What website do you use to book travel?

[Nemo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by davebarnes AirBnB for lodging. I am a fan. Want a washer in my unit. Local rail authority in country. We travel by train and don’t rent cars.

Saves me posting.....(except that we look at Google Flights, Fare Boom, Flight Hub, Expedia, etc, for flights........oh, and VTG for repositioning ships to get to or from...)

[sengsational]

The heavily advertised "trivago" hasn't shown up here, lol! I tried it once, and it seemed to have just high priced rooms (no budget stuff).

"ebates" came up a few times. How does that work?

I've used "opaque" booking on Priceline (express deals), but Priceline screwed me on price match of a bid style booking, so I'm done with them forever. Nice to know Hotwire has an opaque option... might try that.

As to the price match guarantees, has anyone really made that work? First of all, once I get the room, I quit looking. Then, if you check the details, the match only is valid for the first 24 hours after booking. I now presume all price match guarantees are fiction or too much trouble to bother with.

[audreyh1]

I almost always go direct.

I search for flights with Google Flights. They send you to the airline to book directly.

Rental cars I usually go through Costco.

[goingtotravel]

We fly mostly using points and use a paid tool to help find our seats and then we book directly on the airlines website. For example, we have a lot of American Airline points but they won't show Cathay Pacific availability on line so we can use the tool to search for seats then call AA to book the flight. Saves a ton of time trying to figure out availability.

[Red Badger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobbieB I book direct with everything I book.

+1. I also leverage my Marriott/Chase co-branded credit card for hotels and CSR for planes, cars, meals.If one travels a good bit, the CSR card has some great perks over and above the points.

[nphx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 I almost always go direct. I search for flights with Google Flights. They send you to the airline to book directly. Rental cars I usually go through Costco.

Ditto except i book rental cars on southwest airlines site - even at airports they do not fly to. Often the discount and re-book simplicity (if price goes down) make it nice.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nphx Ditto except i book rental cars on southwest airlines site - even at airports they do not fly to. Often the discount and re-book simplicity (if price goes down) make it nice.

Costco gives me a discount, covers second driver free, and I track the price and rebook when it drops all the time.

[brett]

Too many to list. We always try to book direct except for cruises where booking direct typically costs more.

We often book on in country sites rather than the likes of expedia etc. We sometimes find that there are price discrepancies between in country sites and North American sites. We have done this for air, cruises, hotels, packages, etc. We have booked vacations in Greece with a UK travel agent, South African safari and tours via skype and email directly with a South African tour company. Savings can be substantial over what some North American sites or TA's charge. Booking direct with the Aerolineas call center in Buenos Aires (they speak English) saved us 30 percent on our in country fares.

For car rentals it is usually autoreurope, costco, or my former employers retiree corporate rate (best for short rentals in during holiday periods).

We have used Priceline hotel bidding, Hotwire, and Late Rooms for hotels with great success. We have had some very attractive hotel rates by booking on the Marriott, Accor, and Hilton sites. Best offers are typically 2-3 nights in a 4 or 5 star, paid in advance, breakfast inciuded, non refundable. Also had very good rates doing this with 3 star Accor Ibis reservations. It is not unusual for us to shop on Booking.com and then contact the hotel, etc. directly. Often the price is the same but the terms or the room is better, or breakfast is included.

For air we often check pricing/routing on matrixit. After that you need to shop around because we have found that the fare codes/prices/itineraries may not be available on all sites at the prices listed on matrixit. On one trip we tried direct with the airline and several other sites with no success. Finally, after numerous tries we found it on Oribitz...same routes, same price, same price code. The airline did have it, but their price was 50 percent more. Fare codes, routes, and date was identical.

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Google Flights is amazing if you're trying to find the best airfare. I love the graph and the dates grid. It shows you that sometimes you can save (or waste) hundreds of dollars by leaving or returning one day earlier or later!

Sometimes I book hotels through Booking.com or Tripadvisor, but I always check the hotel website first to see if there's a difference. I've heard too many horror stories about people booking through the other aggregators (mostly Orbitz & Priceline) and then when they travel, the hotel or airline has no record of any reservation or ticket.

[kcowan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sengsational The heavily advertised "trivago" hasn't shown up here, lol! I tried it once, and it seemed to have just high priced rooms (no budget stuff).

Yes I wondered how trivago can justify all their advertising when I discover no one using them.

[Cobra9777]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcowan Yes I wondered how trivago can justify all their advertising when I discover no one using them.

I used them once last year to book a last minute hotel deal in Kansas City for the solar eclipse. They were the only site showing availability at a hotel in the area we wanted to stay. I don't remember all the details but it was very sketchy. It was booked through some other website based in Switzerland (Anoma.com ?). I got no confirmation or invoice, just a poorly-worded email (machine translated I think) with a goofy-looking prepaid voucher and a foreign phone number to call if any questions. I called the hotel in Kansas City and they had no record of the reservation but said it might take 24 hours. I called back the next day and all was good. I remember thinking to myself how unprofessional the whole thing was given the seemingly legitimate advertising. Don't think I'll use them again.