Balitang America Travels: Online Booking & Travel Resources

If you’re looking for travel information online, chances are you already know which sites to visit. But in case you don’t, this post will at least tell you where to start. I shared this information in my February 16th "Travels" segment, but will also include some additional websites travelers might find helpful.

1) The usual suspects: travel search engines for looking and booking

Travelocity, Expedia and Orbitz – These sites allow you to search for deals and book discounted accommodations, airfare, car rentals, cruises and even vacation packages. But remember since these act like virtual travel agents, there can be fees when you book with them.

Priceline – Bid for discounted luxury accommodations or airfare and see if the price you named is right. But you won’t know the hotel name or specific location until you’ve paid, and the site won’t refund your money if you decide to cancel. For flight deals, you can adjust the date but not the return and departure times, so you need to be flexible.

Hotwire – Get your hands on discounted hotel stays and airfare, but you also have to be flexible as the site uses blind-booking as well, meaning you pay first and then you get the specific details. But deals are consistently low.

2) Just shopping around: looking but not booking.
These sites are aggregators that show you where the deals are, then you can book those deals directly with the site or provider where they came from.

Kayak – Searches through more then 140 sites (including the usual suspects listed above) all at once for the lowest airfare, hotels, cruises and car rentals

Mobissimo – Similar to Kayak because it just shows you the source of the deals on airfare, hotels, cruises and car rentals. While it does list deals originating from U.S. travel providers, it often times leans towards international suppliers or agencies.

Vayama – Also an aggregator showing the prices and deals for strictly international flights, hotels and car rentals.

3) Monitoring airfare and travel deals.
These sites allow you to sign up for email alerts that inform you when prices change.

Farecast.com – Shows deals on airfare and hotels from various websites, but also gives you its analysis on whether prices are projected to change – drop, rise, hold steady - within the next 7 days, so you can decide if you want to wait or buy now.

Farechase.com – Just like Farecast.com, only it also shows how flight prices on or near a selected date of travel vary according to departure and return times, the airport you fly from, along with the airline you choose and whether it’s a non-stop flight. So, by adjusting any of these options, you can try to get cheaper airfare. NOW DEFUNCT

Farecompare.com – Finds deals on airfare and has a calendar illustrating the price differences according to the day of travel, even spelling out the best time or month to buy airfare for your particular destination.

Yapta.com – Finds the best airline deals, but also tracks airfare prices for your specific flight. If you’ve already purchased a ticket for that flight and the price drops before the trip, Yapta will work to get you a refund or travel credits from the airline.

There are so many other websites that function in very similar ways to the ones I’ve listed. These are just some of the more known sites out there. But like anything else on the vast worldwide web, you need to zero in on what exactly it is you are looking for or hoping to achieve. Hopefully, these sites will at least get you started and on your way to that next great trip.

To see the actual Travels segment that aired on Balitang America, check it out here.

Travels is a weekly TV segment written and produced by Christi Morales. It airs every Monday during Balitang America's (News in America) 5:30pm PST newcast on ABS-CBN Global's The Filipino Channel (TFC). Balitang America can also be seen on KTSF Channel 26 at 6:45pm PST in the San Francisco Bay Area.