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I am going to an overseas conference this year. The conference organizer provided two hotels that we can book from. But after a round of Internet search, I found generally better prices at other hotels that are closer to the conference venue.
Obviously, I do not want to book so far away from everyone else that I cannot join any activities.
What are other pros and cons of booking a hotel through the conference or on your own that I may have missed?
When I attend conferences, I rarely use the "official" hotels. Frequently there are better, closer, and less expensive alternatives nearby that are perfectly fine.
The only reason to book at the conference-approved hotels is if your travel funding requires it as a condition for reimbursement. Otherwise, save some money and book elsewhere so long as it's within walking distance.
Sometimes it's worth booking one of the conference-suggested hotels because the conference itself is in the hotel and you won't have to traipse around the city to get to conference events. This doesn't appear to be relevant to you. When this happens, it's likely that the conference has signed a contract with the hotel to fill a certain number of rooms at a certain rate, and if they don't, then the conference is liable to make up the difference to the hotel. If you like the conference or its parent organization, you can be a good friend to them by booking in the conference hotel. This saves future costs for everyone, since next year's conference rate may be increased to help cover these losses or anticipated future losses. I doubt this is applicable to you either, so you're almost certainly better off booking one of the closer, cheaper hotels.
Sometimes you can find one of the "official" hotels for a better price booking direct. This will give you some of the benefits of staying there but note that if they're laying on transport from the hotel, you may not be counted and there may not be room for you. When I've booked a recommended hotel direct, it's always been within walking distance.
As you specifically mentioned that the conference is not being held in the recommended hotel:
Typically, conference organizers will ensure that there's transportation to the conference from the conference hotel, especially if the hotel is some distance from the conference. Typically, this is handled via buses, although I did have one situation where they hadn't secured enough buses for the number of attendees, so some attendees has to wait quite some time at the end of the day for the buses to drop off passengers and return. (about an extra hour, as the hotel was a 15-20 minute drive away).
This can in part make up for the expenses, but this can cause its own problems -- if you decide to sleep in and take a leisurely breakfast, rather than attend the 'opening ceremony' ** , and you suddenly find that the '15-20' minute estimate to the conference is driving time, not walking. So you're then rather stuck with the conference's schedule until you can figure out the public transit system, or can find a taxi driver who speaks your language. ***
** As it took almost 4 hrs from the time to plane landed to get to the airport the night before (long lines in customs, and you were in the one where the police inserted people to the front if they had detained them, then waiting for the shuttle that the conference had organized to fill up (as you had missed the expected time slot, so were waiting for the next batch of people), and then the 90 mins to the hotel) ... and you're now ~8hrs earlier than where you had started the day before.
*** Because even after the hotel explains to the taxi driver where you're trying to go, they might not actually have a good idea where they're going to, and then you're stuck trying to show him conference materials you have with you that are in English ... which does no good in a Cyrillic language country.
Another advantage is that conference planners will try to select a hotel that has accommodations for people speaking the language of the conference, or they'll assign some translators to the hotel to help. So if you don't speak the local language, and it's a country that's not well known for having a lot of speakers of your language, the conference hotel might be less problematic.
And as you suggested, there's the social issues in being nearby (can stumble a short way back to your hotel), but there's another reasons -- it's only come up once (and not foreign travel), but I was at a conference when the whole city was shut down. (it was Baltimore, and a hurricane ... I think Sandy). A few of the attendees were staying at alternate hotels that weren't within a couple of blocks walk, and as the public transit & taxis had shut down, they had no way to get to their hotels.
Personally, I rarely book the conference hotels (because they're rarely within the allowed per-diem, and I hate filing the extra paperwork for going over) ... but for international travel, if it's in a place that I don't speak the language, I make the exception. Although I will recommend that you get a taxi ride in Kiev at rush hour if you're ever there ... it was like lane markings were just suggestions for inferior drivers.
Pro:
Cons:
I usually depend by hotel choice on various considerations:
One thing to note is that when booking a hotel through a portal provided by a event, then the event is often getting a "kickback" in the form of some free (comp'd) rooms for every room purchased thought the portal.
E.g. 1 free night, per every 30 nights booked.
They will then use these to defray the room books costs of accommodating (say) the keynote speakers (if the conference is paying the accommodation of the keynote speakers.). This is arguably a good thing, it means the conference registration costs are lower (but the accommodation costs higher). Which gives some flexibility to people who can barely afford to attend.
Things get a bit more fun if the conference is also renting function space from the hotel, especially if they have been there before. Then the conference when negotiating with the hotel, can say things like "Look, last time we were here, our attendees purchases 100 rooms, 1500 buffet meals, and drank your bar dry; so how about you knock 30% off of your floor charges?" -- this can mean saving tens of thousands of dollars.
In the end, booking the indicated hotel though a provided portal, helps the conference.
You also will often (always?) get a discount by going through the conference. This is part of the negotiations, but as a rule the venue will give its worst level of discount. They know they have a captive audience, and they have little reason to discount further.
For this reason it is often cheaper to book the same hotelroom at the same time via other means. Eg if the hotel does a flash sale (because they have too many vacant rooms), or through a third party that can negotiate rooms on other grounds, eg a travel agent, or a bulk room reseller.
Conferences in theory don't like it when you do this, as then it doesn't get added to their count for things like getting room's comp'd.
But some conferences might not care (eg if they are not actually wanting comp'd rooms), eg the one I am at right now, suggested not booking through their portal; and even gave links to other places where the rooms could be booked for cheaper.
I often do not book thru international conferences for the following reasons:
However, your conferences may differ. Some conferences book a whole building so that you have to work with them. Domestic conferences often offer discounts for hotels. So, I try both and compare.
