[timmerk]

I'm trying to find the cheapest price for a roundtrip flight for 2 and hotel room. I've tried places like Orbitz, but they are deceptive, because every "cheap" ticket they show you takes 2 days of flying time, when it should take 3 hours max. Some other sites I have tried, and not too happy with:

priceline.com
sidestep.com
aaa.com
statravel.com
expedia.com
travelocity.com
orbitz.com
air-gorilla.com
cheaptickets.com

Any of those you recommend, or others you recommend that are not in the list?

Thanks!

[Athens]

I work in the industry, booking direct is cheaper, allows more flexibility. I can tell you expedia is the most popular, at my hotel we get 10 expedia's for every other popular company out there, btw Travelocity is Orbitz.

Give you a example
Our rate right now is 69.00 CDN on expedia they list it as 60.00 US, then add in a booking fee, and a tax recovery fee. End result for a American coming here is about 75.00 US.

Our 69.00 rate is before taxes so add 17% to that, the price is 80.73 which is about 70.00US. Around the same price, but you can call to cancel with us direct or change plans, with online companies you either cant, or it costs you. And a side note, with non Canadian travelers they can get back 7% of the taxes they pay for a room when they leave the company when you buy through the online companies they cant. So I don’t find them a deal at all.

[driven]

My company requires that we use Orbitz .. in almost all cases I can get it cheaper by booking direct. Also in many cases the "corporate rate" is higher than the "joe blow off the street" rate. Food for thought.

[Athens]

Originally Posted by driven

My company requires that we use Orbitz .. in almost all cases I can get it cheaper by booking direct. Also in many cases the "corporate rate" is higher than the "joe blow off the street" rate. Food for thought.

Yup it is so is the AAA rate and other special rates for most places.

[philm]

We flew from Manchester to Australia last summer and got a really good deal on lastminute.com. Like, genuinely cheaper than any of the other cheap websites. The flight we wanted was close to being full, and it seemed like the other places had sold their allocation of discounted tickets whereas lastminute.com had some left (? is this actually how airlines sell their tickets).

I don't know where you are based, and I'm not sure how UK-centric lastminute.com is, but you might want to give it a go.

[Athens]

its always best to book months in advance to get the best deals. By the time your stuck with lastminite.com or ratestogo.com its already to late to get any kind of deal. Case in point in the summer time we normally sell rooms at 150ish range. When we are down to our last 5 rooms we close off all internet sites and bump it up to 180.00. I remmeber last summer during one weekend every hotel was booked for about 100km in every direction I was able to get 250.00 a night for the last 2 rooms which where cancelled at the last minute. Never leave things last minute.

[timmerk]

What about middle of March - is it early for good deals, or too late already?

Also, what airlines seem to be the cheapest? I will use them direct.

[Athens]

depends where you are going. For example its hella expensive to take Air Canada to the Netherlands (return trip) for a Canadian starting in Vancouver. But reversed its cheaper for a Dutch to take Air Canada to Canada return trip then a local company.

[chabig]

Watch out for taxes and fees. For example, most US airlines and travel sites quote their fares with all taxes and fees included. But Southwest airlines, on the other hand, quote their fares without taxes and fees. This leads to the general public's widespread recognition of Southwest as a cheaper airline, when in reality they charge about the same as everyone else.

Now this is really just a great marketing trick. For some reason, the other airlines haven't picked up on it yet.

Chris

[Drakino]

http://www.kayak.com/

[RobOnTheCape]

My wife and I use Hotwire.com for amazing rates on hotels. We stayed at the Waldorf Astoria in NYC for 115 a night, and grab a night here and there up in Boston for about that much on really short notice.

I've done packages for business down to Atlanta for much less than the cheapest seperately. Air rates thre have their drawbacks, making them not an option for many. Rates are great sometimes, but they don't tell you anything about the times of takeoff/departure. Great deals on car rentals too.

[James L]

Originally Posted by Athens

its always best to book months in advance to get the best deals. By the time your stuck with lastminite.com or ratestogo.com its already to late to get any kind of deal. Case in point in the summer time we normally sell rooms at 150ish range. When we are down to our last 5 rooms we close off all internet sites and bump it up to 180.00. I remmeber last summer during one weekend every hotel was booked for about 100km in every direction I was able to get 250.00 a night for the last 2 rooms which where cancelled at the last minute. Never leave things last minute.

Athens, PM me if you want instead of posting here, but what hotel do you work at?

[Cubeoid]

www.lastminute.com

[wdlove]

I think that all the above listed are very good choices.

[Dork.]

I've been looking at flights lately, and I'm quite impressed with orbitz. I like their layout and searching functions better than the other sites.

[Athens]

Originally Posted by Dork.

I've been looking at flights lately, and I'm quite impressed with orbitz. I like their layout and searching functions better than the other sites.

Get a price qoute from Orbitz and then call the airline direct and get a price. If its higher tell them you saw this price on Orbitz, will they match. Chances are they will and you will save on booking fees and have more flexability as well. Working on this end of the industry, I'll never book online.

[Nicko]

OK I tried to use places like asiarooms.com, aaaahotels.net to book a hotel in bangkok for christmas, and then they come back and tell me no rooms are available! ugh! Turns out there was room in the hotel, but the website already booked all their allocated rooms for their special discount rate.

Anyway, So eventually I booked directly with the hotel, which happened to be a major chain, so they had their own booking system. Turned out it cost about the same and I got a confirmation that there was a room right away- and it was guaranteed. So, while discount sites are good if you have lots of time in advance to plan, if time is short, go direct to the hotel. Also, ask about special and discounts, usually they will throw in extras such as upgrade your room for free or include free breakfast.