Here are some websites you need to check out so you can make the most of your money, your time, your journey, or just ward off some nasty jet lag. There won’t be any sites that are advertised everywhere already (because of course you’ve already used or avoided them). Enjoy this little trip around the internet where I hope you not only find travel websites you haven’t come across before, but also sites that you will find awesomely useful!
So onward with the road less traveled!
Trip Expert
Everyone is aware of TripAdvisor, a site that allows everyone to leave reviews about places, but wouldn’t be great to be able to cross-reference the average person’s short sometimes snarky review with an expert’s review. That is what TripExpert allows you to do. You type in your destination or accommodations and it will give you what the experts are putting in print from A to Zagat!
Rom2Rio
With Rom2Rio you can compare with tools (like very easy on the eye visuals and sidebars with drop-down menus) how you want to travel, the cost of travel, and it will even give you very specific information such as the bus line or airline you can use.
Skiplagged
This site is bananas! Did you know a ticket from one city to another can be half as much if you just take a different flight pattern with a different layover destination?! Say you want to go to Miami. You can go directly for $200. Or you can endure an hour layover and pay $160. Or you can pay $86 if you do an hour and a half layover in another city. If you can endure more time in your layover, or can put up with a layover in a different state, you can save half. There’s an app for your smartphone too!
Hopper
Hopper is the award-winning mobile app that doesn’t just let you book flights from your phone: It also tells you when is the best time to buy. No spam. No ads. No popups. No time wasted. Just the confidence that you’re booking smart and saving money.
Hipmunk
Hipmunk is an innovate travel search engine for airfare, hotel rates, and rental cars, that Instead of simply organising results by what’s cheapest, applies an ‘agony‘ filter to show which flights, ranked by length of travel time combined with layovers and price, will be best for your money. They are then displayed on a grid that better represents what part of your day the plans will occupy, in order to help you plan around it instead of giving over an entire day to travel.
Kayak
With everything under one roof, you can use Kayak to scour the Web to find deals on flights, hotel rooms, and rental cars. One of the best features about this travel Website are the pricing trends and the predictive algorithms on where prices are going — up or down. You can use the information gleaned to assess your options for buying now or holding off.
Yapta
Several major airlines, such as American, AirTran and Jetblue, will refund you the difference, usually in the form of travel credits or vouchers, if the fare falls below what you paid for your ticket. Enter your flight information at Yapta.com, and the site tracks the fares for you. If the price dips below the threshold your specify, Yapta will shoot you an e-mail or Tweet and walk you through how to collect your refund.
Momondo
Momondo finds and compares airfare prices from more than 700 websites (including airlines and travel agencies). It also finds small airline carriers few other sites can. A huge hit in Europe, Momondo is now generating buzz stateside with its growing routes, no-frills functionality and sexy design. It also offers color-coded city guides where a specific color represents a theme (adventure, romance, etc.), rail transportation within the flight search results and soon-to-launch fare predictions.