I love taking my family on vacation, but as a larger group with five children and two adults, booking trips is always the hardest part.
It sometimes seems impossible to find spacious enough accommodations for all of us.
Through enough travel experience, I’ve found some sites that have become my go-tos.
Ahead, I’ll share my secrets and insights on what makes each of these sites such an exceptional choice for group vacations, including pros and cons so you can schedule your next family getaway!
1. Booking.com
One of my go-to sites for planning my next big family adventure is Booking.com. You can add as many adults and children as needed, and the site even asks the ages of your kids to find an appropriate booking option for the whole family.
The site is available in more than 40 languages and has over two million listings. They’re not all hotels, either! You can stay at a luxury family apartment in Poland, a villa in Croatia, an igloo in Finland, or a small home in New York.
Booking.com’s best family features
One of the top reasons for families to schedule trips through Booking.com is its fair prices. Whatever deals and discounts you can get while traveling with a large group are always welcome, as you can spend less on booking and use that money toward building a memorable vacation.
Booking.com is also an all-in-one site for your next trip. You can schedule a car rental, airport taxi, flight, hotel (or combine the two), and seek out attractions.
Customers who use Booking.com often leave detailed reviews that make it easier for families and large groups to find a great place to stay. For example, you can learn firsthand whether hotels have facilities for young children, such as rollaway beds or cribs.
To top it all off, you can also rely on Booking.com for gauging the distance between your airport or hotel and local attractions.
Pros of using Booking.com
- Verified reviews will instill confidence in your booking decision
- All-in-one so you can schedule your entire vacation through one site
- Offers more than hotels, but homes, hostels, resorts, and other unique accommodations
- Great price guarantee families will love
- Always updates with special offers, deals, and promotions
Cons of using Booking.com
- Some of the reviews can be fake
- You don’t get loyalty points if you book a hotel
2. Expedia
Expedia is one of the oldest names in the booking business, founded in 1996. It’s a trustworthy resource for planning your next family vacay, especially if you’re venturing out with a bigger group.
As was the case with Booking.com, Expedia offers more than stays. You can book a flight, plan a cruise, rent a car, and find activities. The site has packages for combining services and saving some money, which I love!
The variety of properties Expedia offers means you can find spacious accommodations no matter your budget. Your options are guest houses, hotels, villas, houses, bed and breakfasts, condos, apartments, and apart-hotels.
Expedia’s best family features
Can you say rewards program? If it didn’t sit quite right with you how Booking.com doesn’t offer a hotel rewards program, you’ll love that Expedia does.
You don’t have to pay a cent to join. Once you’re a member, you can begin earning rewards anytime you stay at a hotel.
You can add as many adults and children to your hotel and booking searches as needed, and Expedia will ask the ages of your children to produce age-appropriate results.
You can also filter reviews by traveler type, such as groups, families, and families with small children. Now you can glean the insights you need to decide whether to proceed with a hotel or airline.
Pros of using Expedia
- An all-in-one booking site that’s very family-friendly
- You can use split rates
- Offers a hotel reward program
- The extended price guarantees are great
Cons of using Expedia
- No flight miles rewards program
3. Hotels.com
One of the most trusted travel sites, Hotels.com has more than enough listings to make your vacation dreams come true. Select from more than 20,000 vacation destinations and 300,000 hotel listings. Wherever you want to stay, you can find it here!
Hotels.com accommodates groups, provides meeting services, and offers car and vacation rentals. It’s easy to start your search, and the site will ask for the ages of your children to produce family-friendly options.
Stay at motels, villas, cottages, apartments, and all types of unique lodgings that will make your vacation experience unforgettable.
Hotels.com’s best family features
Hotel.com Rewards provide one reward night for every 10 nights at a hotel. If you become a free Member, you gain access to more savings (usually 15 percent off), and unlock VIP access if you upgrade to a Silver membership.
The flexible bookings allow you to cancel for free (for most hotels) if you change your vacation plans.
You can also narrow down search results for family-friendly hotels and rentals based on ratings, reviews, and searchable features. The ratings even come from real families like you.
Pros of using Hotels.com
- Has an app for Android and iOS users
- Offers membership for saving money on stays
- Has a rewards program
- Features competitive pricing
Cons of using Hotels.com
- The reward points aren’t free unless you use the mobile app
4. Kayak
The next hotel booking site for families and groups I recommend is Kayak. It’s easy to get the best deals on this site, as Kayak compares hundreds of travel sites and pulls the best price so you can book a cost-effective getaway.
Kayak will hook you up with everything you need to get your vacation in motion, from rental cars to hotels, flights, buses, trains, and more. I also think it’s really cool how Kayak will recommend the best time to travel based on where you want to go and for how long.
If you’ve ever taken a vacation just overrun with tourists, you know how annoying it can be. You don’t get to as many items on your itinerary, leaving you longing for your next trip already. Thanks to Kayak’s handy tool, you shouldn’t have those kinds of troubles.
Kayak also lets you search for travel accommodations by age so you can find lodging for your group.
Kayak’s best family features
Kayak’s search features allow you to customize your search down to the letter. You can search by early arrivals, free Wi-Fi, or family-friendly criteria.
You can track price fluctuations if you want to wait to book a stay until the prices go down. Kayak also has a travel wish list perfect for dreaming up memorable family experiences this year and several years out.
If you find a hotel you like but it’s almost booked, don’t despair. Kayak will recommend other hotels in the neighborhood so you can lock one in.
Pros of using Kayak
- Provides valuable tools for booking a vacation affordably and at the optimal time
- Has a Kayak Wishlist the whole family can contribute to
- Helps you save money on travel
- Offers a free app with mobile rates for saving
Cons of using Kayak
- Comparing options doesn’t accommodate a credit card or elite benefits
5. Orbitz
You can’t go wrong booking your next family vacation through Orbitz. You can start searching for all-inclusive resorts and vacation destinations immediately, and the site frequently updates with last-minute deals if you want to take a spur-of-the-moment trip with your loved ones.
By opting into an Orbitz membership, you can save at least 10 percent on hotels, sometimes more. You also unlock access to travel perks and Orbucks, which is money you can use on flights, hotels, and travel packages.
The site is easy to navigate, and you can filter results based on your children’s ages to ensure the hotel you book has what you need.
Orbitz’s best family features
Do you have such a large group that you need to rent out more than one room? Orbitz makes it simple to lock down several rooms in the same hotel or resort. You’ll still earn rewards, even if you book for other family members.
Orbitz can also recommend activities, with travel tips on its website and a search function that will produce tailored results depending on where you’re traveling to and when. You can review activities and pricing and even book activities through Orbitz.
Do you need to change things around, as it sometimes happens when traveling with young kids? Orbitz offers free cancelations for some activities.
Pros of using Orbitz
- You can save three percent through the website and four percent through Orbitz’s app when you book
- You can still earn loyalty rewards even when booking for others
- It’s an all-in-one resource
- The cancelations are generous and flexible
Cons of using Orbitz
- Orbucks only apply to prepaid hotel rooms, so their usage is limited
6. Priceline
Your family deserves a vacation, and Priceline can facilitate that with its discounts and deals. The site always has new deals to check out, whether traveling to popular destinations or somewhere a little more local.
If you combine a flight or car with your hotel stay, you can bundle and save even more money. Priceline lets you cancel any hotel for free so you have the ultimate travel flexibility.
Its VIP loyalty program membership through its app has three tiers: Blue, Gold, and Platinum. You can save up to 50 percent on hotels if you upgrade beyond the Blue membership.
Priceline’s search is so easy to use, and you can add as many adults or children to your search criteria as will be in your travel party. Select the child’s age from infancy through 17 years old to find the perfect hotel.
Priceline’s best family features
Priceline has a Pricebreaker deal that advertises up to three hotels. If you agree to one, you’ll get the lowest-price hotel, but you won’t know which it is until you agree. I recommend only using this feature if you like all three hotels.
Between its email member-only coupons, membership deals, and Express Deals, families and groups also have plenty of ways to save money. You can also find fun things to do to fill your travel plans, as Priceline has a separate activities page on its website.
Pros of using Priceline
- Search by unique criteria, including hotel brand, neighborhood, nearby amenities, and hotel star ranking
- You have plenty of ways to save money, including a best-price guarantee
- Bundle your travel through Priceline to save even more
- Offers a variety of accommodations, not exclusively hotels
Cons of using Priceline
- Your hotel loyalty points don’t apply when you use the site to schedule a stay
7. Travelocity
Travelocity is an Expedia site, so if you’ve had good experiences there, you should expect the same from using Travelocity to book your next vacation.
Browse stays, cruises, cars, flights, activities, and packages if you’re eager to save a buck. Add your whole brood (and set the children’s ages) when searching for hotels or inns, and you’ll get a full page of results and photos.
You can filter results by proximity to landmarks and attractions or based on whether the hotel includes breakfast, offers parking, and has a swimming pool. You can also narrow down your results by reviews and star ratings.
Travelocity’s best family features
Travelocity makes it convenient for large families and groups to book a vacation, even last-minute. You can contact a virtual agent anytime 24/7 and cancel with confidence, as most hotels have a flexible cancelation policy without a risk of late fees.
The Travelocity app will provide important flight details, from the gate number to room number and flight status. You can even access this information when offline.
Pros of using Travelocity
- Use family-centric criteria to search for the best lodging and airlines
- Low-price guarantees and other deals help you save more on your family trips
- Offers a membership with even steeper discounts
Cons of using Travelocity
- Limits your travel party to no more than six people
8. TripAdvisor
As another of the oldest travel sites on the internet (it was established in 2000), TripAdvisor remains a dependable choice for booking vacations all these decades later. Even better, it has more than a billion reviews (and counting) for restaurants, attractions, and hotels.
TripAdvisor offers the standard options to search for flights, hotels, rental cars, activities, and vacation rentals, but I like the extras. For instance, you can search for restaurants or hire a trip designer to create the ultimate family getaway.
If its plentiful reviews aren’t enough to help you make a travel decision, you can also confer with others on the travel forums to get some good advice on where to go.
TripAdvisor has a membership feature called TripAdvisor Plus that promises to save you at least $350 on your first trip. The membership costs $99 a year, but it’s worth considering if you and the kiddos travel a lot.
TripAdvisor’s best family features
TripAdvisor’s search criteria are very convenient for launching your family vacation destination search. You can break down information based on features and amenities (such as a kitchenette) or find a hotel near kid-friendly activities like water parks or theme parks.
Pros of using TripAdvisor
- The wealth of reviews makes it very easy to find the best places to stay
- You have access to more information than most travel sites offer, such as through the travel forums
- Offers a membership plan for further savings
Cons of using TripAdvisor
- No free membership options
9. Agoda
Agoda is all about helping you save money, which sounds pretty good to me! They always run accommodation promotions, and using the Agoda app saves you 10 percent on your first booking.
Add your brood to your search criteria, then begin looking for homes, hotels, and private stays. Agoda has a long stays feature if you want to plan a more extensive vacation and not worry about lodging the entire stay.
You can also book flights and schedule activities through Agoda, so it’s an all-in-one inclusive site. You can also comb through reviews from real travelers and families to find the perfect bungalow, private villa, vacation villa, or apartment for your family.
Agoda’s best family features
Here’s one of my top reasons for including Agoda on this list – free hotel stays for children. Not every hotel offers this, of course, but you’ll know which ones do through this booking site, as it lays out all the hotel policy information.
Agoda has a collection of well over 30,000 family-centric properties and counting, and with more than 300,000 reviews left by families, you can confidently choose your next vacation destination.
Instant confirmations mean you can move on to the next step of your travel planning without having to wait.
Pros of using Agoda
- The site has discounts aplenty
- You can use ride transfers to get to your hotel or activities fast
- Offers secret and insider deals
Cons of using Agoda
- The insider deals don’t always boast the best savings
10. Trivago
Tracking down the top deals on hotels is easy with Trivago. Simply input your destination and the number of guests, and Trivago will begin comparing deals. I love how you can add the number of rooms you need, as larger families and groups might decide to take several rooms.
You can compare rates for hotels, apartments, and homes from sites like Priceline, Trip.com, Vrbo, Hotels.com, Expedia, Booking.com, and more than 100 others. Trivago will comb over five million hotels in more than 190 countries, so you can be sure it’s giving you the cheapest deal.
Trivago’s best family features
Trivago makes it affordable to take more family vacations. The site does more than compare hotel prices to determine the best hotel for you and your loved ones. It also aggregates reviews and weighs them when displaying results.
You can even use an international Trivago site if you plan to travel outside of the country.
Pros of using Trivago
- It’s a great resource for finding low-cost lodging
- You can search nationally or internationally
- Lets you search by the number of rooms, number of guests, or both
- Combs through millions of reviews so you don’t have to
Cons of using Trivago
- You can’t book through Trivago
- It’s only useful for finding hotels, not other travel accommodations