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Recent articles by Jennifer Mulrean: • 10 low-cost gifts from the heart, 12/11/2003 • 10 gifts for people who hate stuff, 11/20/2003 • Bundle your telecom to save a bundle?, 10/28/2003 More... |
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Related Sites Frommers' Web site Expedia.com Orbitz.com Travelocity Flyertalk Priceline.com Neattravel.com SideStep |
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| The Basics |
| Five ways to find fabulous getaways |
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If you're ready to flee, use the Net to find the best deals. Here are the insider tips you'll need to sniff out the best bargains -- and where to find more just like them. By Jennifer Mulrean It takes practice to become a true escape artist -- to be able to take off for a quick break of a week or so, knowing exactly what to do and when. But a great crib sheet can shorten the learning curve. With that in mind, we've scoured the Net to fill you in on the where, when and how of finding abundant travel savings opportunities. Flexibility rules Going against the crowd can really pay, especially when it comes to knowing where and when to travel. This doesn't just mean traveling in "shoulder seasons." It also means flying on less in-demand days of the week or flying into alternative airports. Wondering which days to fly are less popular? If you're going on a weekend trip, flying Thursday and Sunday can be cheaper than Friday and Monday. "Just be flexible and think creatively and it can pay off in a big, big way," says Gregg Brockway, co-founder of Hotwire.com. "If you're heading to Los Angeles, think Burbank (airport). Heading to San Francisco? Think Oakland or San Jose." Fly, sleep, drive blind If you're willing to forgo a little knowledge when planning your trip, you can rack up a whole lot of savings. Priceline.com was the early mover here, but other sites that allow you to trade ignorance for bucks include Hotwire and Expedia's bargain fares. The sites work something like the TV show "The Dating Game:" You often don't get to see what airline, hotel or car rental company you're buying from until after you've paid. The missing piece of the purchase puzzle varies by site -- and by what you're buying: most hide the exact rental car company until after you've paid, and at Priceline.com, the prices as well as the airlines and itineraries are hidden. At Hotwire and Expedia, the prices are preset and viewable, but you allow them to pick the airline and itinerary, within certain parameters (e.g., you can choose to search only for tickets with 0-1 layovers). For those with slightly less flexibility in their schedule, a car rental can be a good way to test out these sites, since in most cases you're simply blocked from knowing the rental car company, rather than pickup time or location. For a recent weekend trip in Arizona, Hotwire's rate of $18.82 a day for a compact car was the lowest I could find. I was happy with the deal and booked it (the rental car company turned out to be Avis), noting it saved me about $20 over renting through AAA's site. I didn't feel quite so smug once I stopped by Flyertalk, an online forum for travelers, where I saw that people were getting deals for about half that, albeit at different times and locations. This brings us to the next tip. Get the inside scoop Sites such as Flyertalk and Biddingfortravel are dedicated to taking some of the ambiguity out of buying from the Pricelines and Hotwires of the Web. After all, when you're buying from sites that don't show you the goodies until after you've paid, you only want them to think you're ignorant. Biddingfortravel focuses exclusively on how to get good deals on Priceline, with message board posters sharing their winning bids and tricks, such as how to figure out how many layovers are involved. Flyertalk and Frommer's message boards are also good for sniffing out the best deals -- and the best customer service. One discussion thread focused on rental car companies, including one to stay away from. In another thread, someone was given feedback on whether paying to belong to a travel club was worth it; responses were mixed, but showed that at least a couple people felt the poor customer service negated some of the deals they'd found through the club. Package it "Hotels and, to a lesser degree, airlines care about their rate integrity," says Expedia spokesman Mitch Robinson. "They don't necessarily want you to know how much you're saving when other people are paying more." Sounds crazy, but if you're bragging about the $59 special you found for your hotel room and the guy next to you paid double, he's probably going to be less than happy. One way they can hold onto "opaque pricing," Robinson says, is by packaging their services. Online packages don't necessarily work like their offline counterparts, where everything from the hotel to airline and itinerary is predetermined. Orbitz partner NeatTravel's E-packs and Expedia's Build Your Own Trip module allow you to put a customized package together. Robinson pegs the savings potential at 30%-70% over buying all the elements separately on Expedia. Beat an efficient Web path to the best deals Admittedly, this can be hard to do, given the dynamic nature of the inventory. But you want to use the most helpful online tools, rather than randomly and laboriously surveying tens of sites. Again, helpful tools include the travel message boards and also fare finders such as downloadable search agent SideStep and QIXO, which requires no download. Both will compare prices from all over the Web (almost 30 different airline and travel sites at QIXO and more than 130 at SideStep). Another search tool popular with some Biddingfortravel message board users is ITA Software.com. You should also try some of the bigger sites, including Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity, along with specialty discount travel sites such as Hotwire, hotels.com and Site59 -- dedicated to last-minute fares -- and auction sites, such as Skyauction and eBay. Finally, don't forget the major airlines' own sites, even for packages -- United Airlines' recent two-night air/hotel deal to Vegas rivaled those offered on sites such as Expedia. Also, if you buy your ticket on an airline's site, you can avoid forfeiting frequent-flier miles as you do on Priceline and other travel sites. You also avoid their fees: Orbitz charges you $5 for tickets on airlines that pay it commissions and $10 for tickets on airlines that don't, for example. And not all airlines sell tickets on major sites such as Expedia and Orbitz -- notably, budget carrier Southwest Airlines. |
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