None, since it s not a booking site (which means no results are given preference). When a user finds

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Spring has finally sprung and you're ready to book that getaway you've been dreaming about since the dark days of winter. But with so many options for planning and booking your trip, sifting through the horde of travel sites that promise discounted rates can be daunting.
Below is an unbiased rundown of some popular travel sites along with a few lesser known contenders, and tips on ensuring that your dollar travels as far as your imagination. Hover over each category to find out more! Site What It Is Booking Fees Hidden Fees Customer Service The Final Word
The biggest player in the online travel biz, Expedia Inc. owns more than 20 popular booking and travel information sites, including Hotwire, TripAdvisor, and Hotels.com. The main Expedia site allows users to search, compare, and book a comprehensive selection of hotels, flights, cruises, new zealand car rental cars, activities, and vacation packages.
No cancellation fees, but some flights within vacation packages new zealand car rental may incur a charge, and individual airlines may charge for cancelling or rebooking. Also, you need to pay the price difference if rebooking a trip for which the original price is no longer available. All fees on Expedia are disclosed upfront (albeit in fine print), but the taxes and fees portion new zealand car rental of vacation packages is not itemized, so you won t know exactly what this number entails.
The good news: Unlike many online-only travel sites, there is a phone number for Expedia by which you can reach a human. The bad news: The humans on the line tend to be less than helpful new zealand car rental and often will force you to spend a ton of time on the phone transfering between staffers and supervisors recounting your situation over and over.
An excellent, exhaustive resource for booking discounted travel, in the U.S. and Europe particularly. Just beware new zealand car rental the add-ons that are offered at the end of your booking (car rentals, activities, insurance, etc.). Sometimes they are prefilled Yes and you wind paying for a jungle new zealand car rental tour you never wanted.
Comparable to Expedia, w/ no surprises in the pricing. A bonus: if another Orbitz customer books the same flight at a lower price prior to your departure, new zealand car rental Orbitz will refund up to $250 per airline new zealand car rental ticket.
Doesn t forge any new ground from the above, but its new Experience Finder is a clever way to suss out a good destination, and more users we ve connected with have had positive experiences than with Orbitz.
Newest player in the flight search game; it combines a refreshingly simple interface with a unique Agony feature new zealand car rental in which your results are ranked in order of the agony you ll incur during the flight new zealand car rental taking into account price, duration, and number of stops.
None, since it s not a booking site (which means no results are given preference). When a user finds a suitable trip, he/she new zealand car rental is directed to purchase it directly from the site on which it is advertised.
Our favorite! They have a comprehensive and unbiased database, and there s no agenda as to which search results populate first. Plus, it has great creative filters like no prop planes (if you don t want a puddle-jumper).
Before you book a flight, hotel room, or vacation package, check the price on each of the individual vendor's sites. Oftentimes, cutting out the middle man and booking separately is cheaper than buying a package on sites like Expedia or Orbitz. Furthermore, buying directly from the airline gives you more flexibility to manage your flights, and calling the hotel can result in unadvertised savings (especially during low season and if you are celebrating a special occasion). Remember, third party sites require full payment up front, new zealand car rental so do your homework before plunking down the plastic.
Bonus tip : Our favorite site for hotel deals in Europe is  Venere.com , which has an incredibly easy user experience, a vast Rolodex of hotels (including smaller boutique properties that you d never find on many U.S.-based sites), and lots of great deals and discounts. We didn t include it in the chart above because its forte is hotels rather than flights, but we ve booked many European stays through new zealand car rental Venere and have never been disappointed. 2. Be Direct.
Sometimes you won t find your favorite or most convenient airlines on these sites. Southwest Airlines doesn t list its flights with any third party vendors, while American Airlines is missing from both Orbitz and Expedia. When in doubt, search your itinerary directly with airlines to ensure that you don't miss a cheap rate. 3. Consult A Travel Agent For Cruises.
Don't book a cruise on any of these consolidation sites. A travel agent specializing in cruises is always the better option because they have relationships with cruise lines, which means discounted rates; and they can score you deals on the cruise ship and with shore excursions.
But most importantly, there are a lot of moving new zealand car rental parts on a cruise trip (flight, transfer to ship, the cruise itself, etc.) and if one part goes awry, an experienced travel new zealand car rental agent can use his or her connections to fix it. Meanwhile, if you d booked your cruise via an aggregation site, you d be stuck doing phone battle without a life preserver (see Customer Service in the chart above). 4. Read The Label.
Beware of hotels or airlines labeled "top picks" in your search results. These aren't necessarily of a higher quality or better value. Instead, they are often a business partner of the booking site, and therefore get populated at the top of your search. new zealand car rental 5. Travel Smart
Beata Santora is an Associate Editor at Condé Nast Traveler . She was bitten by the travel bug at age 3 while on a cruise of the Black Sea, and now she loves airports and hotels the way most people love chocolate. PREVIOUS Article Save Money For Summer Vacation new zealand car rental with 3 Tricks NEXT Article Travel Insurance: Is It Worth It? What's New Another Effect of the Recession: More Aggressive Parenting? Are You Missing Out on This Student Loan Perk? 7 Things You Should Always new zealand car rental Buy New UH OH! YOUR BROWSER IS NOT FULLY SUPPORTED BY LEARNVEST.. We currently new zealand car rental support Chrome, new zealand car rental Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer 8+. Click Here To Upgrade Become a LearnVest Member Welcome! Create an account or log in I Forgot Get The LearnVest Daily Email
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