It seems almost a lifetime ago that your travel adventures would begin with a visit to your local travel agent, who would usually show you a brochure of available trips, their availability and the prices offered (which were fixed).

The web has opened up a whole new world of innovation to the process, whether it’s in snatching a last minute deal or clubbing together with a bunch of others to secure a lower price.

The idea of shopping around for the best deal has, therefore, become pretty well ingrained in our travel shopping habits.  Nevertheless, doing this legwork ourselves can be something of a drag, so a number of services have emerged to do it for us.

#Tweetstay for instance aim to do the bartering for great deals on our behalf.  A slightly more scalable approach is being offered by DreamCheaper, who claim they can automate the whole affair.

The German based company believe they can help us to make sense of the fluctuating prices typically offered for a hotel room.  They will watch the prices for you, and if a better deal comes online, they will cancel your existing booking and make a new one.

The process begins in a fairly standard way.  You go onto your hotels website and book your room as you would normally, but you make sure you select the ‘flexible booking’ option (if available).

You then logon to DreamCheaper and send them the details of the booking you’ve made.  They will then set in motion their ongoing price comparison process, right up until the day before you’re due to check-in.

The rationale behind the service is that hotels will typically offer a huge range of prices depending on the fluctuations of supply and demand, so it’s quite possible to snag a better deal if you’re only around to notice it.

The site claim they can save customers an average of around 15 percent per booking.  They make money by claiming back 20 percent of any money they save you, which in turn ensures they’re motivated to get the very best deal.

It’s certainly an interesting approach, and begs the question whether we will see similar services emerge in alternative fields where price fluctuations are the norm.