Overall Findings: Direct Booking vs. Online Travel Agent Booking in Prague, Czech Republic
Prague is a dream destination for many travellers, with its historic charm, rich culture, and breath-taking architecture. But when it comes to booking your stay, is it better to book directly with the hotel or through an Online Travel Agent (OTA) like Booking.com? Our research in March, covering stays between 4 and 7 nights, provides a clear answer.
How We Conducted the Research
As with our previous study of 9 destinations in Austria, we began by searching for hotels on Booking.com, just like 75% of travellers do. We then used the BookBetterDirect browser extension to find the official hotel websites. This saved us an estimated 20 hours of manual searching—instead of copying hotel names, pasting them into Google, and hunting for the direct booking link, the tool did all the work in seconds. If you want to try it yourself, you can install our Browser extension here. Heads up, we are also working on a mobile app! Everyone with an Android phone can try out the mobile app beta version!
Our team carefully compared room type, meal plans, and cancellation policies to ensure a fair price comparison.
Key Findings for Prague
Interestingly, both direct bookings and OTA bookings had discounts reaching up to 28%, showing that travellers can find excellent deals on both sides—but which was better overall?
- Direct booking was cheaper in 70.59% of cases.
- Booking.com was cheaper in 29.41% of cases.
- On average, travellers saved €17.06 (-2.28%) by booking directly.
- The highest direct booking discount was €321.75 (-27.83%).
- The highest Booking.com discount was €344.00 (27.00%).
While direct booking won the majority of the time, Booking.com did offer some competitive discounts. However, what stood out was that all hotels that actively promoted direct booking were cheaper than the OTA price—a trend we also observed in Austria.
How Prague Compares to Its Austrian Neighbours
Compared to Vienna, Bregenz, and Graz,where direct booking was cheaper in only 38.89% of cases, Prague’s 70.59% direct booking advantage is outstanding!
This means that Prague’s hoteliers are doing a much better job at promoting direct bookings and offering compelling incentives for travellers to book direct.
Austrian cities could learn from Prague, where hotels actively highlight the perks of booking directly.
The Prague Direct Booking Trend
A key insight from our research was that Prague hotels seem to be actively encouraging travellers to book direct. Many hotels prominently advertise exclusive benefits that OTAs cannot match. Here are some of the most interesting perks we found for booking direct:
✅ Lowest price guaranteed ✅ Best available rate guarantee
✅ Exclusive discounts (up to 36% off)
✅ Free breakfast
✅ Free tapas & drinks
✅ Free parking ✅ Special deal on parking
✅ Early check-in & late check-out
✅ Welcome glass of Prosecco
✅ Cashback rewards (5% cash back or 15% cash forward)
✅ Complimentary chocolate pralines
✅ FREE Prague Pass
These types of exclusive offers make booking directly not just cheaper, but also a better experience. Travelers get more value for their money, while hotels benefit by avoiding high OTA commissions.
Why Are Prague Hotels More Active in Promoting Direct Bookings?
Until recently, hoteliers in the Czech Republic were contractually bound by rate parity clauses from OTAs like Booking.com, preventing them from offering lower prices on their own websites. However, this changed in September 2024, when the European Court of Justice ruled against rate parity clauses. Further, on November 14, 2024, Booking.com was officially designated as a ‘gatekeeper’ under the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA), joining the ranks of Google, Amazon, Meta, and Apple.
Being a Gatekeeper forbids Booking.com from restricting hotels’ pricing strategies, giving hoteliers newfound freedom to compete.
Despite these legal changes, many travellers are unaware of this shift and still assume that OTAs always offer the same or better prices. Our research clearly proves otherwise: it does matter where you book.
Final Thoughts: Should You Book Direct in Prague?
Yes, in most cases, booking direct in Prague will save you money and offer better perks. While OTAs sometimes provide strong discounts, they do not include many of the extra benefits hotels offer to direct bookers.
However, if you don’t see any direct booking promotions on a hotel’s website, compare both prices before booking. As seen in our research, the hotels that actively promote direct bookings always offer a better deal.
Tomorrow we travel outside of Europe and will be visiting Dubai to find out if it is better to book directly with your host or not!
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