# Air+Hotel is not cheaper than separate Air and Hotel
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-hotel-is-not-cheaper-than-separate-air-and-hotel/516460
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [November 5, 2009, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-hotel-is-not-cheaper-than-separate-air-and-hotel/516460 "2009-11-05T19:46:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Polerius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polerius)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2009, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-hotel-is-not-cheaper-than-separate-air-and-hotel/516460/1 "2009-11-05T19:46:42Z")
Websites like Orbitz and Expedia always recommend booking Air+Hotel together to “save money” over booking those individually. However, I have repeatedly found cases where booking separately is a few hundred dollars cheaper than booking together, even if it’s the same flight and same hotel and same dates (and on the same website)
Have you guys had this experience?
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### Author:  [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-hotel-is-not-cheaper-than-separate-air-and-hotel/516460/2 "2009-11-05T20:20:36Z")
I’ve never bothered to check, because I just assumed it was a ripoff. Color me unsurprised, though. Here’s a good rule of thumb: when a company is heavily promoting something, it’s because it’s good for them, not for you.
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### Author:  [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2009, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-hotel-is-not-cheaper-than-separate-air-and-hotel/516460/3 "2009-11-05T20:33:38Z")
Once I was flying to Dallas from Nashville, on Orbitz I think, and it turned out that the Airfare + Hotel was $100 cheaper _than the airfare alone_. I didn’t even need the hotel but booked it that way anyway.
ETA: And here’s the thread I wrote about it: [We'll pay you $145 not to stay in our hotel - Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=271742)
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### Author:  [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2009, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-hotel-is-not-cheaper-than-separate-air-and-hotel/516460/4 "2009-11-05T21:55:35Z")
Yeah, you can never be sure what’s cheaper right at the get go, so I always look for just airfare, then airfare+hotel, and sometimes I even check hotels’ websites themselves to see if it’s cheaper.
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### Author:  [@KSO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KSO)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2009, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-hotel-is-not-cheaper-than-separate-air-and-hotel/516460/5 "2009-11-05T22:17:36Z")
I’ve frequently had the opposite experience with Travelocity or Expedia (I can’t remember which)–flight plus hotel or car several hundred dollars cheaper than flight alone. No idea why.
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### Author:  [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2009, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-hotel-is-not-cheaper-than-separate-air-and-hotel/516460/6 "2009-11-05T22:27:57Z")
Heck, what confuses me the most if when a one-way ticket is more expensive than a round-trip. And I don’t mean that it’s more expensive than half the round-trip (ie, the cost of one ticket in the round trip package,) but the round trip is like $350 and one way is $400.
Bwa?
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### Author:  [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2009, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-hotel-is-not-cheaper-than-separate-air-and-hotel/516460/7 "2009-11-05T23:42:00Z")
It all depends. Some packaged deals are better but most of the time a la carte is the most economical.