If you are someone who likes to try to find the best travel deals when it comes to booking flights, hotels, rental cars and more, it is hard to know what are the best travel websites to do those things.
So, it doesn’t matter if you are planning a long vacation for the summer or looking to get away for the weekend. This post has some of the best travel websites that you can use to take care of all your traveling needs.
Best Websites to Save on Flights
This is my personal favorite site when looking for the cheapest flights. You can put in your departure city as well as the destination. Google Flights then allows you to track the flight and lets you know when the price changes. I have a full post on how to use Google Flights.
Momondo is a metasearch engine. It searches multiple different sites and shows you the results from them. The site allows you to see what the price is now versus what it can be by shifting your dates just by a few days. It also shows you mixed fares. That is two one way tickets from different airlines that will give you the cheapest cost, overall.
Kayak is a travel search engine. It will search many different sites and show you the best deals. The site is great for people who have flexibility in their travel plans since it searches for the best possible deals to show you.
Expedia is an online travel agency that has been used for years. You may not always find the cheapest price on the site but they are always going to be close to the cheapest. They have a program called One Key. You earn points when booking on the site. You can use those points to help book hotels, flights, cruises, rental cars and more.
Going isn’t like the other sites so far. It is a service that sends you flight deals when they happen. If you have a lot of flexibility to jump on deals when they arise, this can be a great option. There are 3 tiers with the service. The lowest tier is free while the other two tiers are paid services.
Thrifty Traveler is like Going. When you sign up for the service, they send you emails when flight deals happen. There are two different tiers that you can sign up for. There is a free version and a premium version.
The free version gives you one to two deals sent to your inbox every week. The premium version sends you all of the domestic and international deals to your inbox and through text messages. .
Best Websites to Save on Hotels
Google Hotels is a straight forward search engine when looking for your hotel. You put in the place you want to go and the dates you will be there. The page will populate with different hotels. A map will be present to show you where the different hotels are located. They also show you if it is a deal or a great deal. There are even some vacation rentals that will be in the results. Those are labeled as well.
Hotels.com makes it easy to search for different hotels. After you put in your destination and dates, the results will show you the per night price as well as the overall price. They also show you the rating the hotel has received from people. The site also tells you if a stay is refundable or not.
Priceline is like the above sites but it does have a few other features that are unique to Priceline and they are great for people who love surprises.
First, there is a Pricebreakers feature. With Pricebreakers, they will show you 3 different hotels. A price and details are given but you don’t know which place you are staying at until after you book it.
Another feature is called Express Deals. With this feature, they give you a price and some details about the place but you don’t know where you are staying until after you book it.
Hotel Tonight is different from the previous sites. It is a site that shows you last minute deals on hotel rooms with discounted rates. You can book rooms in their app or online.
The site allows you to book same day hotel rooms or stays in advance. Hotel Tonight also has a Daily Drop feature which shows you rooms with deeper discounts.
Booking.com not only shows you results for hotels but they will also show you bed and breakfasts, hostels, and vacation rentals. There are numerous ways that you can filter your search. You can do it by rating, accommodation type, price, amenities and others.
Booking.com shows you the price of your stay minus taxes and fees when you do a search.
Travelocity is popular and is like many of the other OTAs. The site allows you to filter what you are looking for in a hotel. On the site you can book and pay now or book and pay later. It is advisable to become a member on the site, which is free, since they have member pricing for some hotels.
Best Websites to Save on Car Rentals
Autoslash is my favorite site when looking for cheap rental cars. When using Autoslash, you fill out information like what type of car, different credit cards you have, and what loyalty programs you belong to.
Autoslash will search the web for the best deals and they will email you the results. This usually takes 5-10 minutes. They even have a tracking feature where they will send you an email when prices drop. I have a blog post about how to use Autoslash and its features.
Costco Travel is another go to site for me when looking for low cost rental cars. They aren’t always the cheapest option but many times they are. Costco works with Budget, Enterprise, Alamo, and Avis.
When renting a car, you get an automatic free extra driver. You do have to be a member of Costco to be able to rent a car through Costco Travel. I have a post about the advantages to renting a car through Costco Travel.
Kayak is a site that looks for deals on dozens of online travel agencies and then displays the results in an easy to view format. Once you see the results you can filter them even more to meet your needs. Kayak will not only search the big name rental car companies but they also include lesser known local rental car companies.
Priceline is another popular online travel agency. One feature Priceline has is called Express Deals. You have to book the rental to see what company is behind the deal. These are nonrefundable. They also have traditional bookings with pay now or pay later features.
AAA Travel is a lot like Costco Travel in that you have to be a AAA member to be able to book a rental car through them. Plus, they have 3 companies that they deal with in Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty. Just as with Costco, they aren’t always the cheapest but they are always worth checking to see what their rates are for a rental. I have a post talking about 12 benefits of AAA Travel if you want to learn more.
This isn’t as popular of a site like many of the other ones on this list but it is a site that I use all the time. The site is actually owned by Expedia. They have an easy to use interface when looking for rental cars. You can easily filter your results. If you use the app, it is easy to see your rentals that you have booked.
Best Websites for Vacation Rentals
Airbnb is probably the best known site when looking for vacation rentals. They have more than 6,000,000 listings in 100.000 locations worldwide. You can rent a room, an apartment, a house and even a boat.
The site also allows you to set parameters so that you find the kind of place that you want easily. They have also gone to more transparent pricing with the price being shown is the price that you will pay minus taxes.
Vrbo was the first site to bring vacation rentals from owners to the public. They have over 2 million listings in 190 countries. They are different from Airbnb in that they only list private spaces on their site. So, you won’t find shared spaces.
FlipKey is like Vrbo in that it only shows private spaces on their site. They have over 200 different countries that you can find a rental in. FlipKey is owned by TripAdvisor so you have over 300,000 rental properties to choose from and you also have authentic reviews to help you pick a place.
HomeToGo is a search engine for vacation rentals. When you do a search on the site, HomeToGo will scour the internet and look for the best places on various sites. They have access to more than 18,000,000 rentals throughout the world.
You may think of Booking.com as a place to look for hotel stays. The site has vacation rentals, such as homes, apartments, and villas. Booking.com has over 28 million different listings on the site including over 6 million rental properties.
Tripping.com is like HomeToGo in that it is a search engine for finding vacation properties. There are over 12,000,000 places in 190 countries that you can find on the site. It doesn’t matter if you are looking for a beach house, a country house or an apartment in the city. You will find it on Tripping.com.
I have a post that has 15 sites like Airbnb that you can read by clicking the link.
Best Websites for Cruises
CheapCaribbean.com is an online travel agency that specializes in cruises to the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America. They do offer cruises to other destinations, such as Alaska, Hawaii and Europe. The site has a 110% money back guarantee. If you find the exact cruise on another site cheaper they will pay you 110% of the price.
Cruise Critic is a metasearch site for cruises. When you do a search on the site, it will look on other sites for the best deal. The site also offers tips, reviews and advice from people who cruise. The forums allow people to ask questions and to get help in booking their dream cruise.
CruiseDirect allows you to search for cruises by cruise line, destination, departure port or last minute deals. The site offers a wide range of cruises from ocean, luxury, riverboat, and budget. Bonuses are offered on each cruise ranging from ship credit, discounts on excursions and more.
Costco Travel is available for Costco members. You can purchase a Costco membership for as little as $60. You can find some great low cost deals when it comes to cruises on Costco Travel. Many times they will even sweeten the deal by adding extra on board credit and/or a Digital Costco Shop Card.
Cruises Only is a site that offers a 110% money back guarantee. They also have a free loyalty plan called the V.I.P. Customer Loyalty Club. You are automatically added to the club if you have booked with them once before. A few of the perks with the club is that you can get shore excursion credits and onboard credits.
Vacations to Go is another website that focuses just on cruises. They offer free email notifications, as well as detailed information on cruise etiquette. If you have questions about a cruise, they also have customer support that will answer all of your questions about a particular cruise.
Final Thoughts
Saving on a vacation doesn’t have to be hard. You just need to know where to look. The above sites can help you save more of your money. It has been my experience when using many of these sites that the same site isn’t always going show you the best price everytime. That is why it is important to search various sites until you get a deal that fits your needs.
If you want to learn more about how to save on travel, how to earn and maximize credit card points/miles, travel itineraries and more make sure to go to my blog Travelwidstom.
