I read today that the competition & Marketing people are hopefully cracking down on the misleading tactics of sites such as Expedia, Trivago etc...
I'm heartily sick of their pressure techniques, stating things like 1000 people have booked this hotel in the last minute , or 187 people are looking at this room or only one room left at this price.. All designed to make people 'panic' into making a quick choice.
Now, I always make my own bookings and find these sites useful, but they really need to clean up their acts. I also find that having done my research (I like Trivago), I can sometimes get as good or better deal by booking direct with the hotel.
This was generally true with airlines too, and now I always book my flights directly.