import type { Metadata } from 'next'
import InternalPageTemplate from '@/components/InternalPageTemplate'
import BreadcrumbJsonLd from '@/components/BreadcrumbJsonLd'
import Link from 'next/link'
import { getTranslations } from 'next-intl/server'
import { buildAlternates } from '@/lib/seo'

export async function generateMetadata({
  params,
}: {
  params: Promise<{ locale: string }>
}): Promise<Metadata> {
  const { locale } = await params
  const t = await getTranslations('seo')
  const { canonical, languages } = buildAlternates(locale, '/guides/best-hotel-price-comparison-tool')
  return {
    title: t('guideBestTool'),
    description:
      "A guide to hotel price comparison tools in 2025: what they check, what they miss, and why geo-pricing comparison is the most powerful feature to look for.",
    openGraph: {
      title: 'The Best Hotel Price Comparison Tool: What to Look For',
      description:
        "Most hotel price comparison tools check platforms. Few check countries. Here's why that matters and what to look for in a comparison tool.",
      type: 'article',
    },
    alternates: { canonical, languages },
  }
}

const articleSchema = {
  '@context': 'https://schema.org',
  '@type': 'Article',
  headline: 'The Best Hotel Price Comparison Tool: What to Look For in 2025',
  description:
    "A guide to hotel price comparison tools in 2025: what they check, what they miss, and why geo-pricing comparison is the most powerful feature to look for.",
  author: { '@type': 'Organization', name: 'CahooTravel' },
  publisher: {
    '@type': 'Organization',
    name: 'CahooTravel',
    logo: { '@type': 'ImageObject', url: 'https://www.cahootravel.com/cahootravel-logo.svg' },
  },
  datePublished: '2025-01-20',
  dateModified: '2025-01-20',
  mainEntityOfPage: 'https://www.cahootravel.com/guides/best-hotel-price-comparison-tool',
}

export default function BestHotelPriceComparisonTool() {
  return (
    <InternalPageTemplate>
      <script
        type="application/ld+json"
        dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: JSON.stringify(articleSchema) }}
      />

      <article className="max-w-3xl">
        {/* Header */}
        <div className="mb-10">
          <div className="flex items-center gap-3 mb-4">
            <span className="text-xs font-medium text-brand-purple bg-brand-purple-light px-2.5 py-1 rounded-full">
              Tools &amp; Strategy
            </span>
            <span className="text-xs text-gray-400">6 min read</span>
          </div>
          <h1 className="text-4xl font-bold text-gray-900 mb-4 leading-tight">
            The Best Hotel Price Comparison Tool: What to Look For in 2025
          </h1>
          <p className="text-gray-500 text-lg leading-relaxed">
            There are dozens of hotel price comparison tools, from Trivago and Google Hotels to
            Kayak and HotelsCombined. Most do the same thing: compare prices across booking
            platforms. What almost none of them do is compare prices across countries — and that is
            where the biggest savings actually live.
          </p>
        </div>

        {/* Featured image */}
        <div className="mb-10 rounded-2xl overflow-hidden aspect-[16/7]">
          <img
            src="/guides/best-hotel-price-comparison-tool.jpg"
            alt="Laptop showing hotel price comparison results"
            className="w-full h-full object-cover"
          />
        </div>

        <div className="prose prose-gray max-w-none text-sm leading-relaxed space-y-8">

          <section>
            <h2 className="text-2xl font-bold text-gray-900 mb-3">The two types of hotel price comparison</h2>
            <p className="text-gray-600">
              Before evaluating any tool, it helps to understand that hotel price comparison can
              mean two entirely different things:
            </p>
            <ul className="list-disc pl-5 space-y-2 text-gray-600 mt-3">
              <li>
                <strong>Platform comparison</strong> — comparing the price for a hotel across
                different booking sites (Booking.com vs Expedia vs Agoda vs the hotel&apos;s own
                site). This is what Trivago, Kayak, and Google Hotels do.
              </li>
              <li>
                <strong>Geo-pricing comparison</strong> — comparing how the same hotel URL is priced
                across different countries on the same platform. This is what CahooTravel does, and
                it is almost entirely absent from mainstream comparison tools.
              </li>
            </ul>
            <p className="text-gray-600 mt-3">
              Platform comparison typically reveals savings of 5–15%. Geo-pricing comparison
              typically reveals savings of 15–40%. Both are worth checking — but the geo-pricing
              gap is the larger and more commonly overlooked opportunity.
            </p>
          </section>

          <section>
            <h2 className="text-2xl font-bold text-gray-900 mb-3">The main platform comparison tools</h2>

            <h3 className="text-lg font-semibold text-gray-800 mb-2 mt-5">Trivago</h3>
            <p className="text-gray-600">
              One of the largest hotel metasearch engines. Aggregates prices from 400+ booking
              sites. Good for getting a broad view of what a hotel costs across platforms. Does not
              compare prices by country.
            </p>

            <h3 className="text-lg font-semibold text-gray-800 mb-2 mt-5">Google Hotels</h3>
            <p className="text-gray-600">
              Integrated into Google Search. Shows prices from OTAs and direct booking links in a
              clean interface. Increasingly accurate for date-specific queries. Does not compare
              prices by country.
            </p>

            <h3 className="text-lg font-semibold text-gray-800 mb-2 mt-5">Kayak</h3>
            <p className="text-gray-600">
              Strong for flight + hotel bundles. Hotel comparison is solid for US and European
              markets. Price alerts are useful for flexible travellers. Does not compare prices by
              country.
            </p>

            <h3 className="text-lg font-semibold text-gray-800 mb-2 mt-5">HotelsCombined</h3>
            <p className="text-gray-600">
              Specialist hotel metasearch owned by Kayak. Good coverage of smaller OTAs often missed
              by Trivago. Does not compare prices by country.
            </p>
          </section>

          <section>
            <h2 className="text-2xl font-bold text-gray-900 mb-3">
              What these tools miss: geo-pricing gaps
            </h2>
            <p className="text-gray-600">
              Every tool above compares prices from a single geographic perspective — the country
              the user is searching from. The price Trivago shows a German user is not the same as
              the price it would show a Thai user, because the underlying OTAs are showing different
              prices based on location.
            </p>
            <p className="text-gray-600 mt-3">
              This creates a blind spot. A German traveller using Trivago might see the best
              available German-market price across 10 platforms — but may still be paying 30% more
              than someone booking the exact same room from Bangkok.
            </p>
          </section>

          <section>
            <h2 className="text-2xl font-bold text-gray-900 mb-3">
              What to look for in a hotel price comparison tool
            </h2>
            <ul className="list-disc pl-5 space-y-3 text-gray-600">
              <li>
                <strong>Geo-pricing comparison across countries</strong> — the single most powerful
                feature. Does the tool show you how much the same room costs from different
                countries, not just different platforms?
              </li>
              <li>
                <strong>Direct booking links</strong> — the tool should link you directly to the
                booking page at the cheaper price, not insert itself as an intermediary.
              </li>
              <li>
                <strong>URL-based search</strong> — the ability to paste a specific hotel URL (not
                just search by name) ensures you are comparing exactly the same room, not similar
                properties.
              </li>
              <li>
                <strong>Multiple platforms checked</strong> — the comparison should span
                Booking.com, Airbnb, Expedia, Agoda, and others — not just one or two.
              </li>
              <li>
                <strong>No hidden fees</strong> — some tools display a low price but add service
                fees at checkout that erase the saving. The comparison price should be the
                all-in price.
              </li>
            </ul>
          </section>

          <section>
            <h2 className="text-2xl font-bold text-gray-900 mb-3">
              How CahooTravel approaches hotel price comparison
            </h2>
            <p className="text-gray-600">
              CahooTravel is built specifically to solve the geo-pricing gap problem. You paste any
              hotel URL from Booking.com, Airbnb, Expedia, or 20+ other platforms, and CahooTravel
              checks how that URL is priced in 100+ countries using real browser sessions — not VPN
              IPs — from actual country-based infrastructure.
            </p>
            <p className="text-gray-600 mt-3">
              The result: a ranked list of prices from cheapest to most expensive, country by
              country. You see the full gap, click through to the cheapest available rate, and book
              directly on the platform. No intermediary. No added fees. No account required for the
              first search.
            </p>
          </section>

          {/* CTA */}
          <div className="rounded-2xl bg-brand-purple text-white p-8 flex flex-col md:flex-row items-center justify-between gap-6 mt-4">
            <div>
              <h3 className="text-lg font-bold mb-1">Try the geo-pricing comparison</h3>
              <p className="text-purple-200 text-sm">
                Paste any hotel URL and see the price comparison across 100+ countries. The most
                powerful hotel price check available — free.
              </p>
            </div>
            <Link
              href="/"
              className="flex-shrink-0 bg-brand-yellow hover:bg-brand-yellow-dark text-gray-900 font-medium text-sm px-6 py-2.5 rounded-md transition-colors whitespace-nowrap"
            >
              Compare now →
            </Link>
          </div>
        </div>
      </article>

      <BreadcrumbJsonLd
        items={[
          { name: 'Guides', path: '/guides' },
          { name: 'Best Hotel Price Comparison Tool' },
        ]}
      />
    </InternalPageTemplate>
  )
}