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Step 1 of How To Get Travel Deals is to
start with a travel directory. A favorite of our internet
pros is
GoPert.com. It is a directory of just about every major
travel site available and it can save you loads of time by allowing you
to go directly to the major travel, airline, car rental and cruise line
websites from a single site. They also provide 800 numbers for all
the sites so you can easily call the companies if you run into any
snags.
Do yourself a favor and bookmark
www.GoPert.com . Every travel site we mention here along with
many more are linked to it for a convenient and time saving step on
your way to getting travel deals and making travel reservations online.
Step 2 is to decide the where, when
and how of your travel plans. Will you fly? drive? stay in a
hotel? rent a car? Are your travel plans flexible? etc.
There are many variables and each one can have an impact on the deals
available. Now's the time to do your RESEARCH. If you don't
have a clue as to where, when or how you want to go, all the major
travel sites have great ideas waiting for you. Just browse their
sites and you're sure to come up with something fun and exciting, nice
and relaxing or a combination that fits your needs.
If you need a hotel in a certain city but you don't know much about
the hotels available, a great place to start is
www.tripadvisor.com. They
have a good rating system and tons of helpful reviews from previous
visitors to each hotel so you can get an unbiased opinion of a
particular hotel's quality, service and other things people liked or
disliked about it. Once you've figured out the where, when and how
of your travel plans it's time to move on to the next step.
Step 3 of How To Get Travel Deals is to
join frequent traveler programs. This is a great way to
enjoy exclusive offers, preferential treatment and bonuses like points,
mileage, discounts and upgrades. Just about every airline, hotel
chain, car rental agency and cruise line offers some type of frequent
traveler program and it's smart to join as many programs as you can.
They're almost always free to join and companies often email exclusive
offers and discounts to their members.
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TIP: Our internet travel pros say the best way to do this
is to set up a free email account at
www.yahoo.com or
another site you're familiar with (use an address like
yournametravelstuff@yahoo.com). This will help you keep
all your frequent traveler memberships and travel related emails in
one place for easy reference. The more programs you sign up
for, the more email offers you'll get (this can be quite a few) so
it's good to have this separate email account so it's there for you
when you are planning to travel and you don't have to worry about it
when you're not.
Another good idea is to join www.AAA.com.
Aside from the auto service they provide, many hotel chains and other
travel related companies offer special AAA rates. The cost of a
basic membership is about $60 a year and it can often pay for itself
with just one hotel stay.
Step 4 in the process of How To Get
Travel Deals is to get a base price from one, two or all three of
the major travel booking sites. Expedia,
Travelocity and
Orbitz
are the 3 largest travel sites online and a good place to start.
If you need airfare, hotel and car rental - check prices for them
separately and also check the prices for a package deal (In theory,
package deals should be cheaper but often this is not the case).
If you have plenty of time, check all three sites - occasionally one
site will offer a special price on a hotel that the others are not
offering. If you're short on time, it's probably good enough to
get a base price from just one of the three since most of the time they
are comparable in the prices they offer.
If you're really short on time or just don't want the hassle of
searching for travel deals - Book your travel on one of these sites and
be done with it! You'll get a fair deal and you can move on to the
more important things in your life.
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TIP:
If your travel plans are flexible, be sure to check different dates
and check them often before making your reservation. Even if
your dates are set, check your travel plans at different times of
the day and on different days if you have the time. It is not
uncommon to see prices vary by 100% or more depending on the day and
the time of day you make your
reservation.
Step 5
in the process of How To Get
Travel Deals is to check your travel plans at the "Second Tier" travel
sites. These include sites like Priceline and
Hotwire that are
unique in that they let you name your own price for travel. Some
people swear by sites these that let you "bid for travel" and others say
they're a waste of time. Most of our travel pros say that if you
know what you're doing, they can be an asset to finding the best travel
deals. Be warned that you often won't be able to choose your
airline, hotel, flight times, etc. but if you're not picky and you're
flexible, these sites can produce some great deals.
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