior twin, room only, non-refundable everywhere | $5,142 | $5,966* | $5,513 | $5,478 | $5,199 | $57 less, 1% |
| Shinjuku Granbell, TokyoEconomy double; Adónde's rate is free cancellation | $340 | $431* | $344 | $343 | n/a | $3 less, 1% |
| Hyatt Regency LisbonStandard twin, room only; Adónde non-refundable | $783 | $872* | $788 | $777 | n/a | $6 more, 1% |
| Olivia Balmes, BarcelonaDesign room, non-refundable | $906 | $932* | $924 | $880 | $931 | $26 more, 3% |
Priced September 29, 2026 for February 12 to 15, 2027, three nights, two adults, taxes and fees included, as each site displayed them. * Booking.com totals add the VAT and city tax it lists as excluded, at 1 EUR = 1.17 USD, 1 BRL = 0.19 USD, 1 JPY = 0.0068 USD. Kayak did not resolve three properties. Every Adónde rate confirmed at checkout on this pass.
The three we left out, and why
- Kimpton Hotel Monaco, Denver. Every public site was sold out of standard rooms for those dates and showed only suites, from $988 to $1,504. Adónde listed a standard queen at about $649, but the rate could not be confirmed at checkout, so it is not a fair comparison either way.
- Shinjuku Granbell, Tokyo. Same story. Public sites had only a villa suite from $2,050; Adónde showed an economy double at about $571 that did not confirm at checkout.
- Hotel Emma, San Antonio. Adónde came back at $3,638, more than Booking.com's $2,794 and Kayak's $2,566, because of a $662 pay-at-property fee line that looks wrong. We are checking it with our supplier before we publish a number for that hotel.
How to read this
The member rate is real and it is usually lower: 9% on average across all seven stays with the Rio loss counted, 11.5% across the six it won, and as much as a quarter on a stay like the Westin in Lima. The public sites are not scamming anyone. They show the price the hotel allows them to show. Two of the sites we wanted to include, Priceline and Trip.com, would not let an automated browser run a search, so they are not in the table.
One habit worth keeping whatever app you use: check whether the cheap rate is refundable. Adónde shows both rates side by side and marks which is which.

Read next: Adónde vs TripIt, Polarsteps and Wanderlog.
