# Best discount travel site.



## Danny (Oct 17, 2012)

Looking to go south this winter. I live in Ottawa. Looking to see which web sites people subscribe to or watch for great deals. Not sure where I want to go yet. Looking passably for last minute deals. Had checked out sunwing.ca. Any one have any go to sites?


----------



## jargey3000 (Jan 25, 2011)

....from being a tightwad traveler for MANY years.... your best bet is your own computer. Dealing DIRECTLY with the provider will almost always give you as good or BETTER deals than going thru a 3rd party provider (somebody's got to pay their fees)
I know a lot of people (incl. my kids) use expedia . any time i've bothered to check them, i've never found better pricing than i cud get myself.
That said, I usually end up using selloffvacations.com when ibook all-inclusive jaunts to Caribbean...but all the various .com sites seem to habe the same pricing. 

good luc

oh- forgot to mention. you CAN get good hotel orices on hotwire if your prepared to spend a few clicks on betterbidding site to zero in & KNOW which hotel you're buying.

also...sorry about the spelling & grammar...on the mimosas a bit early ....HIC!....


----------



## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

We travel frequently. Our answer would be .....it depends. For accommodation we usually find that it is more advantageous to deal with the property rather than through a third party. We have seen exceptions where we suspect a third party has purchased a block of rooms, cannot sell them all, and then dumps them at a knock down price. For other travel.....it really pays to shop and we find that there is no rule of thumb to follow. For cruises we always find that it is better to deal with an on line TA who rebates a portion of their commission back to us in the form of on board credits. We also use travel sites that are in other countries. We sometimes find that the pricing is not consistent between North American sites and other sites even for the same organization. We use the web and a long distance calling card to call overseas.

We use many sites. The trick is to understand the prevailing pricing, understand the currency that you are buying in, know what you are buying, and then being prepared to hit the buy button when your price hits. We recently made two purchases. The first was a hotel in Singapore for next month. Advertised on the hotel chain club as a boxing day sale. We knew the pricing, it was a very attractive price, and we bought immediately. The second was a trip to China in May. Price was fabulous so we purchased immediately. Fifteen minutes later it was sold out. The same is particularly true for air. 

The flip side is never expect to pay the lowest. If you do you may find yourself vacationing in your back yard. Simply establish a buy price that you believe, based on research, to be a good one. Chances are there will be people paying more, and those paying less, than you did.

We also consider currency. Delaying a trip to South Africa decreased our cost by 10-15 percent based on currency alone. We have cut back most of our US travel and purchase of travel products like cruises that are based in USD.


----------



## OurBigFatWallet (Jan 20, 2014)

In my experience it's easiest to deal directly with the provider. I use expedia, travelocity etc to compare prices but then I book directly with the company. Expedia was horrible to deal with once when my travel itinerary changed (the airline changed the flights but Expedia didn't notify me) and I haven't used them since


----------



## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

Agree. We do not use expedia, or any of their many subsidiary booking sites. Plus, when we do check their pricing it is either higher than others or the same price as other suppliers who offer a much better level of service.


----------



## heyjude (May 16, 2009)

It is often cheaper to book directly with airlines and hotels. Be careful about repeatedly searching online for the same trip. Bots know you want it and increase the price. And they may charge you more if you fit the profile they expect. CBC Marketplace recently did a story about this.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/marketplace-online-prices-profiles-1.4414240


----------



## Spidey (May 11, 2009)

There was an article in the paper today regarding how some of the well known sites, like Expedia, do not offer the best values. We've used Flight Hub and found prices far lower than were offered by Expedia. .


----------



## jargey3000 (Jan 25, 2011)

....but...do ANY OF 'EM offer lower prices than the actual airline????........


----------



## milhouse (Nov 16, 2016)

Our go to site to find deals (not book) is Chris Myden's YOWdeals.com and associated sites period. The deals are great but are dependent on what deals pop up. We used to use Travelzoo but they generally aren't very good nowadays. 

I agree that it's typically cheaper (and potentially saves confusion from using a middle man) to book directly with the airline or property but there are exceptions. In terms of flights, some times you can find hacker flights eg. One ticket on one airline outbound and a different ticket and airline on the return. It's kind of risky booking these itineraries directly with the airline on your own in the event you book your first ticket and then run into problems with your second ticket. It also depends on how complex your itinerary: number of legs, open jaw, etc.

We occasionally book accommodations through Expedia because they occasionally offer member pricing and additional discounts which further reduces pricing. Expedia also came through for us when our original Expedia hotel booking was cancelled due to hurricane damage in Florida. All the other hotels that remained or got themselves opened were charging premium pricing but Expedia was able to get us discounted pricing. 
Some times there are inventory considerations. 
We'll occasionally use Priceline or Hotwire but you obviously have to be open to some randomness.

+1 to most of ian's initial post.


----------



## Danny (Oct 17, 2012)

Thanks for all the great replies.


----------



## jargey3000 (Jan 25, 2011)

milhouse said:


> I agree that it's typically cheaper (and potentially saves confusion from using a middle man) to book directly with the airline or property but there are exceptions. In terms of flights, some times you can find hacker flights eg. One ticket on one airline outbound and a different ticket and airline on the return. It's kind of risky booking these itineraries directly with the airline on your own in the event you book your first ticket and then run into problems with your second ticket. It also depends on how complex your itinerary: number of legs, open jaw, etc.
> 
> 
> 
> +1 to most of ian's initial post.


I tend to disagree... dont most airlines (at least AC & WJ do) give you 24 hours to cancel with no charges. so, if you run into problems booking separate flights or whatever, you have the option to cancel. Again, I've NEVER found a chaeper flight on a discount site than what's offered by the airline.


----------



## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

We have. We use itmatrix that gives pricing, class, and routing options. You do not book on this site...they just give you the options. So, we got a flight to Bangkok. The site gave us price, $1000 and routing. Called AC. They had the flights, the fare codes, etc. but their price was $1500. Looked at 3 or 3 other booking sites, including Expedia, Travelocity, etc. They either did not have the price or the routing (the routing was one stop vs two). Finally tried the Orbitz site and the flight and price came up. So we booked. All withing 15-20 minutes.

Last fall we went Halifax-St. Johns. Then St. Johns-Dublin, then Dublin-Halifax via St. Johns. Great fare BUT booked on Expedia because it was $200. less than the cost of the same flights on the Westjet site. That was a 25 percent difference in fares. Not sure why this was. We do not like expedia but did book on their site because of the large price delta. I called Westjet first and asked. They could not give me a reason for the difference.


----------



## jargey3000 (Jan 25, 2011)

...that's interesting Ian...wish the hell I cud find discounts like that when I'm flying in & out of YYT...like i say, i've never found 3rd party cheaper, but then i dont check EVERY time i fly...


----------



## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

Try subscribing to yytdeals.com, or for that matter any XXXdeals.com where XXX is the airport code. We use matrix.itsoftware.com extensively. We are going to Singapore and back from Manila on a yycdeal.com heads up on a $700. fare.

Travelzoo.ca can sometimes have some very good offers but they need to be culled because there is a lot of useless offers (to us) as well. But we recently booked an incredibly low priced trip to China based on one of their recent offers. They are not all good....you really need to understand the pricing and be ready to buy when a great offer comes along.

We travel frequently so we shop. We sometimes find differences, some significant, between pricing on the same supplier but different country websites.


----------



## milhouse (Nov 16, 2016)

jargey3000 said:


> I tend to disagree... dont most airlines (at least AC & WJ do) give you 24 hours to cancel with no charges. so, if you run into problems booking separate flights or whatever, you have the option to cancel. Again, I've NEVER found a chaeper flight on a discount site than what's offered by the airline.


True, most North American bookings allow for 24hr cancellation but the rules seem more complication with international flights. 
I can't list specific examples but while my first choice is to book directly with the airlines, I've had purchases in the past where booking on these third party sites were cheaper. We always check on the airline's website before booking on the third party site.


----------



## OptsyEagle (Nov 29, 2009)

I watched this Marketplace episode last night. I guess it 1st aired in November. They were saying that these online sites will vary the price offered, on just about any product, depending on how they rate you. In other words, what they think the highest price, that you will pay, will be. For example, if you have searched for the exact item in 7 different department stores, the online site you check next will probably give you a better price, then someone who came to that online site first, since they feel you are shopping around. If they think you are a woman, they will charge you different, then if they think you are a man. I am sure it changes on who gets the better price, depending on the product. They found that when the site has a cookie on you they will probably offer a better price then when you are incognito (deleted all your cookies or are using private browsing), although it is not 100% of the time. 

Their best advice is to check the price using your regular browser (with cookies) and then do it again "incognito" (delete cookies or use private browsing). Take the best price that you get in either case. Sometimes you get a better or worse price on your phone as opposed to your computer.

http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/episodes/2017-2018/the-pricing-game-how-to-score-the-best-deal-online


----------



## paigej (Aug 21, 2017)

I always use TripAdvisor to find the best locations / hotels / car rentals / flight deals. It has everything. It even has things to do and restaurants to go to.


----------



## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

You need to be very careful with tripadviser when it comes to accommodation. Especially smaller boutique hotels, B&B's in overseas locations. Pay attention to the number of reviews, the writing style and comments of the reviewers, and where the reviewers live. You can sometimes spot reviews that are very similar in tone, verbage, and comments. 

If you do you will come across some reviews that are clearly there to positively 'salt' the ratings. Same with restaurants.

We recently booked an eight day escorted trip to China. Incredible price that included tours,4/5 star hotels, etc. It was less than the cost airfare. The deal came across on travelzoo. It was sold out in 15 minutes since availability was limited. Had we slept on it we would have missed the opportunity.


----------



## DollaWine (Aug 4, 2015)

For flights, Kayak.com and Google Flights are my go-to's.


----------



## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

I like Google Flights and Skyscanner and YOWDeals for flights.

I like using hotels.com/ca and booking.com for hotels - including tripadvisor for reviews of them.


----------



## tdiddy (Jan 7, 2015)

jargey3000 said:


> ....but...do ANY OF 'EM offer lower prices than the actual airline????........


I second ITA Travel matrix recommendation. Frequently you will be finding fares significantly cheaper than actual airline website, especially if it is a complicated segment. Google flights (similar engine) and Kayak are also good but from my experience ITA is the best. 

I just booked an open jaw ticket into Indonesia with stop over in Korea, home out of Sydney Australia, saved ~$1200 per person vs original quote from Air Canada. I just had to call Air Canada back with ITA fare code and got the lower price.


----------



## milhouse (Nov 16, 2016)

I use TripAdvisor as a review resource but not in isolation. It not just the "suspect" positive reviews and skewed rankings but some of the bad reviews have unrealistic expectations. 

Had a good laugh about the Shed at Dulwich though. Apparently a guy who used to work a job to write fake reviews, created a fake restaurant on TripAdvisor as a bit of a lark. He supplemented it with a website and fake reviews and was able to eventually get it ranked as the #1 rated restaurant in London on TripAdvisor.


----------



## OurBigFatWallet (Jan 20, 2014)

milhouse said:


> I use TripAdvisor as a review resource but not in isolation. It not just the "suspect" positive reviews and skewed rankings but some of the bad reviews have unrealistic expectations.
> 
> Had a good laugh about *the Shed *at Dulwich though. Apparently a guy who used to work a job to write fake reviews, created a fake restaurant on TripAdvisor as a bit of a lark. He supplemented it with a website and fake reviews and was able to eventually get it ranked as the #1 rated restaurant in London on TripAdvisor.


For anyone interested in the full story on "The Shed" - hilarious read. https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/434gqw/i-made-my-shed-the-top-rated-restaurant-on-tripadvisor


----------



## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

I do not think that there is any one 'good' or 'best' travel site. Some have unique offerings and strengths plus they all change over time. We scan many on a regular basis. We don't even bother looking at 70 percent plus of the offers because we do not find them particularly good. Some have geographic strengths. We used some Asian, Australian, and European sites from time to time because they happened to have some enhanced offerings that others did not. 

These sites are all very fluid.


----------



## milhouse (Nov 16, 2016)

milhouse said:


> True, most North American bookings allow for 24hr cancellation but the rules seem more complication with international flights.
> I can't list specific examples but while my first choice is to book directly with the airlines, I've had purchases in the past where booking on these third party sites were cheaper. We always check on the airline's website before booking on the third party site.


Just found a potential example I wanted to put out to the forum for analysis/discussion/scutiny.

The missus and I have been chatting about whether to take advantage of this deal: YVRDeals found an open jaw deal for YVR to SIN and BKK to YVR, where you have to find your own way from SIN to BKK like a cheap Air Asia flight. The deal appears to be on Flight Hub with the cheapest fares when travelling on Tuesdays. I played around with the dates in May and June, travelling on Thu and Sun, and added a stopover in Tokyo with Flight Hub showing pricing of just under $600 with 3 seats left. I wasn't able to replicate the flight on ANA's website which was showing $1088 with all the same parameters. 

Granted, I didn't click and book yet so Flight Hub might still say the price has changed after I click for the final payment step.


----------

