Top website for all travel deals and saving
This is second part of my blog post on ow to use Top website for all amazing travel deals and saving. In this part you will see some more free travel websites.
Why to use Kayak-
By a large margin, most reviewers identify Kayak.com as the best site to begin researching travel options. After entering your search parameters, Kayak.com scours service providers, booking sites like Orbitz.com and… expands international sites to come up with the best offers on flights, hotels, rental cars and cruises. Like other search-only sites, Kayak.com links you directly to the site offering the travel option you select. For flights, Kayak.com provides historical fare information to help you pick the right time to fly. Additionally, Kayak's system will send email alerts about changes in flight and hotel prices relating to your specific travel plans.
http://www.kayak.com/
Pros
•Searches for all types of travel
•Compiles results from 200-plus travel sites
•Historical airfare information
•Alerts for airfare and hotel price changes
•Apps for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry
Cons
•Not a travel booking site
•Prices may be obsolete
Yapta-
Although Yapta.com is limited to searching for flights and hotels, it earns attention for doing something no other search-only site does -- tracking flights after the tickets have been purchased. If the price drops enough… expandto cover any re-ticketing fees, Yapta.com sends out an email alert. This site uses the same flight search engine as Kayak.com, but it has a different twist on tracking airfare prior to booking. You can request an email alert if the price drops for a specific flight on a specific airline, whereas Kayak.com sends the lowest fares based on travel dates and cities
Best airfare tracking
Pros
•Same flight search as Kayak.com
•Email alerts about airfare changes
•Price tracking after booking airfare
•Airfare refunds assistance on price drops
Cons
•Not a booking service
•Search for flights and hotels only
•Mobile app for iPhone only
Why to use Hotels.com
When it comes to booking a hotel, experts say the 130.000 worldwide properties available through Hotels.com are unmatched by Orbitz.com or any other site. This site also allows users to search by landmark or address. Hotels.com offers numerous filters to narrow down these properties to the ones with the price, location and hotel rating you seek. You can also consult hundreds of guest reviews and ratings for most properties. Should you find a lower price online within 24 hours of booking, Hotels.com will refund you the difference. Hotels.com doesn't charge an additional fee to make a change or even cancel a reservation, but the property may impose fees of its own, and you are still liable for those. Although Hotels.com features other types of travel searches, experts prefer Kayak.com, which also offers email alerts about price changes and mobile apps, for those.
We found the best reviews for Hotels.com at PC World and Kiplinger.com. We also read about two dozen user reviews at Viewpoints.com. Hotels.com is the top pick for hotel reservations at PracticalHacks.com, though that evaluation is older.
Best for booking hotels
Pros
•Searches more than 130,000 properties
•Unusual search criteria
•No fees for changes or cancellations
•24-hour price match guarantee
•Guest reviews
Cons
•No price alerts
•No mobile apps
Why to use Priceline.com
If you don't mind a little uncertainty, Priceline.com can deliver significant travel savings, reports say. However, the catch is that Priceline's best deals are available through blind bidding. You won't know the full details of the flights you've booked or the hotels you've selected until the bids you've placed on them have been accepted and paid for. That said, users still have some control -- you do get to specify a hotel's rating and general neighborhood, and Priceline.com has instituted guarantees that light times, connections and layovers won't be unreasonable. Priceline.com also has a standard booking engine that works just like those at other major travel sites, such as Orbitz.com. If you don't like the idea of bidding, experts say that Kayak.com does the best job of scouring booking sites -- including the company sites of airlines and hotel chains -- to find the best deals.
Although Priceline.com is recommended in quite a few sources, the praise is strictly for the bidding aspects of the site, rather than using it to book travel at published prices. It's included in a recent list of best travel sites at Travel and Leisure magazine as well as in a slightly older list of top travel sites at Kiplinger.com. We found other favorable reviews for Priceline.com at BudgetTravel.com and TriponaDeal.com.
Best for discounted rooms
Pros
•Booking of all types of travel
•Steep discounts through blind bidding
•Apps for iPhone and Android
Cons
•No refunds or changes on blind bids
•No alerts for price changes
Why to use TripAdvisor.com
Although users can't book flights or reservations through TripAdvisor.com, it's one of the most popular sites for reviews of hotels and attractions. Experts and amateurs alike appreciate the huge archive of reviews on this travel site, and say that the accompanying photographs and ranking system come in handy when choosing which hotels and attractions to book in advance. Most also point out, however, that a critical eye is needed when evaluating certain glowing reviews, as many could be fake. TripAdvisor also includes a search engine for hotel bookings and flights that is similar to Kayak.com but falls short in terms of features and number of sites searched.
TripAdvisor.com is recommended quite often for its reviews on hotels and other travel destinations, rather than its search capabilities. TripAdvisor.com is included in two lengthy compilations of travel sites at Travel and Leisure magazine and Kiplinger.com. It's also recommended by BudgetTravel.com. We found older reviews of TripAdvisor.com at The Washington Post and PracticalHacks.com. More than 50 user reviews at Viewpoints.com round out the picture for this travel site.
Best for traveler reviews
Pros
•Millions of guest reviews available for hotels and attractions
•Includes maps, photographs and recommendations
•Allows users to search and compare rates from other travel sites
Cons
•Navigation can be challenging at times
•Quality and usefulness of reviews varies
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