How to use Top website for all travel deals and saving Part2

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.

1. 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

2. 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

http://www.yapta.com/

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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

How to use Top website for all amazing travel deals and saving (save $$$$)

Top online website to get best deals in 2013

This is my third blog on vacation. In my first two blog we learn that why we should buy travel insurance. And see some cool ideas to make your single star hotel to 5 stars. In this blog you will see the best online website to get best deals.

 

 

Why to use online travel websites?

 

Last minute deals

Online travel websites offer a lot of benefits. For example, if you've just learned that a sudden trip is necessary, you can find last minute deals for transportation and lodging. If you're interested in a special kind of travel, like a theme cruise or vacation package, you can find all the available options in minutes online. Or, suppose you want to fly to Europe for sightseeing, then to the Middle East for a camel ride across the desert, then cruise to Florida for a canoe trip in the Everglades, then take a train home.

 

Best Rate more saving

You can find the best rates for each part of your trip and plan your entire itinerary with the right online travel site. These sites offer you a world of travel which can be narrowed down to exactly what you're looking for. No more need to spend hours doing all the searching yourself or dealing with a travel agent or airline.

 

Easy to get good deals

Travel sites have been around for more than a decade, but now they are at a turning point. A new type of site has evolved; the travel search engine, or 'aggregator.' This type of site makes your already-easy travel searching even easier. Suppose you're looking for the least expensive flight across the country leaving in exactly three days. Or perhaps you want to find the most luxurious canoe trip through the Florida Everglades on Valentine's Day.

Travel search engine Benefits

Type in what you want on a travel search engine such as Smarter Travel or Kayak, and it will search through hundreds of travel-related sites such as Priceline and Travelocity to present you with all the available options. Now you don't even have to search one by one through online travel sites; the aggregators even do that for you!

What to look in travel site?

Industry experts agree that no single travel site always has the lowest prices. If you want to find the absolute best deal, start with a meta-search site that includes hundreds of other travel sites. Although meta-search sites link to booking travel sites, you might conduct the same search at these sites individually to see whether you get the same results. One shortcoming of travel sites is they often exclude regional airlines; therefore, Time magazine recommends checking the airport website to identify regional carriers that might offer more affordable flights.

Experts and users offer the following advice about using a travel booking site:

1. Sort search results by price

 Search results don't necessarily appear sorted by price. The default sort order may list preferred providers first. Check prices on additional pages and look for the option to change the sort order.

2. Contact the service provider.

To avoid unforeseen problems, you may want to contact the airline, hotel or rental car company to review policies before booking, or at least read the policies posted at the website. For example, airlines charge different fees to make a change or check baggage; hotels might require deposits and rental car companies might not accept debit cards.

3. Understand detail fees.

 Although major travel sites advertise "no fee" to book flights, it's important to read the fine print. There may be a fee for flights with multiple carriers, hotels, blind bids, international trips, package deals and in certain other situations. Note whether the prices in the search results include taxes and fees, because some sites don't reveal those charges until you begin the booking process.

 

4. Review policies and cancellation clauses.

Even if the booking site advertises "no fees to make changes or cancel a reservation," you will be required to pay fees that the service provider charges. In the case of booking non-refundable travel, it can be nearly impossible to cancel or make changes, especially on bidding travel sites.

5. Notice changes in pricing.

No price is final until the travel is booked. ConsumerReports.org says it's not uncommon for fares to jump in price, have hidden fees or become unavailable when you begin the booking process. Verify the price through every screen in the booking process, especially after entering a travel voucher.

6. Verify the email confirmation is correct.

Carefully review all the details in the email, because it may be difficult to make last-minute corrections. When purchasing a package deal, make sure you have a confirmation number for each component. If you don't receive an email confirmation, call the company to make sure the travel was booked.

7. Remove traces of previous searches.

Because pricing is dynamic, two people conducting the same search may get different results. Experts say you may need to reset browser settings or delete "cookies" to ensure that you are getting the lowest fare. You might even conduct the same search with two different browsers.

 

8. Sign up for fare alerts.

If you aren't ready to book, many travel sites allow you to sign up to receive daily or weekly fare updates via email. Experts also say airlines tend to announce sales on Tuesday, which makes it a good day to start looking for cheap flights. A few sites also offer price alerts on hotels.

Top website to use get best rate

1. 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