Ted,
My order.
1. Browse Wotif (good layout with plenty of pics and great to source accom in a particular area).
2. Google the website of the place for contact info and call directly.

i just hop in the car and drive to rainbow bay



ski holidays abroad use a specialist travel agent ie ski japan etc

Within Australia I would use google then shoot off an email and or call direct,today I sent an email to a place I've stayed often over the past 3 years,which I've managed to do a deal with the manger,my question was is villa 2 available and are we still on the same rate as our last visit,within an hour I received a reply.So Direct for me.

interesting chaps.

I am a massive user of lastminute and wotif for work related trips - probably use them once every 2 weeks - in fact I booked a hotel in Perth for this Thursday night this evening. I love the secret hotel star bonus rooms. Those things have serviced me some amazing hotels at incredible prices - work must love me for it. Especially once you work out which ones you like and the wording they use And that got me thinking. I always use them for work related stuff in Aus. But when I am abroad or going somewhere a bit more off the beaten track I would never even consider them as a viable option. When I search for accom on-line I am always getting hit with ads from agoda and booking.com. I wonder if anyone actually books through those guys? I always go direct to compare. Then I am thinking - how efficient (recall I am economist by trade) is this really? And is my behaviour unique or is everyone doing it? Who is lazy and who spends serious amounts of time trying to find the best price? And to what end do we care about this price? Should we just be happy with +/- 5% or do we need to spend 20 mins searching for that next bit. I expect more in this tech driven age we live in

can't help,i have a wife and it will never be good enough

i asked this room about surf accommodation once…and got some great advice..true story