{"id":214,"date":"2017-05-10T17:25:39","date_gmt":"2017-05-10T17:25:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.roamersholiday.com\/?p=214"},"modified":"2017-05-10T17:26:09","modified_gmt":"2017-05-10T17:26:09","slug":"seven-suggestions-on-the-use-of-travel-websites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.roamersholiday.com\/?p=214","title":{"rendered":"Seven Suggestions on the Use of Travel Websites"},"content":{"rendered":"

The use of travel websites has become one of the most predominant ways of booking travel.\u00a0 There are sites to book flights\u2026sites to book cruises\u2026sites to book hotels\u2026sites to do all of that\u2026heck, there are even sites to check all of the other sites to
\nmake sure which site has the best price.\u00a0 Soon there will be sites to check the sites checking the sites for pricing!
\n\"\"All that being said, our primary source for booking travel is using online sources.\u00a0 It is a team effort with Roma sitting on the bed with her laptop and me sitting at the desk with mine.\u00a0 We take the time to try to identify the activities and locations we absolutely “must see” and we start planning well in advance.\u00a0 We want to be as well informed as possible so that when we hit the travel planning websites we are not sheep in a pack of wolves.<\/p>\n

As such, we have put together a list of our ideas and suggestions for the frugal traveler when using travel websites to book your travels.<\/p>\n

#1 \u2013 Research and<\/u><\/em> Look Around <\/em><\/u><\/h3>\n

When buying a car in today\u2019s day and age, you wouldn\u2019t buy a car from the first place you visit.\u00a0 You\u2019ve probably done some internet searching to narrow down what you are looking for and can answer certain questions already when you start\u2026Do you have brand preferences?\u00a0 Do you have any brands to avoid?\u00a0 SUV?\u00a0 Sedan?\u00a0 Sports Car?\u00a0 Then you go take them for test drives \"\"and eventually decide.<\/p>\n

You should go through a process when you are planning your vacation as well.\u00a0 At a minimum you should know something about the location you are going to and what you want to see.\u00a0 By doing your research, you can learn more about the location and discover activities you may not have thought of.<\/p>\n

You also discover the best time of year to visit for YOU.\u00a0 Do you want to be there during the busiest month of the year where you have to fight for beach space?\u00a0 Are you ok going somewhere in the spring when the weather might be a little bit cooler to avoid the crowds and perhaps locate a deal?<\/p>\n

You can also start to get a feel for the cost of the trip.\u00a0 When researching, inevitably advertisements will show up on your search screens advertising the locations you are researching.\u00a0 Something like \u201cDay trip to XXXXX for $50\u201d will appear and when you see something like that, it may serve to check out the pricing for when you want to travel.\u00a0 In all likelihood, that price is for unfilled slots for tomorrow or for a trip to a beach in the middle of winter.\u00a0 Checking out pricing for the timeframe you are looking for will help avoid sticker shock when you do go to reserve something.<\/p>\n

#2 \u2013 Don\u2019t limit yourself to just one website<\/u><\/em><\/h3>\n

Have you ever been on one website and book a flight or hotel just to turn around and see it on another site for less money?\u00a0 It is really aggravating and we suppose that this is where the sites that check prices on 20 other sites come from.\u00a0 When you are \"\"booking anything related to travel, it makes the best sense to price on as many different websites as possible and in as many different combinations as possible.\u00a0 If we book flight and hotel on travelsiteA.com, how does that compare to if we book the flight on one and the hotel on another?<\/p>\n

What about the use of an agency?\u00a0 There are online versions of travel agencies as well where you can plan the entire trip from soup to nuts on website.\u00a0 We recently used one all in one service and found that they were very well priced with regards to flight and excursions but their hotels were more expensive and sub-par and we could book our rail travel directly with the national rail service for less.<\/p>\n

#3 \u2013 Don\u2019t limit yourself to just 3rd<\/sup> party travel planning websites<\/u><\/em><\/h3>\n

I\u2019ve previously mentioned the ease of going to one website, entering your dates, and receiving a listing of all flights or accommodations for those dates.\u00a0 This is great for planning purposes, but once you pick a flight itinerary or hotel you might be interested in don\u2019t be afraid of going directly to the company\u2019s website to compare prices.\u00a0 Many of the direct airline and\/or hotel websites indicate they provide the lowest available prices, which makes sense.\u00a0 After all, they have to pay commission to the other booking sites.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve found two things going directly to the vendor\u2019s website:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Cheaper fares\/reservations \u2013 not a lot but we have seen it<\/li>\n
  • No issues earning points (you have to go directly to them to use points anyway)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Again, this is an effort to find the best at reasonable prices and may not work all the time but it is worth 15 minutes of your time.<\/p>\n

    #4 \u2013 Read the fine print<\/u><\/em><\/h3>\n

    Make sure you understand what you are getting yourself into.\u00a0 Are the fares refundable?\u00a0 Do you have 24 hours to cancel if you \"\"change your mind?\u00a0 Is there a minimum you have to book with an individual travel site?<\/p>\n

    As mentioned in #2, for our a recent trip, we used the all one service and discovered that their hotels were more expensive and sub-par.\u00a0 We tried to adjust the itinerary to remove all hotels but keep the flight and all excursions.\u00a0 After reading the disclaimers, we found that we had to book at least three night\u2019s hotels through them for the pricing we were getting.\u00a0 We decided that the pricing was still better than we were getting elsewhere and found three night\u2019s hotels we were OK\u00a0with and used them and booked the remainder of our hotels separately.<\/p>\n

    #5 \u2013 Clear your cookies\/browser history<\/u><\/em><\/h3>\n

    Let me make one thing clear\u2026We are not IT people\u2026we are lucky that we know RAM is memory and not something you lay siege to a castle with\u2026HOWEVER, we know enough to listen to those who know more than we do.\u00a0 We have been told by folks that we think are reliable that I should clear my \u201ccookies\u201d and\/or browser history and that it is important.\u00a0 Apparently these websites track \u201ccookies\u201d and can tell if you come back and shop again.\u00a0 They continue to track you and it may start affecting your prices.\u00a0 Conceptually it sounds logical to me.\u00a0 Theoretically:
    \nIf you clear your \u201ccookies\u201d it\u2019s as if you are new customer every time and you may get the best price because they want to win your business.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t clear these \u201ccookies\u201d, they can track you and know that \"\"you want to book a specific flight (or whatever).\u00a0 You keep coming back and they know it and could quote you whatever price they wanted.\u00a0 If you looked Monday ant it was 250, Tuesday it was 255, Wednesday it was 260\u2026etc\u2026you may be influenced to say \u201cDarn, the price keeps going up and I should buy before it goes up more\u201d.
    \nAgain, we\u2019re not IT people so we will trust our sources\u2026Roma handles this because they just laugh at me when I ask \u201cAre these cookies chocolate chip?\u201d<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    #6 \u2013 Understand your layovers<\/u><\/em><\/h3>\n

    We\u2019ve seen plenty of flights that show up in searches with 55 minute layovers in a layover city. Knowing how large some airports are and how many terminals exist at a single airport\u2026I don\u2019t trust them\u2026not at all\u2026I usually plan for 20 minutes to get\"\" off the airplane and if gates close a half hour before the flight, then that gives you 5 minutes to run to the next door to catch your connection.\u00a0 I\u2019ve read that if the airline sells you the short layover, they have to put you on the next flight but again\u2026I don\u2019t trust them\u2026not at all\u2026Also, it screws up your itinerary.<\/p>\n

    This is exactly why you should understand your layovers.\u00a0 Search for the airport you will be connecting in.\u00a0 What do other people say about layovers there?\u00a0 For example, we\u2019ve been through Frankfurt and we had to collect our bags, go through security and have our passport checked, give them back our bags and then head to our departure gate.\u00a0 I\u2019ve searched and people have noted that an hour is way to small of a layover for Charles de Gaulle in Paris as well.<\/p>\n

    Understand your tolerance for how narrow of a connection you are willing to stomach.<\/p>\n

    #7 \u2013 Don\u2019t be afraid to walk away and try again a different day<\/u><\/em><\/h3>\n

    Planning a vacation is hard.\u00a0 Everything worth doing IS hard.\u00a0 But just like everything else worth doing, it is worth doing RIGHT.\u00a0 Looking and researching between multiple websites can be a very confusing endeavor.\u00a0 Everything starts to get jumbled both on paper and in your head.<\/p>\n

    It is better to put down your pen, clear your cookies and close your browser instead of feeling pressured into buying something.\u00a0 So walk away if you need to.\u00a0 You can come back to it later.\u00a0 Remember,\u00a0 checking prices and running itineraries online is FREE.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The use of travel websites has become one of the most predominant ways of booking travel.\u00a0 There are sites to book flights\u2026sites to book cruises\u2026sites to book hotels\u2026sites to do all of that\u2026heck, there are even sites to check all of the other sites to make sure which site has the best price.\u00a0 Soon there …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-domestic-travel","category-international-travel","category-travel-discussion","entry entry-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.roamersholiday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.roamersholiday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.roamersholiday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roamersholiday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roamersholiday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=214"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.roamersholiday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":217,"href":"https:\/\/www.roamersholiday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214\/revisions\/217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roamersholiday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.roamersholiday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roamersholiday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roamersholiday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}