Kahuna Travel Blog

I need a good hotel. Which site is the best, and which tells you the best deals?

www.hotels.com
www.travelocity.com
www.orbitz.com
www.priceline.com
any more you know?

There’s no one best site out there — they all do pretty much the same thing, it’s all a matter of personal taste. Some sites have great information, but horrible layouts. Some look great, but have no info.

The "best" site for you is the one you feel most comfortable using!

I’ve been using http://www.resideo.com/ a lot lately — the information about each hotel is presented in a smart way, and they allow folks like you and me to post reviews about Hotels we’ve stayed at (I like reading reviews of a hotel before I decide to stay there) and ask questions about a hotel (or answer a question posted by another user).

I know they don’t add any extra fees or anything like that.

Just shop around different sites, and go with the one that feels right to you!

There are so many different travel sites…expedia.com, Hotels.com, hotwire.com (which i don’t like much because you don’t know what you are getting til after you make the purchase), travelocity.com, and the one with the star trek guy. Which one is the best one with the best value? And gosh do I hate the "tax" fees. Please help! Thanks!

Priceline (they’ve got the commercials starring William Shatner from Star Trek) & Hotwire both offer the same basic services — bid for a "mystery" hotel (where you end up staying in a place that may or may not be what you really want).

The "big" sites (expedia, travelocity, hotels.com, etc.) all offer the same basic quote-and-book services, and almost look alike to a certain extent.

It’s good to check them all, however, as some offer lower rates than others, at various times. However — as you are already aware — it’s important to check the final rate, as they don’t all show the full rates (taxes, etc.) until the end (and many try to sell you other things that you don’t want).

My favorite site is http://www.resideo.com/ They’ve got a nice, simple search feature (search for a hotel name or destination), a way to quote in a city, and then sort the options by price or based on distance from a particular point-of-interest (showing you how far away each is). The rates include all taxes/fees, and the booking process is real simple.

They even feature TripAdvisor reviews for most of the hotels, so that way you don’t have to go back and forth trying to figure out which hotel is "right" for you.

Feel free to contact me if you’d like, I’d be more than happy to help (just need to know where you are planning to go, and when).

Good luck!

my question is i bought my tickets through travelocity.com and 6 of us are traveling how do i check in? is it one by one or when i put the conformation id all the people in my party are shown.

Well, when you use the Kiosk for Airtran, it will show a box of all the people on the reservation number. All you have to do is select all. It will print the boarding passes for all the people traveling.

If you have bags to check, then all the adults in the party with bags will have to go to the ticket counter with their ID’s ready to drop off the bags.

You can probably even check in online 24 hours prior to your departure.

I go to travelocity.com and orbitz.com. They have options for 2 years old and +.
Why do they not ask for children under 2? Are they free?
I got a quote on a airplane ticket but not sure if it’s right because the website did not ask me if i had my 6 month old with me….
Thank you all for the fast response!

I wish i could give you ALL best response! :^D

Under 2 they are free if they sit on your lap. If they require a seat then you have to pay.

Southwest isn’t booking flights that far in advance. AirTran takes too long. And all those expedia.com, travelocity.com, orbitz.com, ect… sites all have the same flights and none seem like a deal. Does anyone know other sites I can check to see if they have cheap airfares besides the usual popular ones that all have the same flights? Or is it cheaper to call the airline directly? Or anyone have any advice on how or where to get cheaper airfare? The travelocity, orbitz, expedia websites are all the same and I dont want to use those b/c they are not even that cheap.

Schedules and tickets usually post 6months Prior, so keep an eye out on all the airlines, especially airtran/southwest .

Earlier today, I was looking at a flight+hotel package on travelocity.com that offered a Continental flight and 3-night stay at the hotel I want for $800. Now when I check (6 hours later), tavelocity does not even list ANY Continental flights! Now they only offer me United Airlines, and that combined with the same hotel is $870!

There are still Continental flights available, because I’ve checked their website.. and just from my own previous research, I’ve found that Continental offers the cheapest flight of all the airlines.

What happened to my Continental package deal? Does Travelocity constantly change what flights/hotels they offer? Should I just keep checking back in hopes that my Continental package will resurface, or should I give up, and shell out the extra $$ before they jack up the prices again?

Go right to the source, cont air lines website, look for "flight & hotel" then put in info, should be cheaper then Hotels.com,travolcity, expedia, ect… atleast that’s what I discovered for my trip.

I’m from Japan and studying in Oregon now.
I’m now planning to take a trip to Los Angeles (at first I was thinking about SF, but I’ve changed my mind.) from Nov. 22 to 25.
And I’ve heard there are websites where I can make reservations of flight and a hotel. And these are "Travelocity.com" and "Expedia.com."
Are these websites safe and reliable? Becuase I’ve never used these sites, I have feelings of resistace toward using my credit card on these sites.
But I don’t want to spend most of time on my study and want to have time to relax.
Which website do you often use and recommend? Are these really safe?
Should I make reservations of my flight and a hotel right now so that they won’t be fully booked since the time when I make a trip is Thanksgiving?
Thank you for your help!

Hi there,

I’m an editor with Travelocity and I can tell you that yes, it’s ABSOLUTELY safe and secure to book your flight (or hotel or car or vacation package) on Travelocity. All personal information you provide to Travelocity is transmitted using SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption. SSL is a proven coding system that lets your browser automatically encrypt, or scramble, data before you send it to us. In addition, when you make travel purchases on Travelocity, you are protected by Travelocity’s Shop Safe Guarantee. So you’re fine. If you have other questions regarding flight changes and so on, here’s a link to our top Air Travel FAQs: http://travelocity.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/…
Also, if you click on "privacy policy" right at the bottom of that llink, you can read a little more about how your information is private and protected.

To answer the second part of your question about whether you should book your Thanksgiving flight and hotel now, I’d say yes — we’re only about a month away from Thanksgiving now and it’s very unlikely that rates are going to fall. If you see a price that works for you (wherever you’re looking), go ahead and book it, rather than trying to hold out to see if it drops any further. If you were talking about travel a little further in advance, I might not give you the same advice, but for something coming up so soon, I wouldn’t wait too much longer.

The exception, of course, is if you were looking at a last minute deal — I’m not sure about Expedia or other travel sites, but Travelocity has a special Last Minute Deal section where you can get a hotel + flight package for substantial savings when you book anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 hours in advance. For instance, I’m going to Vancouver next weekend from San Francisco (booked today) for $292 per person, including flight and two nights hotel. I priced just the flight separately and it was about $450. However, taking a last minute trip IS a little bit of a risk in that you don’t know if the flight times and so on that you want will be available when it comes time to book them — and as you said, you don’t want to be thinking about this while you’re studying, so it’s really up to you.

Bottom line: inputting your credit card details into Travelocity.com is totally safe, and I’d go with booking your Thanksgiving travel now if you can find a price that works.

Hope this helps you out a little — please feel free to contact me if you have more questions or to stop back here and ask them (I’ll do my best to reply!)

Have a safe flight and a great trip — whoever you end up booking with.
–Holly

A few months ago I booked a flight through travelocity.com for $800. Recently, however, I found several flights for $300, and desperately want to cancel my original reservations so I can put that extra money toward my trip. I keep hearing awful things about travelocity customer service, and the site DOES say that tickets are non-refundable, but has anyone ever found a way to get around this? Would it make a difference if I went directly through the airlines (Northwest and Horizon)? Any ideas at all?
I realize its "non-refundable", and I agreed to those terms when I purchased the ticket. I did NOT, however, foresee such a drastic decrease in ticket prices. I also know that airlines are obligated to offer refunds under certain circumstances - just not sure exactly which ones.
Goodness, this is "yahoo answers", not "needless criticism.com". I don't fly often, and I know there is often a lot of oft unmentioned fine print that might be useful in situations like this. So thanks to those who actually answered my questions! My flight has been rescheduled 3 times - I will call the airlines and ask for the their refund policies concerning this.

There is nothing you can do. Buying airline tickets is like the stock market. No refunds on that stock that’s now worth 25% of what it was either.

The only way you’ll likely get this refunded is if the itinerary has had an involuntary reschedule (flight times, or flights changed outside your control) then you can get a refund.

I bought a ticket on Malaysian Airlines' website for a trip from Melbourne, Australia to Frankfurt, Germany 6 months from now.
The only available flight I saw on their website would have me staying 17 hours at Kuala Lumpur! Since there were no other options on their site I booked it, but then the same day I saw the exact same airline flight on travelocity.com.au but had a wait time of only 3 hours.
I called the airline and asked them to change the date of one of the flights but they couldn't sell it to me saying that they 'provide different ticket options to different third party sellers' and that most likely I would have to cancel my tickets and incur a larger penalty and then buy the ticket from travelocity.

This is for the same airline going through all the same airports but just with an earlier flight cutting down my transit wait. Can I contest the cancellation fee - what options do I have according to Victorian Law? Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

the problem is that when u buy a ticket you have to read carefully the small print. the tickets are normally non-refundable and if you cancel it you do get a penalty. that's the reason why you should look into all your options before buying a ticket.

I just booked a flight and Travelocity.com tells me that electronic items need to be checked and cannot be brought on board for flights leaving the UK. I know there was a ban like this last year, but I thought it was temporary and ultimately removed. Is travelocity simply outdated or what's the latest news on this. In case it's airline-specific, I'm flying Virgin-Atlantic and BMI. Thanks

I flew back in January, from London to Dallas, took a MP3 player aboard and was listening to it during the flight, so I highly doubt there is a ban unless its been reinstated very recently.