Where to find the best travel deals
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Illustration by Bob Eckstein
Are you sure you got the best deals you could on your vacation buys this summer? With so many online booking sites, you can never really be sure you’ve nailed the lowest price on plane tickets, hotel rooms, and rental cars. Travel sites are constantly changing, and new ones are always popping up. Next time, try our game plan. Use at least one site from each of the first two sections below. If you’re hungry for more, keep going. And remember: No site always has the best prices or the widest selection, so it pays to shop around.
Try at least one of these:
www.orbitz.com, www.expedia.com, and www.travelocity.com
Why:
- With loads of listings to scan, they’re a great place to start comparison shopping. Orbitz, for example, has more than 455
airlines and 12 car-rental firms in its database.
- They’re a good place to hunt for money-saving packages, which include airfares, hotels rooms, and sometimes cars.
- They’re loaded with last-minute deals.
- You’ll probably pay a fee. For instance, Expedia charges $5 per airline ticket issued.
- You won’t see listings for discount airlines like JetBlue and Southwest.
- If you run into a problem while you’re traveling, you might not deal directly with the airline or the hotel--you might have to call the site’s customer-service number.
And check out one of these:
www.kayak.com, www.mobissimo.com, and www.sidestep.com
Why:
- These travel search engines are a good place to get rates offered by discount carriers and other travel companies you won’t
find on Orbitz, Expedia, or Travelocity.
- You’ll often end up booking directly with the airline or hotel. That can make it easier to deal with snafus during a trip, because you call the airline or hotel directly rather than a Web site customer-service line.
- These sites are clunky because you’re taken to a provider’s site to book. And the graphics aren’t as great as at other sites.
- Only SideStep lets you search packages.
If you like a particular airline, hotel or car rental brand, also try:
The provider’s site (www.united.com, www.marriott.com, and the like)
Why:
- Service fees are usually not charged.
- You can rack up frequent-flyer and loyalty-program points.
- You’ll have a direct relationship with the travel provider, which can be useful if you run into a glitch on the road.
- You’ll find specials and packages available only to those who book on the site.
- Guaranteed low pricing on some Web sites such as Marriott US. If you find a better price within 24 hours of booking, they promise to honor it.
- You might miss the steepest discounts if you don’t click around to other sites.
- You can’t compare prices with other travel providers on the same Web page.
If you don’t care about brand, try:
www.hotwire.com and www.priceline.com
Why:
- These sites are known for their opaque offerings, meaning that you won’t know the exact hotel or airline you’ve booked until after you pay. That can result in a steep discount, especially with hotels, because these sites can offer rock-bottom rates without revealing how low hotels will go to fill empty rooms.
- You could end up at a hotel you dislike or that’s on the outskirts of town.
- Refunds or flight changes are typically not allowed.
- You won’t be able to collect frequent-flyer miles or other loyalty points.
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LOVE A GREAT BARGAIN? KEEP LOOKING… |
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