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Booking Travel on the Internet*
Ben Gentile - January, 2005
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Here's a copy of Ben's tips, and some tips from other club members, on using the Internet to make travel reservations, presented at the January, 2005 meeting of the Travel Club:
Ten Year experience….99% positive results
Get comfortable with shopping on-line and the various websites
Don’t be afraid to trust computer, but also be savvy about “human” follow-up
A. “Major” Websites
B. “Flexible-travel” Sites
• http://www.priceline.com
1. You name your own price for air, hotel, cars, vacations, etc. and let Priceline find a company willing to accept your bid. You’ll get a response in one hour.
2. Advantage: Great potential savings!
3. Disadvantages: Loss of travel flexibility – you fly WHEN airline wants during that day, plus no frequent flyer miles.
• http://www.hotwire.com
1. Similar to Priceline, but no bidding; you seek deals on unsold inventory at big discounts.
2. Advantage: Again, great potential savings.
3. Disadvantages: You won’t know what airline, travel time, or even airport, until after you buy.
Shopping Example: You want to fly to NYC (Newark) on the morning of March 20. “Major” sites above find the best deal is a direct flight for $300 from PDX. You want to do better. On “Flexible-travel” sites, you find a deal for $225 and take it. THEN, you find out it’s a red eye with a connection to JFK. Is it worth $75 to get to a different airport 24 hours later? That’s the decision you need to make.
So may other sites….here are a few more options…….
• Download SideStep from http://www.sidestep.com
(not available for Macintosh). When shopping for deals, SideStep automatically pops up to broaden your search. Sometimes it can beat Expedia, Orbitz, etc.
• http://www.mobissimo.com is another site that searches most of the larger travel search engines; this does not require a download and works with both Macintosh and Windows.
• http://www.travelzoo.com
Great place to shop last-minute deals
Also use tourism websites of your destination. They have links to vacation condos. We use them extensively to find lodging.
*Ben would like to emphasize that he is not a technical expert, but just an experienced traveler, who has used the Internet extensively in making travel arrangements.
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