Best travel websites

When booking travel plans, I always check every travel website out there – Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity, TripAdvisor, Priceline and HipMunk. After spending hours upon hours clicking away on different hotel offers or flights, I finally end up booking from one of the listed websites and wonder if all of that time spent was actually worth it. Did I really get a good deal? Should I just have booked from the company website? Here are my thoughts on the pros and cons about booking from a few of my favorite travel websites:

Priceline

Priceline ranks high on my list of favorites. One of its most advertised features is its Name Your Own Price option. I’ve always been afraid of using this tool because you can’t choose your hotel, but after recently analyzing the tool online, I realized that they pretty much guarantee that you get what you want.

When booking a hotel, you can select by the district of the town you are planning on going to and then again by star rating. This allows you to make sure that you’re ending up right where you want in the quality hotel that you want – all for a much lower cost!

Travelocity

Travelocity came up with a really innovative idea for travelers who just want to get away. If you have time to take a vacation but don’t care where you’re going, use Travelocity’s ExperienceFinder to either book an “experience” by selecting from a list of cities or by a theme. Pick from family, indulgence, adventure, or more and see all the different activities that Travelocity has ready for you one click away. Easiest vacation planning ever!

Sometimes it’s better to book directly

One of my biggest qualms with both Priceline and Travelocity is that neither of them offers Southwest flights. While I don’t really care about what company I fly through, I care about getting the cheapest flight possible. I realized while planning a trip recently that booking a flight through Southwest directly on their company website saved me $200!

My final thoughts

I believe when booking a hotel room or finding fun vacation plans, you can’t go wrong with either Priceline or Travelocity. Neither website has let me down in the past when finding a great deal! However, when finding a flight, definitely look on these websites but also double check on other airline’s company websites to make sure you’re getting the best deal possible.

Kelly O’Hara is an intern at Mom Central and a senior at Bentley University studying Marketing. She loves to travel and always looks for the best deal when doing so!

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