Travel Sites Reviews

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Travel Sites Reviews Reviewed
Review Ratings	Citation	CS Credibility Rating	Travel Sites Ratings Comments on Reviews
1. J.D. Power & Associates	2007 Independent Travel Website Satisfaction Study Editors of J.D. Power Nov. 27, 2007		This survey measures travelers' satisfaction with seven independent travel websites when booking airline, hotel or car reservations. Hotwire.com receives the highest rating overall again this year, based on price competition and ease of site navigation. Travelocity lands in second place because “site upgrades over the past year seem to have paid off” in areas like travel packages and booking ease. Expedia.com is third. Cheaptickets.com and Orbitz score significantly below others in overall satisfaction. This survey does not rate travel search engines like Kayak, which search multiple travel sites.
2. Kiplinger.com	25 Best Travel Sites Sean O'Neill Updated Oct. 2007		Editors at Kiplinger say, "We've personally used each of these sites to research and book travel and found them superior to others." In the airfare category, Kayak.com is rated best for time-pressed travelers. However, other sites, such as LowesTravel.com, fare better with international travel. Farecast.com gets high marks for scouting out best airfare deals faster than other sites -- helpful for flexible travelers. In the lodging category, Priceline.com offers the best deals in luxury hotels, according to editors. And Lastminute.com (formerly Site59.com) does the best job of ferreting out last-minute vacations even three hours before departure time.
3. Wired Magazine	Next-Gen Travel Sites Find Better Deals, Faster John Brandon Dec. 12, 2007		Wired's John Brandon tests four new sites to see which could find the best deals. The winner was Yahoo! FareChase, which delivered the lowest prices on five out of eight test routes. The site is also user-friendly and easily adjusts travel plans. Other sites like Farecast, Sidestep and Kayak found far fewer flights. However, Brandon notes that Farecast has “the most usable options for researching low fares based on recent trends in fare prices.” Farecast’s Fare Alert lets you know by e-mail when rates are reduced.
4. Travel + Leisure magazine	Top 25 Travel Websites Xander Kaplan, Nina Willdorf, Tanvi Chheda, Jessica Shaw and Jennifer Welbel Sept. 2007		The authors assemble a list of what they consider to be the top 25 websites along with a description of what they are best at. Sidestep gets a nod as the best tool for booking flights in this roundup. The authors especially liked the results page, which offers an overview of the lowest prices from 600 airlines. The best site for researching low-far carriers in Europe is Flycheapo.com and Farecompare.com is best at locating the best international airfares. Meanwhile, Kayak is the best at booking hotels.

Travel Sites Reviews above this line are significantly better than reviews below.

Review Ratings	Citation	CS Credibility Rating	Travel Sites Ratings Comments on Reviews

5. PC World >> Details/Subscribe	Best Travel Planning Sites James Martin July 19, 2007		Martin recommends four travel sites in this roundup. Farecast gets the nod because it charts airfares for a particular itinerary. Kayak lets you search for hotels, cars and cruises as well as revealing the price that other users have gotten. ITA Software “is a good option for finding the lowest airfares.” And Yapta.com can tag flight reservations you’ve made and alert you when the fare drops. No specific recommendations are made, though.
6. The Washington Post >> Details/Subscribe	Room Services Gary Lee Feb. 4, 2007		Gary Lee sizes up sites for discounted hotel rooms and suggests starting searches by visiting Hotwire, Expedia and Travelocity. There are also several other sites worth visiting before booking a room, he says, because dozens of Internet sites can get you great deals. For example, Hotelrooms365.com offers a rebate program and Tablethotels.com has a big cache of luxury hotel rooms at good prices. Another source for deals are the hotel sites themselves, which he says are “locked in a struggle with third-party sites” and so try to better their rates. Aggregators are the third set of sites he recommends visiting for good deals, including Sidestep and Kayak. No sites are recommended or compared though.
7. Los Angeles Times >> Details/Subscribe	Surfing Before you Fly can Uncover Best Fare Peter Pae July 15, 2007		There is much more information available at online travel sites than ever before, says Peter Pae of the Los Angeles Times. Travel sites are being launched nearly weekly, and established sites like Orbitz are facing stiff competition, he adds. The result: Consumers can save lots of money just by spending a half-hour doing comparison shopping. That means checking three different types of sites: big online travel agencies like Orbitz, airline websites and travel search engines like Kayak or Mobissimo.
8. The Washington Post >> Details/Subscribe	Hello Good Buys: Four Sites that Offer Travel Help Carol Sottili Sept. 10, 2006		The Washington Post staff writer Carol Sottili rates four travel websites in this older article: Farecast, Flyspy, FareCompare and Kayak. All of these analyze airfare prices, so travelers can find the best fares. The strongest rating goes to Farecast.com, where searches can be customized by price, time and length. FareCompare also receives a high rating.
9. Miami Herald	''Big Three'' booking sites Editors of the Miami Herald Nov. 4, 2007		This article provides a "snapshot" view of the "big three" online book sites -- Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity. Opinions are based on company supplied information as well as the newspaper's unspecified "research." Details such as booking fees, fare alerts, the availability of last minute deals, customer support and more are listed. Expedia is called the favorite of the three because of its "appealing, easy-to-use home page and tools."
10. USA Today Magazine	New Generation of Travel Planning Websites Grow Up Megan Scott, Associated Press Nov. 29, 2007		Megan Scott basically provides a run-down of 14 new websites and ones that are variations on older ones. For example, Orbitz has a new social networking feature called OrbitzTLC Traveler Update that offers real-time updates on taxis, etc. posted by fellow travelers. Yahoo! Trip Planner helps travelers create personalized guides for upcoming trips. There are also plenty of new sites like Fabsearch.com (scouts out trendy hotels and hip restaurants) or TripIt.com (organizes travel plans onto one master online itinerary). None of the websites is rated, however.
11. MSNBC	6 essential sites for planning a family cruise Amber Nolan Dec. 11, 2007		If you are planning a cruise -- especially a family cruise -- this article details sites that can help make the many decisions involved a lot easier. Amber Nolan details which sites do what best -- from finding deals and discounts to picking a cabin to planning shore excursions. All of the sites are described in generally positive terms, however, and the article gives the impression that a visit to all six is a necessity.

Travel Sites Reviews above this line are significantly better than reviews below.

Review Ratings	Citation	CS Credibility Rating	Travel Sites Ratings Comments on Reviews

12. The New York Times	When the Best Deals Don’t End in .Com Michelle Higgins Sept. 30, 2007		Many big travel sites also have offshoots in foreign countries like Mexico or Germany, and these offshoots typically charge lower airfare and car rental fees, says The New York Times' Michelle Higgins. Because companies have multi-tiered pricing structures, the rates for cars and planes (not hotels though) can vary considerably from those published in the U.S. The upshot is that if you’re travelling within a country, it makes sense to search foreign websites first before booking.
13. USA Today Magazine	Travelers Contribute to Online Guides Anick Jesdanun Dec. 20, 2006		One antidote to quickly outdated travel guides is checking out the free sites where travelers share information and reviews. Sites like Wikitravel and World Wikia are organized by sections. Others, such as Gusto and IgoUgo, are social-networking hubs. Anick Jesdanun says you should use both hard-copy guides and online sources when planning a trip, because information on travelers' sites may not be accurate.
14. The New York Times	Whether to Ask the Hotel or Hit the Web Michael Higgins Feb. 18, 2007		In this Practical Traveler column in The New York Times, Michelle Higgins says that “Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity aren’t always the bargain bins they once were for hotel rates.” She notes that while rates at those sites sometimes carry stricter cancellation policies and requirements for full payment when booking, some hotel chains are matching the lowest rates shown on third party websites and even throwing in incentives like gift certificates. Thus, many people are researching the lowest rates on the web and then going to hotel sites to book their rooms.
15. The Wall Street Journal >> Details/Subscribe	New Ways to Trade Travel Secrets Online Nick Timiraos Sept. 19, 2006		This article discusses the rise of six social networking sites focused on travel: Tripmates.com, IgoUgo.com, Gusto.com, Realtravel.com and TripAdvisor.com. Though no sites are rated, features are detailed so that travel enthusiasts can pinpoint the sites that best suit them.
16. USA Today Magazine	How to be a better online travel shopper Bill McGee Mar. 7, 2006		Bill McGee is the travel consultant for Consumer Reports WebWatch, and he has analyzed over 200 sites. His conclusion about web shopping: Always comparison shop, since no single site has the best travel bargains. He does suggest that travelers begin their searches with major travel search-engine sites like Kayak, Mobissimo and SideStep, or with Expedia or Orbitz. After that, check out "branded" sites sponsored by airlines or hotels. Watch out for something he calls "fare-jumping," though -- when rates suddenly rise during booking. No particular sites are rated, and since this article is older than most, newer sites are not covered at all.
17. Los Angeles Times >> Details/Subscribe	Check That Cancellation Clause or Bookings Can Be Costly James Gilden Jan. 7, 2007		Changes or cancellations in a hotel reservation, whether through an online agency like Expedia or directly through the hotel, can result in fees ranging from $25 to the full cost of a stay. Thus, it's important to note the "exact policies for each Website," writes James Gilden, the Los Angeles Times' Internet Traveler columnist. Finding cancellation policies on sites can be daunting, though, Gilden adds.

Travel Sites Reviews above this line are significantly better than reviews below.

Review Ratings	Citation	CS Credibility Rating	Travel Sites Ratings Comments on Reviews

18. Los Angeles Times >> Details/Subscribe	Discount Airlines May -- Or May Not -- Be Going Your Way James Gilden Jan. 21, 2007		Being wary of low-cost European airlines is a good policy, says James Gilden. Because the European airline industry is fiercely competitive these days, low-cost carriers may change routes, take off from out-of-the-way airports and even go bankrupt. The best way to insure against losing money if an airline goes under, Gilden says, is by charging fares with a credit card.