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Thread: Anyone have experience with travel websites?

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    Default Anyone have experience with travel websites?

    Ive never booked with priceline , hotwire or any of the travel websites. The last few days I was looking at pakage deals for hotel and flight on hotwire. Then I started looking on priceline and they were way cheaper. My question is how do these sites work with pricing? I was on there several times yesterday for example and the one hotel and flight I wa looking at went from 681 for 10 days and fight for my half, down to 532 like an hour later. Then when I got back on this morning it was 467. I would tink it would go up as it gets closer to the 18th my expected date of travel Ive been looking for around 10 days and it was actually more expensive when I started looking. Well I just went back n and its up from 467 to 581. Will it go back down again? Is it more because its a weekend? Anyone who has experience with these sites if you could help me out with how things work. I am just wondering should I book now or wait until it maybe goes back down if it will?

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    Veteran Member BabyGirlKylie's Avatar
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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with travel websites?

    As the official "travel agent" for everyone I know....

    Priceline, Expedia, and Cheaptickets are similer in pricing. You can get great deals on Hotwire (or is it hotels.com?) and Priceline, but because you name your price, you don't know the exact hotel or flight you will be taking. This is usually ok for hotels (you pick the general vicinity) but can be a major headache for flights (layovers, up to 3 connections...ugh).

    In general, buying your tickets 21 days in advance gets you a great price, even if you buy directly from the airlines. 14 days in advance gets you a decent price. 7 days or less, you are gonna see some of the highest prices UNLESS the airline or hotel is under-booked, they will sell at a huge discount.

    The biggest thing now is with the economy. Every major airline has cut their flights to save money. There are less and less empty seats to fill, and most flights are overbooked. This means less cheap tickets...if every seat is filled at full price, there are no seats to sell to the online travel sites. Also, this means in general, the longer you wait, the more expensive a flight will be since the seats are in high demand.

    However, with less people traveling, it' pretty easy to get a great deal on a hotel. Hotels would rather sell a room at half price then have it sit empty.
    I usually don't go for the "package deals", if you go between sites and book separatly, you can often find a better deal booking seperatly.

    I've flown to LA on two days notice for half the price of buying a ticket far in advence. But thats a pretty big gamble. If you absolutly have to be somewhere on a certain day, it's best to plan far ahead. If it's a last minute trip, or just for fun, wait it out and see!
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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with travel websites?

    deleted.
    Last edited by Brendita; 10-13-2008 at 03:07 AM.

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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with travel websites?

    It would still be cheaper to do a package on priceline brendita. I was going to try that as you told me that in my denver thread but the flight alone was 500 and I can get package daels for flight and hotel for 10 days for 580. So that would mean Iam only paying 80 for 10 days in a hotel. Well my half. I dont fool around with name your price and all that Ive just strictly been lloking at specific packages were I can choose the hotel because 1. Iam picky about hotels and 2. I want to be really close to both clubs downtown and close to penthouse too. Iam not renting a car so thats the most important thing this trip is location. I get too much anxiety driving in unknown areas and I am already stressed because I usually travel to locations I know to dance and I have never been here. Whats wired is I started looking two weeks ago for travel on the 18th of june. The prices were higher then. They were the cheapest thursday morning the package Iam looking at was 580 then and thursday morning it was 440. Now its back up to 590. Do these sites generaly raise rates on the weekends? Do you guys think if I wait untl sunday or monday it will go back down? I wonder if I called priceline if they would just do it for that rate from that day?

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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with travel websites?

    Michelle, are you a college student? I am a member of studentuniverse.com and they give discounted tickets around the country/world to students in school. Only headache is you have to fax some info to prove in school..but hey the tickets can be cheaper.

    If that doesnt' work, I usually book through travelocity. Or straight through Air-Tran.







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    Featured Member aviendha's Avatar
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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with travel websites?

    I have used Travelocity several times to excellent effect. Good site and service.

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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with travel websites?

    If you are thinking about using Priceline, especially the bidding feature, I suggest you checkout BiddingForTravel.com. It is full of great information about how to get the best deals through the bidding process.

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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with travel websites?

    I like Travelzoo.com. Try using their super search

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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with travel websites?

    Thanks guys. I usually just book my tickets for travel like 2-3 weeks in advance and just book with hotels and negotiate rates but this time the ticket alone was like 360 and on priceline for 5-600 you can get flight and room. Iam just wondering if the rates rise on weekends? Ill check out th other sites mentioned too. Thanks guys.

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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with travel websites?

    Have used Expedia for a long time...always the best rates (even better than a diect phone call to some) and have never had an issue that they didn't go to bat for me on.
    I travel a lot and can only say good things about them...and yes,the rates generally do rise on the weekends but if you arrive on a Fri,often they'll "hold" that rate for you.
    I recently stayed at a noted very "exclusive" hotel in LA,booked it all through Expedia and even got upgraded when I checked in!
    Take advantage of the "pre paid" offers if you can...you pay in advance for your room and can save as much as 20% that way,great if you're there for a week or so!
    Non-refundable though much of the time.

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    Veteran Member Bellona's Avatar
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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with travel websites?

    I'm in canada and use Expedia all the time..I have got some really good deals.

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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with travel websites?

    As far as hotels are concerned I have ALWAYS got the lowest rates by going drectly to the hotel's website. Google promotion codes for the hotel you want and you should find quite a bit. Hotels.com always has higher prices when i do my research.

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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with travel websites?

    Quote Originally Posted by michele11 View Post
    Thanks guys. I usually just book my tickets for travel like 2-3 weeks in advance and just book with hotels and negotiate rates but this time the ticket alone was like 360 and on priceline for 5-600 you can get flight and room. Iam just wondering if the rates rise on weekends? Ill check out th other sites mentioned too. Thanks guys.

    Rates are higher on the weekend and holidays, and during peak travel times.

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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with travel websites?

    You have to shop around sometimes. I usually find the best deal for flights(I"ve never booked a package deal) on orbitz...but the last time I flew I found a WAY lower price on cheapotickets.com(not to be confused with cheaptickets.com...which is usually good too)

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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with travel websites?

    deleted.
    Last edited by Brendita; 10-13-2008 at 03:06 AM.

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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with travel websites?

    No what I meant is do the travel webites rates go up on weekends. Ive been looking at the same package on priceline since wed. It was 580 then latter in the day it dropped to 532 and then thurday it was 467. As of right now its up to 590. My dates for travel are june 18-28. I called and the lady told me to look after 8pm prices go down. I wonder how true that is. Anyways she said if I booked the one were you delect the flight so you know youre exact flight times and it went up they would reimburse me the difference but it doesnt say that anywere on their site. I checked a few others like orbitz and hotwire and they were way higher.

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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with travel websites?

    Why dont u just name your own price?

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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with travel websites?

    I am not sure exactly how they price it but I've used Hotwire for a couple of cruises and was pleased.

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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with travel websites?

    I think if you do name your price you cant pick your hotel. My anxiety is high enough because Ive never been, so I just want to make sure I know were I am staying. Plus I am computer illiterate and I dont know how to do that stuff. Maybe if I like it there and I go back Ill try that next time. The price hasnt done anything all day. I wonder if I wait until sunday or monday? I think I am prolonging getting the ticket cuz I am nervous since Ive never been.

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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with travel websites?

    I use priceline and hotwire ALOT and most of the time I've been satisfied, then again if you aren't flexible on knowing ~exactly~ the area or hotel you are staying in its prolly not the best for you.

    I usually book the lowest price I can and go from there by adding additional areas or star levels, but I've always done quite well.


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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with travel websites?

    There is the site statravel.com which has discounted rates for students and/or people under 26 and they don't require that you fax proof of enrollment to book.

    They warn that you may be asked to prove that you are a student at the airline's desk but I've never been asked and have used statravel several times, especially for travelling abroad (although they have wonderful deals stateside as well).

    Other than that, I've generally been able to find a price I was happy with from cheaptickets.com and yahoo travel. I've actually found the cheapest airline tickets within one to two weeks of my travel date, with few exceptions.

    With STA Travel, I was once able to fly roundtrip from lax to cdg (paris) for $372 total with less than 2 weeks lead time just before summer prices started (Flight prices go up starting June 12-15 until late August).

    For hotels, I call direct and ask for their 'best available rate' for the specified dates as I used to work as a hotel concierge and we used to check our competitor's prices.

    Sign up with frequent flier programs for every airline you fly with as this entitles you to discounted rental car rates, not to mention hotel and affiliate airline discounts and stay on top of accounting for your miles so you can redeem them and/or use them for seating upgrades.

    Almost forgot, for booking hotels, ask if their AAA rate is the same or lower than their best available rate. Lower room prices are available sunday-wed/thurs unless there is a popular convention during your desired dates.
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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with travel websites?

    I saw on the news a couple weeks ago that the best time to buy tickets online is at 12:01am (eastern) on Wednesday. They said it was because people book tickets on the weekend & if they're not payed for they go back to the cheap prices Wed morning. (I don't know if it's true tho - haven't tried buying tix at that time.)

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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with travel websites?

    Have you tried DestinationAvalon.com? That's our girl Britney Ireland's website so she'll probably give you a deal.

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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with travel websites?

    i've used expedia a few times. it was a better with hotel and flight. i too could never go to a hotel i didnt pick.
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