So if you are like me, you want to get the best deal possible when it comes to your vacation package. In the past I have used sites like Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz to book flights and hotels, as well as using the airline or hotel websites. It can take some time to check these sites individually trying to find the best deal. This is where the following sites can be helpful. There will be other sites out there, but from what I have seen of these sites; they appear to do a good job in locating good deals.
The following four websites all perform a search of the various airlines and online travel sites and display the best deals for the given itinerary. These sites are not booking sites; they are referring sites, so your actual booking is with the company whose deal you have chosen. The four sites are:
Kayak: Offers Flights, Hotels, Cars, Cruises
Sidestep: Offers Flights, Hotels, Cars, Cruises, Vacation Packages
Mobissimo: Offers Flights, Hotels, Cars
Yahoo Farechase: Offers Flights, Hotels
The advantage of using the above sites is that they search the various airlines and online travel sites for you. So with just one search you can see where the cheapest deal is. If the price is right, you click on the deal and you are transferred to the respective travel site to complete the purchase.
Based on a quick review of the four sites, I preferred the user interface for Kayak more than the other three. When I tried the sites out, all four gave results that were comparable in price. No one site gave a significantly better deal.
If you have used any of these sites or you have used other similar sites with good results, please make a comment, so that I can consider them for the future.
Finally, there are a couple of other sites that are useful for finding deals; Priceline and Hotwire. These differ, in that Priceline offers the ability to make a bid on a flight or hotel (without the knowledge of the flight details or hotel name) and Hotwire does not display the flight details or hotel until you have made your purchase. I will discuss these sites at a later date.
