Traveling the world is now easier than ever before thanks to the proliferation of Internet companies offering online travel services available to the public. Online leisure travel is one of the largest e-commerce category in the U.S and online travel planning is growing even faster overseas than it is in the U.S. Online travel agencies now control a large portion of the travel industry in the United States, and the growth of Internet travel bookings is growing faster than the industry overall. Of course, the three largest online travel planning in the U.S. are Orbitz, Expedia and Travelocity, who control nearly a third of the business here. The big three have been joined by a number of other sites booking online travel plans and now travelers are taking advantage of all of them.
Online booking service has evolved from just ticket sales to offering many of the services a travel agent would have performed in the past.
Today, anyone with a credit card and a computer can book flights, hotel rooms, and rental cars just abut anywhere on the globe. Current economic instability and rising oil prices could mean higher vacation costs in the future, but there are still good deals online if you know where to look. Here are our top five picks as the best travel sites where you can find deals on airfares, lodging, car rentals and many other travel needs:
TripAdvisor.com is a popular hotel-review site that features some 50 million reviews of hotels in the U.S. and overseas, but TripAdvisor is not a direct sales site. It will help you find deals on rooms or special offers by linking you through its affiliate sites including Expedia and Travelocity.
Yapta.com will track the cost of any booked flight and if the price drops below what you paid before you travel, you’ll receive the difference in the form of travel credits or vouchers from participating airlines and online travel agencies.
Kayak.com is a good site to find travel deals, especially when you are somewhat flexible on departure and arrival dates, as Kayak will always search the Internet for the cheapest fares available, but the best deals are often found by looking at dates three days before and three days after your ideal travel date.
Bing.com/Travel features a handy Price Predictor tool that allows travelers to enter a desired itinerary and receive recommendations to buy a ticket now or wait for a better fare based on the predictor’s forecasts on whether the fares on your routes will go up or down.
Hotels.com has several things going for it. Frequent travelers can earn points in a rewards program, advance-travel planners can cash in on seasonal sales, and last-minute travelers can find great deals too.
It is pretty convenient too; as Hotels.com lets you search just one site for accommodations at more than 130,000 different properties.
Priceline.com belongs on any list of good travel sites with bargains on hotels, flights and car rentals. Priceline lets you set a minimum room star class rating, along with your preferred dates, and then you get to name your price. Of course, Priceline doesn't let you know the exact hotel you're bidding until after you pay, but you can save over 50% off the published rates with its online negotiation services.
HotelReviews.com