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Save Time, Money and Frustration When Booking Travel Online!
Have you ever found booking travel online to be a frustrating experience when looking for hotels, cheap vacations, or even cruise deals? Did you go to multiple travel web sites trying to find the best deal?
No doubt about it, booking your vacation online can be time consuming even if you're very experienced at it, like me, as I've booked all of my travel online for over a decade now.
Though I think booking travel online is the way to go, it's not for everyone. Some people may find that they are more comfortable booking a vacation through a travel agent, especially if they're inexperienced at travel or they're pressed for time, but online travel agents can definitely be your solution. Regardless, you need to know that the internet has great new ways to get assistance when booking travel on the internet, even if you've never booked travel online before. You should not be afraid to book your vacation online since internet technology has made it easier than ever.
Before you book your vacation, you may want to look at our vacation planner with vacation planning travel tips to save you time and money on your vacation. We also have very important travel advice on the top five travel mistakes that cost you big bucks. Finally, I've put together some vacation destination resource guides to help you in planning your trips to a U.S. Destination or an International Destination with important travel tips before you go.
Five Best Travel Deals Tips: Save Money Every Time You're Booking Travel Online
1. Book your airfare, hotel and car rental as a package. When booking travel online, most travel web sites allow for you to request a package rate quote. Some travel web sites like
Rovia Travel
have a special "vacation" icon that allows you to combine "airfare + hotel," "airfare + car rental," and "airfare + car rental + hotel" which is where you can get this special pricing. Booking travel as a vacation package can literally save you hundreds of dollars on your trip. You can then use the money you save on your vacation package for dining at nice local restaurants at your vacation destination, extra savings with the Go City Card or Explorer Pass for package discounts on sight-seeing admissions and theme parks, and even once-in-a-lifetime experiences like swimming with dolphins, zip-lining through a rain forest or taking a gondola ride on the Grand Canal in Venice (or at the Venetian Hotel in Vegas).
2. Compare prices. When booking travel online, you're naturally searching for the best price on your vacation, but did you know that not all travel search engines or travel web sites are created equal? A recent independent survey by Topaz International found that Expedia had the best price just 6% of the time and Travelocity had the best price about 28% of the time when booking travel online. But there is a new kid on the block, Rovia Travel, that had the best price 68% of the time over Expedia or Travelocity according to the survey. How can they do it?
Rovia Travel
has spent millions to develop an end consumer GDS (global distribution system) booking engine web site technology that integrates all three major GDS systems, direct vendor feeds and contracted rates whereas all other travel web sites offer just one GDS or redirect you to other vendors.
Rovia Preferred Customer
This unique technology saves you so much time and money as you search for the best travel deals. Henry Wang, who designed the Orbitz and United Airlines online travel sites, is the techno brain behind Rovia Travel. Now, instead of going to multiple travel web sites to find the best travel deal, Rovia Travel is a one-stop shop that searches ALL the online travel sites to get you the best price on your vacation seven out of ten times (verified by Topaz International). Also, if you register as a
Preferred Customer
, Rovia will match or beat any price you find online.
Although they have been a travel agency for over 25 years, they've just recently made a big splash on the internet travel scene. You may still want to compare prices with Expedia. There are no Expedia Change or Cancel Fees on hotels, cruises, cars and more. I have found both travel web sites to be very reliable but I bet you're like me as I'm always looking for the best price for my trip.
3. Loyalty Has Its FREE Rewards. No matter where you travel, even if you think you're not going to use another airline again, stay at the same chain of hotels, or rent a car from the same rental car company, sign up for their reward program anyway as you never know how your loyalty can pay off in the long run and this loyalty literally converts into free airline tickets, free hotel rooms, and hey, free vacations or deeply discounted vacations. I'm big on leveraging all my loyalty programs and many online travel web sites are offering loyalty programs now, too.
Hotels.com
has a WelcomeRewards program that rewards you for "sleeping around." Just buy 10 hotel nights on their website and you get one night free.
Rovia Travel has a Preferred Customer Program that's free to join and here's how it works. When you're booking travel online
through their site as a registered
Preferred Customer
, you get $200,000 of free flight insurance and 30 minutes of free Concierge service to help you plan your trip once you're at your vacation destination with making dinner reservations for you, helping you with driving directions when you forget to print them out from MapQuest or Google Maps (like I've done on trips before) or getting you a phone number you need without having your mobile phone company charging you.
The Rovia Preferred Customer program and benefits are free and provide a $40 value of free services every time you book through them so it's a best travels deals tip. I had been paying American Express six bucks for just $100,000 of flight insurance so this is a great travel deal. You also get access to a
price comparison service
, up-to-the-minute deals on travel to your favorite destinations, exclusive access to preferred last-minute getaways, and my favorite feature is as a
Preferred Customer
, they record your personal frequent flyer/hotel rewards account information so that you maximize the leverage of travel dollars you're already spending even more. Most online travel web sites, like Travelocity and Hotels.com, do not allow you to keep your miles or rewards. I like this as it's sort of like the Hilton Hhonors Double Dipping Rewards program so it's a super leverage value.
Always remember the goal to best travel deals tips is to get the best price and keep loyalty reward points.
Vacation Photos: 10 Tips for Better Travel Photos
Don't forget to record your vacation adventures with photographic evidence of your good times. Your vacation photos are the best souvenir of any trip. I don't know about you, but I used to come back from trips with terrible photos so don't let this happen to you. Check out 10 Tips to Take Better Photos on Vacation. I have advice on not only how to take better photos, but also what's the best camera to buy, too.
4. Read Hotel Reviews BEFORE You Book Travel Online. When I was booking travel online for my hotel in Venice, Italy, last fall, reviews were key to my final decision, but you need to be aware that not all reviews are as they appear. I recently attended a travel show in Los Angeles and was very excited to meet and interview respected travel guide book author, Pauline Frommer (interview right). She reported that many reviews that you see on travel web sites like TripAdvisor.com are not all genuine from guests, but fake reviews from the hotel marketing department or friends of people who work at the hotel. Now, don't get me wrong as I don't want to sully the good name of TripAdvisor.com as I depend on them for a lot of information
(and I've contributed to their reviews)
, but just beware when basing your complete decision on only the good reviews that you need to take a look at some of the not so good reviews also when booking travel online. I know there were some spot on reviews of hotels I stayed at when I was in Barcelona from previous guests that weren't so happy with the hotel. I just wish I'd listened to them instead of relying on photos that somehow managed to fool me. More on that in another article on this site.
5. Buy Travel Insurance and Save You Big Bucks. Many people don't think they need travel insurance when booking travel online and for a lot of people, I'd say it's usually a safe bet, but you definitely need to consider getting
travel insurance
if you're booking certain types of trips like vacation packages or cruises, if you know bad weather could be involved, or if you have personal circumstances that would cause you to cancel a trip. For example, if you book a cruise (and you've booked your flight separately), you need to know that if there are any air travel delays caused by your airline and you miss the ship departure, you're financially responsible for getting yourself (and your family) to the next port to meet up with the ship or lose your dream cruise vacation altogether.
I also recommend travel insurance if you have a family member with a terminal illness and may have to cancel the trip if you have to attend of funeral (check the policy to make sure it covers this) or you're traveling during a time where weather delays can sabotage your connections. For travel insurance, I recommend plans available through Travel Guard can provide you with coverage for unexpected medical expenses while on a trip.
They've been a client of mine since 2009 and there are only a few options for this specialized insurance and they are very reputable. Make sure you purchase travel insurance right when you're completing the checkout process when booking travel online or within two weeks of purchasing your vacation. Most online travel web sites will offer travel insurance when you do your check out to make this easy. If you've already booked a trip, it's easy to add Travel Guard travel insurance at their website.
Now that you know how to save time, money and frustration when booking travel online, your vacation photos are the best souvenir of any trip. I don't know about you, but I used to come back from trips with terrible photos so don't let this happen to you. Check out 10 Tips to Take Better Photos on Vacation. I have advice on not only how to take better photos, but also what's the best camera to buy, too.
So now it's complete. The next time you're looking for hotels, cheap vacations, or even cruise deals, follow these five best travel deals tips and you will not only save money when booking travel online, but you will also know you've made some great vacation destination choices for your hotel and so much more.
Marianne Schwab TV Travel Show Producer BestTravelDealsTips.com
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About Marianne Schwab TV Travel Show Producer
For over twenty years, TV Travel Show Producer, Marianne Schwab, has been collecting money saving travel tips as a travel producer for high profile television programs. She has flown all over the world and produced live television productions on location from Caesar's Palace on the Vegas Strip to the beautiful island of Oahu. Read more
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The Rovia Preferred Customer program and benefits are free and provide a $40 value of free services every time you book through them so it's a best travels deals tip. I had been paying American Express six bucks for just $100,000 of flight insurance so this is a great travel deal. You also get access to a
price comparison service
, up-to-the-minute deals on travel to your favorite destinations, exclusive access to preferred last-minute getaways, and my favorite feature is as a
Preferred Customer
, they record your personal frequent flyer/hotel rewards account information so that you maximize the leverage of travel dollars you're already spending even more. Most online travel web sites, like Travelocity and Hotels.com, do not allow you to keep your miles or rewards. I like this as it's sort of like the Hilton Hhonors Double Dipping Rewards program so it's a super leverage value.
Rovia Preferred Customer
