Booking hotels keeps getting easier and easier. These days there are dozens of online hotel booking sites out there, each with a mountain of information and a deal around every corner.

The only problem is choosing where to spend your hard-earned dollar.

So, when hotel booking site TravelPony reached out to us to see if we’d review their recent changes, we decided to take a closer look.

Important update for 2017

We contacted TravelPony website support back in January 2017, and asked why their search only TravelPony hotels check box wasn’t working.

Here’s their reply “Our inventory is currently more limited than usual because we are in negotiations with our primary inventory supplier. Please check back periodically to see if we’ve added new inventory in your desired locations.”

When we checked in March, and again in April 2017, the search TravelPony hotels check box had disappeared. We also couldn’t find any TravelPony hotels in searches of ten cities we searched.

Why is this important? You can only use TravelPony credits on TravelPony hotels. You cannot use TravelPony credits on hotels booked through other sites, such as Hotels.com, or Booking.com.

If you have TravelPony credits (like we do), as of now, you can’t use them on the site at all.

We’re now using Booking.com for most of our hotel bookings. It’s fast, has a huge inventory, and I’ve found it to be very reliable.

Using TravelPony

To tell you the truth, we’ve used TravelPony a fair bit this past year. We actually used it for our last three hotel bookings and just made a reservation the other day for a trip into Vancouver. We’ve found they’re pretty hard to beat in terms of price, especially when you’re trying to stay someplace that’s relatively nice or in an expensive city.

That said, it’s been almost a year and a half since we brought you our very popular TravelPony Review, so we thought with the recent TravelPony updates, we’d revisit them to see if they’re still worth considering.

What We Like – More Hotels, More Cities

When we wrote our last review, TravelPony listed around 20,000 hotels, but their new site now offers over 200,000 hotels, with dozens of hotels in cities where even a few months ago there were none.

This is huge.

It means there are more hotels to choose from in larger cities. It also means that you can now find a hotel for a smaller city or town through TravelPony.

What We Like – PriceReview

My favorite feature is TravelPony’s new PriceReview.

If you find a better price somewhere else, you can share your savings with everyone on TravelPony. It not only shows up on the hotel page but also right on the main search results page!

That means you can share a coupon, a deal you found by calling the hotel directly, or even a mobile-only same day price.

To me that brings TravelPony up to the forefront, because even though you can leave reviews directly on most hotel comparison sites these days, none will ever publish a this is how to get it even cheaper comment.

So we thought we’d test to see if TravelPony was true to their word, and that they’d really post a cheaper price for somewhere else.

The deal I posted via their PriceReview was a coupon that we use often for Motel6 when we’re on the road. It’s a discount code we use directly through the hotel website, and it almost always gets us a better deal than we can find on a booking site.

Sure enough, our deal appeared on the hotel booking page.

But, ahem, the price on the hotel website with our discount code was actually still a bit more expensive ($93) than the TravelPony advertised price. That’s a score for TravelPony’s price transparency policy.

PriceReview is a pretty new feature, so I didn’t see a lot of comments on hotel sites, but I expect that to change as more users try the new TravelPony system.

We’re excited to see a company stepping up to the plate and willing to let their members tell you how to get it even cheaper regardless of which other site you book it through.

What We Like – Better Hotel Reviews

Another thing I just noticed is that TravelPony has finally gotten on board with their review rating.

Instead of just relying on their own member ratings (something more than a few other sites do), they’ve linked in directly to Trip Advisor, the holy grail of hotel review sites. Chances are that if you want to find out the lowdown of any hotel, especially recent additions and season specific reviews, TripAdvisor should be the first site you check.

What We Like – More Comparisons

They also updated the site so that seeing and comparing hotel deals is even easier than ever.

Not only do they show competitor pricing, but getting to the other sites is now just a quick click away. On top of that, they’ve also expanded their search parameters and include more competitors than ever.

What We’d Like More Of – Hotel Room & Amenity Information

The only thing I still find mildly annoying on Travel Pony is that there isn’t a lot of room or hotel amenity information. I’d like to see a bit more information about the hotel we’re looking at, as well as what’s included with our stay, besides for a chunky paragraph listing what each hotel offers.

It’s nice that you can filter based on amenities (as well as price, stars, location and whether it’s a TravelPony featured hotel), but a nicer rundown (maybe with some quick visual icons of what the hotel includes) would speed up our searches immensely.

Luckily the TripAdvisor hotel information page is only a quick click away, but something right on the Travel Pony page would pretty much give us all the information we need to book it on the spot.

What We’re Not Sure About

Whenever we’ve booked a hotel through TravelPony, we’ve paid through the TravelPony site. It’s always been quick, easy straightforward.

Now, their Book It button will take you to another hotel booking site if it’s not a TravelPony featured hotel.

They’re very up front about redirecting you, which I love, but I’d like to be able to complete my booking directly on TravelPony.

Plus, if you happen to have TravelPony credits, you can’t use these when you’re redirected to another site like Hotels.com. You can only use TravelPony credits when you book the hotel directly through TravelPony, meaning that you’ll have fewer hotels to choose from with your TravelPony credits.

What We Don’t Like – You Need to Log In

To get a price quote, you’ll need to create an account and log in with your email address or Facebook. I’d love the ability to search and compare prices on the go without logging in first.

Bonus – Get a $35 Discount on Your First Stay!

TravelPony gives everyone a chance to earn TravelPony credits every time they refer a friend.

Use this link to get $35 USD in Travel Pony Credits off your first TravelPony booking. Good for first time bookings of $200 or more, booked directly through TravelPony.com.

UPDATE, 2017: If you have TravelPony credits (like we do), as of now, you can’t use them on the site at all.

The Bottom Line

I think the new TravelPony updates were a needed improvement on a now great online hotel searching tool, and have definitely cemented them at the forefront of our hotel booking checklist.

While no single company is always going to have the best price when booking a hotel, we’ve found that for the most part, Travel Pony more often than not beats the competition quite handily and if not, now they’ll even tell you how to do it via their PriceReview.

Mobile App

If you’re on the go you can also grab the free TravelPony app for your iPhone at the AppStore or for your Android device at Google Play. It’s great for getting daily deals on hotel rooms and is a great addition to the TravelPony website. There are differences between the app and the web page so make sure you bookmark TravelPony.com as well.  You can read our review on the TravelPony app here.

Of course, the upside to this is it gives us the flexibility to stay or go on our terms.

Important update for 2017

We contacted TravelPony website support back in January 2017, and asked why their search only TravelPony hotels check box wasn’t working.
Here’s their reply “Our inventory is currently more limited than usual because we are in negotiations with our primary inventory supplier. Please check back periodically to see if we’ve added new inventory in your desired locations.”

When we checked in March, and again in April 2017, the search TravelPony hotels check box had disappeared. We also couldn’t find any TravelPony hotels in searches of ten cities we searched.

Why is this important? You can only use TravelPony credits on TravelPony hotels. You cannot use TravelPony credits on hotels booked through other sites, such as Hotels.com, or Booking.com.

If you have TravelPony credits (like we do), as of now, you can’t use them on the site or on the app at all.

We’re now using Booking.com for most of our hotel bookings. It’s fast, has a huge inventory, and I’ve found it to be very reliable.

If we find ourselves in love with a place we can stay longer, or if we’re bored, we can move on. On the whole, we think this is worth a few less than stellar stays on occasion. (Just don’t ask us this when we’re forced to share a single bed or the neighbor’s snoring wake us up all night long. )

We’ve been traveling with our iPhones since they came out and when sites started creating apps specifically for booking hotels, our way of traveling started sucking less.

In the past, we’ve found some great hotel deals with the TravelPony website. TravelPony tends to have amazing deals on higher end and mid-level hotels that bring the better places into our budget level.

So, we were excited when TravelPony reached out to us to review the new TravelPony app, which would definitely make booking a hotel on the go a lot easier.

We reviewed the TravelPony app over the weekend and can definitely say that it’s a keeper.  With a straightforward front end and the header “1Deal – Per City, Per Day. While They Last!” you quickly realize that it’s exactly that. One deal per city, per day, and that it’s a first come, first served type of thing.

The TravelPony app isn’t just last minute booking app. Sure, you can book a hotel at the last minute, but you can also search The TravelPony app for hotels far into the future.

Need a ride?

To help make the app even more appealing, TravelPony has partnered with Lyft.com, a popular ride-sharing platform and car service company.

When you book a room using the TravelPony app, you’ll either receive a free ride to your hotel or Lyft credits that you can use to zip around the city by redeeming them at lyft.com.

Testing the TravelPony app promise

TravelPony makes a pretty bold promise on their app webpage of “better rates than available online. Even TravelPony.com.”

We just had to put it to the test.

So does the TravelPony app’s price promise measure up?

We checked the best price of the TravelPony app deal of the day for Toronto, Canada. The Travel Pony hotel deal of the day was the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Toronto Airport.

We did a price comparison with some of the leading hotel deal sites out there including Expedia, HotelTonight, Trivago, Agoda, HotelsCombined and Orbitz and here are the results:

Price on the TravelPony app:

Standard 2 beds: $86, including taxes and fees $98, continental breakfast included.

Standard king bed: $86, including taxes and fees $98, continental breakfast included.

This price also includes a $5 Lyft ride credit.

Price on the TravelPony website:

The Fairfield Inn and Suites wasn’t available on the TravelPony website for that night so we couldn’t compare it directly, however it averaged $9 to $12 a night cheaper than the competition over the next few days.

Price on Expedia:

Standard Room, 2 Queen Beds: $134, plus taxes and fees $150.86, continental breakfast included.

Standard Room, 1 King Bed: $134, plus taxes and fees $150.86, continental breakfast included.

This price doesn’t include a Lyft ride.

Price on HotelTonight

If you’re booking last minute, the real competition is probably a last minute booking service, so we put TravelPony’s promise up against HotelTonight.

The Fairfield Inn and Suites wasn’t available on the HotelTonight app. However there were 15 other hotels available, with prices ranging from $329 to $105.

Price on Trivago

Trivago is known as a great comparison site so we thought we’d see how it stacked up. As you can tell from the screenshot, the lowest price, per room is $133, plus taxes bringing it to $150.29.

Prices at Agoda, Hotels Combined and Orbitz

We also checked for the cheapest prices at Agoda. Their lowest price started at $132.66 which comes out to $149.91 with taxes.

Hotels Combined started their prices at $150 (not sure if that included taxes or not) and quickly ballooned up from there.

Orbitz is another popular site and we found their prices starting at $132. At $149.16 with taxes, they were the second cheapest site next to TravelPony.

Our verdict?

Price is king, and based on our research, the TravelPony app delivers on its promise of a great price for one hotel, one city, each day.

At $98 for the night it easily blew away the $148 to $150 average that the other sites were posting. Obviously if you wanted to stay at the Fairfield Inn in Toronto that night, TravelPony easily galloped ahead of the others and had the best price.

What we liked

The app worked well for us, even on our older iPhone 4s. It never crashed, or glitched.

We loved that the Travel Pony app lets you choose the number of adults, and the number of kids. This is a great feature missing in a lot of apps since children usually cost less than adults. If you’re traveling as a family, this can make a big difference, as a lot of hotels (especially in Europe) charge extra per child.

Above all, we loved that you can get a great price on a high to mid-range hotel.

What didn’t we like?

By default, the app selects dates that are about 10 days into the future. You need to change the date whenever you search for a new hotel. It’s a bit of a bother.

As well, for many hotels, there’s limited  information available in the app. If you want to find out more about hotel amenities or to see a plethora of pictures you may need to browse elsewhere for a minute.

What you need to know

There’s a single hotel deal available for each city and the deals change every day at noon (Eastern Time).

If you want to make sure you get the best deal it’s best to check early.

TravelPony also has a great referral system that makes it easy to get extra credits when friends and family book using your referral code so if you love the app, pass it on to others.

How to get the TravelPony App

You can download the free TravelPony app for your iPhone at the AppStore or for your Android device at Google Play.

There’s a new social hotel booking site that we’ve heard a lot about in the past few weeks. Travel Pony was launched last year and claims to save you 40 to 70% on hotel rooms.

Here’s the theory.

TravelPony says that they can offer cheaper prices by keeping their costs low. Unlike the big hotel booking sites (which sometimes spend 40% of their budget on flashy ads), TravelPony has a minimal advertising budget. Instead, Travel Pony relies on users to share their deals on Facebook and other social media. They use the money they save on advertising to bring you cheaper prices.

Important update for 2017

We contacted TravelPony website support back in January 2017, and asked why their search only TravelPony hotels check box wasn’t working.
Here’s their reply “Our inventory is currently more limited than usual because we are in negotiations with our primary inventory supplier. Please check back periodically to see if we’ve added new inventory in your desired locations.”

When we checked in March, and again in April 2017, the search TravelPony hotels check box had disappeared. We also couldn’t find any TravelPony hotels in searches of ten cities we searched.

Why is this important? You can only use TravelPony credits on TravelPony hotels. You cannot use TravelPony credits on hotels booked through other sites, such as Hotels.com, or Booking.com.

If you have TravelPony credits (like we do), as of now, you can’t use them on the site or on the app at all.

We’re now using Booking.com for most of our hotel bookings. It’s fast, has a huge inventory, and I’ve found it to be very reliable.

But does Travel Pony really save you any money?

I signed in and tested their search results. Turns out they ponied up (couldn’t resist that, sorry), and were often a fair bit cheaper than the big name travel booking sites they compared against.

Throwdown Number 1: Vancouver

The Westin Bayshore

Right on the water, this hotel gets stellar user reviews. It’s walking distance to Robson Street and Stanley Park, has indoor and outdoor pools and rooms include wireless Internet access.

The Winner: TravelPony, with a rate of $158. The cheapest competitor was: $207.

Throwdown Number 2: New York City

Fairfield Inn by Marriott Long Island City 

A hotel just minutes from Manhattan with a complementary shuttle to the subway? Heck, yes. The rate includes a free continental breakfast, free high speed internet and an outdoor patio.

The Winner: TravelPony, with a rate of $122. The cheapest competitor: $174.

Throwdown Number 3: Las Vegas

Westin Las Vegas Hotel Casino

The Westin is an  upscale hotel with its own casino, spa, Starbucks (vente skinny moccachino, here I come) and its own restaurant.

The Winner: TravelPony, with a rate of $129. The cheapest competitor: $198.

Once we got our rates, we verified the prices TravelPony listed for their competitors and every one we checked seemed accurate.

TravelPony’s new, so there are a few things to note.

Right now, it seems they’re focusing on larger markets, so you may not be able to find every city or town in their search. To give you an example, our search for Vancouver pulled up only five results, but in every case, TravelPony’s prices were significantly lower than the listed competition.

We also noted that they tend to deal more with the higher end hotels so getting a cut rate deal on a low end hotel isn’t their forte. Of course, when you can stay at a 5 star hotel for the price of a 2 star you won’t find us complaining.

Finally, we didn’t scour the net to see if we could find any cheaper prices at other sites not listed in their price comparison however since they usually include most major players you can be sure that even if you’re not getting the absolute lowest price, you’re probably still getting a good deal.

To start trying Travel Pony, just sign in with your email or Facebook.

Give it a try, you might just find a great deal and if you click Travel Pony, you can get $35 off your first booking!

IMPORTANT 2017 UPDATE: If you have TravelPony credits (like we do), as of now, you can’t use them on the site or on the app at all.

Want more? Some other helpful posts on how to save money on travel:

• Six Quick Steps to Nailing the Cheapest Flight
• How To Find The Cheapest Flights To Anywhere