ONLINE TRAVELER

Ins and outs of finding deals on the Internet

By Darren M. Green
Special to the Tribune
Published December 12, 2004

For those privy to the tricks of the trade, the Web does indeed offer budget-conscious travelers a virtual cornucopia of savings opportunities. Read on to learn the ins and outs of finding travel deals over the Internet.

Hotels

There's no other aspect of travel so fraught with deeply discounted online opportunities. Here's how to do it:

www.quikbook.com--Quikbook combines quantity (searches yield impressive listings), a Web site which is intuitive for beginners, detailed information and photographs, and, most importantly, the best overall average hotel prices in a series of test searches. Honorable mention in this category goes to www.octupustravel.com.

www.hotwire.com--When a specific hotel is not part of the equation, Hotwire gets my nod over its predecessor in this field, www.priceline.com. Enter your parameters (e.g. four-star or better near the river), and Mr. Hotwire spits out a list of heavily discounted options which includes all of the pertinent information except the actual name of the property.

Last-minute deals

According to PhocusWright, an online travel research company, one-third of online travel consumers plan trips within two weeks of departure. The Web sites below offer relief from exorbitant prices for the truant:

www.smarterliving.com--If you're flexible as to date of departure and destination, sign up for the Smarterliving e-mail newsletter, published by one of the true pioneers in discounted online travel. Loads of discounts will find their way to you every week.

www.site59.com--Specializing in package deals for trips booked anywhere from three hours to 14 days prior to departure, Site59 provides the best bang for the buck in finding last-minute online travel specials. Site59 powers the last-minute travel sections for a bevy of 800-pound gorillas in the Internet travel arena (including Yahoo Travel, Travelocity and Orbitz), so they must be doing something right.

www.11thhourvacations.com--The winner of the "best of the rest" category, this Web site, which also offers discounts on cruises and vacation rentals, may be just the ticket if Site59 doesn't cover your particular destination for some reason.

Airfares

While at least partially responsible for the online travel revolution, airfare discount Web sites no longer offer dollar savings to rival those in the above categories. No matter, you may yet squeeze a couple of bucks off the ticket price at these sites.

www.sidestep--The Sidestep comparison engine, which can be downloaded in a couple of minutes, magically appears on the left side of your monitor every time you search for airfares online (be it at an airline Web site, Expedia or another discounter). It takes the search parameters you've entered at your destination Web site and kicks out a list of lowest prices which you can compare to the results generated by the Web site you are visiting. If there's a better deal out there, Sidestep will find it, and all you need to do is click on the relevant link to be transported directly to the purchasing screen at the winning Web site.

www.travelocity.com--Check out the Dream Maps feature if you're simply looking to get away for the cheapest price possible. Enter your airport of departure, and Travelocity will produce a map with the cheapest fare to cities both within and outside of the United States. Simply click on the most interesting fare, and you'll be presented with dates for which such fares are available.

Airline Web sites--While not a very exciting recommendation, it's always worth taking a peek at the airlines' Web sites before booking online.

Packages

Once hailed as the "next big thing" in online travel, this genre hasn't really lived up to its billing. Even though all of the major players have jumped on the bandwagon, evidence of any real savings in booking the whole enchilada at once rather than purchasing flight, hotel and car separately has been difficult to find. Nonetheless, if you count yourself among the legions of time-strapped vacation planners who'd rather click on the purchase link once rather than three times, check out the vacation package tab at www.expedia.com to peruse probably the most impressive listing of allegedly-discounted, all-in-one options.

Cars

Rental cars tend to cost what they cost regardless of where booked, but for those convinced they can beat the system, you may well use www.orbitz.com. Search results are displayed in "matrix" fashion, which makes side-by-side comparison-shopping easier.

Auctions

Yes, auctions. If you just can't seem to find your dream vacation online at the right price, a good last ditch effort is www.skyauctions.com, which lists vacation packages which have sold at auction for as little as $1. Also, www.ebay.com has taken the plunge into the online travel world by offering cruises, vacation packages and loads more to the highest bidder.