Working with a tight travel budget? It's possible to shop on the Internet for the most expensive items you'll need. It's also possible to find out what other travelers have to say about that item before you buy it. Use the Internet to your advantage. There are hundreds of Web sites that can be useful to you. Here are a few, in alphabetical order, that offer a variety of services and options as you formulate your travel plans.
Expedia
Expedia, along with its family of related sites, is the largest travel provider on the Internet. It allows you to customize searches, so you find the right combination of price and schedule to meet your budget travel needs. This global giant is now in 16 countries around the world. Take a look at Expedia's features and get a feel for how it could help you arrange travel.
Ads
Ho Chi Minh City hotelsInstant confirmation. Trust Agoda. Save up to 75% Don't miss out!Agoda.com/Ho_Chi_Minh_City_Hotels
Vegas- Grand Canyon ToursTour For Two From Vegas For $159.98 Save 50%! Book Your Bus Tour Now.www.GrandCanyonTours.com/Vegas
Qatar Airways FlightsOnline Check In & No Booking Fees Travel 5-Star. Special Online Fareswww.QatarAirways.com/Vietnam
HomeExchange.com
HomeExchange.com allows you to swap homes with other travelers who want to avoid high hotel prices. The data base connects people by geographic area, and after a membership fee is paid, each exchange is made without a fee. This article shows you how it works. If you're comfortable with the idea of swapping homes, you could save quite a bit of money on your next trip to a pricey location.
Hotels.com
One of the world's largest providers of discounted lodging reservations, Hotels.com has a portfolio of more than 70,000 properties in countries all over the globe. As its inventory of hotels has grown, so has the site, which now operates as a full-service online travel agency, where travelers can research and book flights, buy package deals and get travel information. But Hotels.com remains first and foremost a site for discounted lodging, offering online and telephone reservations services. Read more from travel writer Alexis Lipsitz Flippin.
Hotwire
Hotwire, like its competitor Priceline, negotiates discounts on hotel rooms, airfares and other travel products. Some of these savings are passed to the budget traveler, but the biggest savings is realized only when purchases are made without knowing the trip details. Hotwire also offers products using more conventional pricing. Read more about Hotwire and how it could fit into your travel purchasing.
Kayak
Kayak is a "fare aggregator," which means it searches, at no cost to the consumer, for the best deals among individual airline Web sites, more than 100,000 hotels, major car-rental agencies and online travel agencies. Budget travelers then choose a product and are linked to the vendor site where a purchase can be completed. Kayak also offers a host of popular features for shoppers. Find out more about how Kayak works and determine if it belongs in your online tool chest.
Orbitz.com
Orbitz has grown into a full-service online travel agency linked to hundreds of airlines, more than 80,000 hotels and 13 rental car brands all over the globe. Its search engine targets the lowest prices on airfares, hotel rooms, rental cars, cruise-ship cabins and travel packages for designated destinations. Although there are some budget airlines not in the Orbitz data base, this is often a good point to establish baseline prices for airfares, hotel rooms and other basics. Take a closer look at the way Orbitz functions in the marketplace.
Priceline.com
For years now, you've heard the phrase "name your own price" for travel products at Priceline.com. Travelers risked bidding on and booking an unknown travel product in exchange for savings. Now, Priceline also offers details and less risk with more conventional bookings. No matter which way you choose to go, Priceline is worth a serious look. Thisarticle from travel writer Alexis Lipsitz Flippin explains the basics of Priceline for budget travelers.
Travelocity
It's billed as a "one-stop" and "full-service travel agency" on the Internet, and there's no denying Travelocity has a large and loyal following. As with the other major travel search sites, Travelocity has developed features the others cannot match -- at least not completely. So take a look at this article, read about Travelocity's features, and determine if it would meet most of your travel needs.
Ads
Bed & Breakfast - P. Rico18 Room Beachfront in San Juan Good service & quality, low ratesWWW.Trespalmasinn.com
Luxury 5-Star VillasRight on Patong Beach Phuket The Sea Pearl Villas Resort & SpaSeapearlvillasphuket.com
TripAdvisor.com
Ever feel as if you are suffering from information overload on the Internet? There are so many travel possibilities that can be researched and booked online, but it's not easy to determine which offer the best value for the money. TripAdvisor.com exists to help travelers make better booking decisions. It's a success story: this travel community claims to serve up to 30 million visitors a month. Many of those who pass through leave detailed reviews of hotels, amusement parks and other travel attractions. Not every review is reliable, but many times there are common threads in reviews that point to a particular asset or problem. It's valuable information for you to know before you click "book this trip." Find out more about TripAdvisor.com.
XE.com
One concern that is common to novice and expert international travelers is exchange rates. Budget travelers of every experience level fret about where to make the best currency exchanges and how much the rates will change during their trips. Quick access to reliable exchange rate information is important for planning a budget trip overseas, and the currency trading company XE.com provides an easy-to-understand Web tool for determining value. Find out more about how it works, and about other places on the Internet where you can find out about money management for travelers.
No comments:
Post a Comment