The best hotel and flight comparison sites

Google Flights is the best-rated travel comparison site, according to Which? members. But you’ll need to use more than one comparison site to find cheap flights and hotels.

Hotel and flight comparison sites are helpful tools. They trawl the web for fares and room rates but ultimately send you to an airline, hotel website or third-party booking site to make the final transaction. 

We asked thousands of holidaymakers who use comparison websites to rate whether the prices shown match the final price paid, how easy it is to use the website, and other factors. Finally, users scored their satisfaction and how likely they were to recommend a site to a friend, which determined the best and worst-rated sites in our table (below).

Separately, we carried out a snapshot pricing analysis to find which comparison or booking sites returned the cheapest flight and accommodation options. We looked at 30 set scenarios for both airfares and hotel stays to put each to the test.

For hotels, Kayak, Trivago and Skyscanner were best at finding the cheapest prices. Check all three, and you’re likely to find the lowest price on one.

No single comparison site triumphed for flights – but Google Flights found the best prices most frequently – six times in 30.

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Best and worst travel comparison sites for flights and hotels – as rated by Which? members

Best flight comparison site (and overall): Google Flights

Customer score: 64%

Found cheapest flight price: 6/30 times

Google Flights is the only site to gain four out of five stars for how relevant its search results are and how easy it is to navigate and filter through (functionality). A nifty feature is the Explore tool, which shows you places on a map you might not have thought of – it’s a great way to find cheap destinations. In one example, it found a return journey to Tokyo for £822 less than Expedia. It only found the best price six times, but it was never the most expensive. 

Should you use it? Easy to use, but shop around

Compare airfares on Google Flights

What is Skyscanner like as a flight comparison site?

Customer score: 59%

Found cheapest flight price: 3/30 times 

Skyscanner came second among comparison sites, probably thanks to its useful features. Its Savings Generator tool recommends the best day to fly to various locations, how long beforehand to book, and which month to travel to help you save money. It also suggests which flights generate a lower amount of CO2. However, users rated its price accuracy as poor. In our snapshot research, it found the cheapest flight prices just three times in 30 (when compared to both comparison sites and flight booking sites) but reassuringly it never found the worst price. 

Should you use it to find flights? It struggled to find the best prices for our set journeys, but it’s helpful if your plans are flexible.

Compare flights on Skyscanner

What is Skyscanner like as a hotel comparison site?

Found cheapest accommodation price: 11/30 times

You may not think of Skyscanner when booking accommodation, but when we carried out the same price checks on hotels, it fared decently, finding the best price 11 times in 30.

Should you use it to find hotels? Use it in tandem with Kayak and Trivago to source the cheapest price.

Compare accommodation on Skyscanner

What is Kayak like as a flight comparison site?

Customer score: 56%

Found cheapest flight price: 5/30 times

Kayak was (joint) third best-rated in our comparison sites survey. It also found the cheapest flights five in 30 times. It has a few extra features too. It uses data to predict whether prices are likely to go down, and you can switch on alerts for when fares do drop. Helpfully, you can filter out flight booking sites and airlines you don’t want to use from its results. However, Which? members weren’t impressed by the range of flights returned, nor the accuracy of prices – suggesting that fares went up when clicking to book.

Should you use it to find flights? It's worth a look, but check Google Flights and Skyscanner too.

Compare flights on Kayak

What is Kayak like as a hotel comparison site?

Found cheapest accommodation price: 12/30 times

Outside of booking directly with a hotel, Kayak was best (joint with Trivago) at finding the cheapest hotel prices. It also has useful features, such as the ability to filter down to find hotels with complimentary breakfast, free parking and free airport shuttles. Its customer score isn’t great, but it’s worth checking Kayak alongside Trivago and Skyscanner to compare prices.

Should you use it to find hotels? Yes. But then call the hotel to see if it’s cheaper directly. 

Compare accommodation on Kayak

What is Trivago like as a hotel comparison site?

Customer score: 56%
 
 Found cheapest accommodation price: 12/30 times

Trivago is far from perfect. In particular, users didn’t think the results it returned were always relevant. But it did find the cheapest price more than a third of the time. And when it didn’t, it was never far off the mark. Users also rated it the best comparison site for finding flexible or cancellable options – the only comparison site to gain three out of five stars here.

Should you use it to find hotels? Yes. Even if it doesn’t find the lowest price, it’s unlikely to find you a terrible one.

Compare accommodation on Trivago

How to find cheap flights and hotels using comparison sites

Flights

None of the comparison sites alone stood out for finding the majority of cheap fares. We checked prices for flights across both comparison and booking sites, and Opodo returned the best price 11 out of 30 times. But that doesn’t mean we’d use it. It performed poorly in our flight booking sites survey. Google Flights was next best, finding the lowest price six out of 30 times, but that still leaves 24 times where it didn’t. Instead, use a combination of comparison sites, such as Google Flights, Kayak and Skyscanner. Just remember they lead you through to either airlines or booking sites to complete the transaction. When securing the flights, you should avoid using third-party flight booking sites. You're better off booking flights directly with the airline once you’ve narrowed it down on comparison websites.

Hotels

Kayak, Skyscanner and Trivago were almost unbeatable as a trio. Of the 30 hotels checked, these comparison sites sourced the lowest price the most times between them (sometimes more than one found the same best nightly rate). The problem is that comparison sites don’t vet the quality of the websites they suggest you book with. Use them to find a hotel within budget and then book directly. If you’re willing to pick up the phone, the hotel might even reduce the price further. Even when they won’t, hotels often throw in a freebie. 

Our pricing research on travel comparison sites

Separately, we carried out pricing research on 3 October 2023. Which? recorded prices of 10 stays and 10 flights one week, six weeks and six months before departure, totalling 30 checks for hotels and 30 for airfares. We analysed prices on a mixture of comparison and booking sites.

See our pricing research on flight comparison and flight booking sites

See our pricing research on hotel comparison and hotel booking sites