Feeling too pinched by the ever-troubled economy to travel? You
can still find good deals to get away -- if you know where to go
online first. Here are the best travel sites we've found to help
you bag the best bargains on airfares, lodging, car rentals and all
your other travel needs. Note: All but one of the following sites
are free to use.
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1)
Kayak.com
scours hundreds of online sources for the cheapest fare available.
The more flexible you are on time and destination, the better your
chances of finding a great deal. Search for dates up to three days
before and after your ideal travel dates, within a selected month,
or on upcoming weekends. And with the site's Explore tool, you can
scan a world map for all the places you can reach within a
specified per-ticket price range. It also lets you specify your
preferred flight time, vacation activities (beach, gamble, golf or
ski?) and weather (from freezing to "ouch").
2)
Bing
Travel
can help you bite the bullet and buy your ticket, or not, with its
"price predictor," which forecasts whether fares will go up or
down. Enter your desired itinerary and the site will return a list
of flight options, along with a recommendation to either buy now or
wait for a fare drop. But the tool is not omniscient. Predictions
appear with confidence rates are are limited to certain cities,
round-trip, coach flights and specific time frames depending on
your departure and arrival cities.
3)
AirfareWatchdog
works best for travelers ready to take off at the drop of a deal.
The site has actual people lurking on airline Web sites in
anticipation of fare sales. They sign up for rewards programs to
snag promotional codes and discount offers that can be passed on to
AirfareWatchdog users.
Bonus: The site includes fares from Southwest, Allegiant and
other small airlines that may not appear on bigger search sites
such as Kayak and Bing.
4)
WhichBudget.com
will help you build an inexpensive, overseas flight plan by using
local, budget airlines -- a great way to save on international
travel. Select your overseas starting point, end point or both, and
the site will list airlines you've probably never heard of that
service each route. For example, if you search for flights from
Bangkok to Beijing, you'll get options from AirAsia, China Eastern
and Hainan Airlines.
5)
Yapta.com
tracks fares for you and will shoot you an e-mail or Tweet if the
cost of your selected flight drops. After you buy your ticket, if
the price falls below what you paid, most airlines and online
travel agencies will refund you the difference, usually in the form
of travel credits or vouchers. If the change in price dips below
the cost of any "re-booking fees" some airlines charge in these
situations, Yapta will walk you through how to collect your refund.
Note: Yapta does not currently track Southwest flights.
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6)
Hotels.com
lets you search just one site for accommodations at more than
150,000 properties. You can find particularly good last-minute
deals, which are updated daily. But even advance-travel planners
can score big bargains with the site's seasonal sales,
destination-specific deals and other special offers.
Frequent travelers will appreciate the simplicity of the site's
Welcome Rewards program -- for every ten nights you spend at any
combination of the program's 53,000 member properties, you'll earn
a free night's stay worth up to the average daily rate of your ten
nights.
SEE OUR QUIZ:
How Far Can You Stretch Your Travel Dollar?
7)
Priceline.com
offers standard online travel agent services. But its Shatner-faced
Negotiator is uniquely suited to help you haggle for the best
bargains on hotels. Select a minimum star class, your dates of stay
and preferred neighborhood, and then name your price. You can save
up to 60% off published rates, and bids less than $100 a night on
luxury lodgings often win -- particularly for last-minute
bookings.
But here's the catch: Priceline doesn't tell you which hotel
you're booking until after you pay, so you won't be sure exactly
where you'll end up. Blind booking like this can be particularly
risky when you're visiting an unfamiliar area, especially overseas.
Note: The site also allows you to Name Your Own Price for flights
and car rentals.
8)
TripAdvisor
is the most popular hotel-review site, offering millions of
professional and amateur reviews of hotels in the U.S. and
overseas. Search for your destination, and the site will return a
detailed list of hotels, bed and breakfasts, vacation rentals and
other lodging options. You can filter the results to find which
hotels are best for value, families, business, romance or
luxury.
Watch out for possibly fake reviews from cronies trying to push
up their own hotel's ratings or flame their competitors (the site
flags some suspicious postings). Ignore reviews on either extreme
and focus on those with midrange ratings -- they're more likely to
be the most helpful. TripAdvisor doesn't sell rooms or offer any
actual deals, but it links you to partner sites, such as Expedia,
Travelocity and Hotels.com. Click on the "check rates" button and
select the site or sites you'd like to try -- a new window with
results will open for each partner.
9)
To find a smaller inn or B&B, try searching
BedandBreakfast.com
. It lists extensive details on even the tiniest inns and, after
you provide your e-mail address, sends you promotional codes and
"hot deals" in your desired location. You can also search for
specific amenities, such as a hot tub and fireplace, or find out
whether a place is pet-friendly.
10)
Vacation rentals are an especially good value for groups because
they generally offer more space and amenities for prices similar to
or less than hotel rates.
HomeAway.com
offers the biggest selection of rental lodgings, with more than
325,000 listings worldwide.
11)
If you're traveling alone, or with a buddy or two, you can score a
great deal staying at a hostel -- without necessarily having to
join the backpacker and bunk-bed lifestyle you might associate with
this budget-lodging option. Many hostels offer more private,
hotel-like accommodations these days.
Hostelz.com
offers nearly 50,000 listings in more than 9,300 cities, and
includes reviews from professional and real travelers.
12)
For a free place to stay, trade places with other travelers using a
house-swapping program.
HomeExchange.com
provides the largest network of home swappers, with more than
41,000 listings -- 30% in the U.S. and most of the rest spread
throughout the major tourist areas of Australia, Britain, Canada,
France and Italy. An annual membership costs $119 and gets you as
many swaps as you can manage in a year.
13)
JetSetter.com
is our favorite private-sale site for luxury-hotel deals. In
general, these kinds of sites offer invited members exclusive
access to deep discounts for a limited time, and they work best if
you're flexible about where you want to travel. JetSetter can have
15 to 30 of these "flash sales" available at once � more
than similar sites, which usually offer just a handful at a time --
and can save you up to 50% off published rates. The sales typically
last seven to ten days, or until they sell out. And here's your
invite to join, from friends at Kiplinger.com:
http://www.jetsetter.com/register/promo/kiplingers
.
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14)
At
CruiseCompete.com
, more than 300 travel agents vie to give you the lowest prices for
dates, ports and ships you specify, whether you're booking well in
advance or at the eleventh hour. You provide an e-mail address and
they send you their best offers. Plus, the site has live agents
available to guide you through the process through a live chat or
by phone.
SEE OUR QUIZ:
How Far Can You Stretch Your Travel Dollar?
15)
DealBase.com
has collected more than 90,000 hotel and flight deals worldwide
that are easily searchable. But what this site is best for is its
"Deal Analyzer." Hotels often create promotional offers that
include, for example, continental breakfasts or some other add-ons
along with the room. DealBase.com will dissect these packages and
let you know whether or not they're good values by telling you how
much you'd really save. If you find that an offer is in fact a good
value, click the "Get This Deal" button, and DealBase will redirect
you to the site where you can purchase it.
16)
Hotwire.com
often offers the best published deals on cars by collecting rates
from its eight rental car company partners, including Avis, Budget
and Enterprise.
The site also offers "hot rates" from rental companies that
won't be identified until after you've paid. With rental cars, the
risk in taking the blind-booking approach is minimal: A minivan is
a minivan, no matter which company provides it. (You can also head
back to Priceline.com to try bidding for a better bargain on your
rental car.)
17)
Hotwire does offer some good prepaid rental car deals in certain
international cities, but such bargains are
AutoEurope.com
's specialty. Auto Europe offers rentals at more than 8,000
locations worldwide. And if you have any problems with the
rental-car provider you're hooked up with, Auto Europe will help
you resolve them.
18)
Currency conversion.
Check
XE.com
for reliable, mid-market exchange rates. Along with an easy-to-read
grid of conversion rates on the homepage and a host of other tools,
this site offers calculators for travel expenses, credit-card
charges and, obviously, currency conversions.
19)
Eurail.
Trains are often the fastest and cheapest way to travel within and
between European countries. Our favorite American Web site for
checking timetables and booking tickets on European train lines is
RailEurope.com
. But you might be able to catch better deals directly from
European railways' sites, if you don't get lost in translation.
20)
Flight information.
AvoidDelays.com
, created by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
(NATCA), can help you plan a smooth trip by advising you on the
best time of day to fly from a specific airport and which terminals
to avoid for connecting flights. You can also view live updates of
flight delays, and sign up for free e-mail and phone alerts via
FlightStats.
21)
Frequent-flier miles.
At
WebFlyer.com
, you can see how your miles convert between programs, learn about
changes to your frequent-flier program and discover how to maximize
the value of your mileage awards when you redeem them for
merchandise or services.
22)
Seating.
At some airlines, better seats come at a price.
SeatGuru.com
flags the seats that cost an extra fee, as well as those that have
the most (or least) legroom and recline.
23)
Travel insurance.
You never know when an emergency situation will spoil your travel
plans. Buying travel insurance from agencies and travel providers,
such as cruise lines, is usually a crummy deal because of price
markups and restrictions on filing claims. At
InsureMyTrip.com
, you can compare plans and prices from multiple insurance
providers with just one search and narrow your search results by
specifying the kind of coverage you need.
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