Travel Search

Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Travel Search shopping experience:

1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Travel Search offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Travel Search at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.

2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about

3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Travel Search? Wrong! If the Travel Search is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.

4. Questions - Got a question about Travel Search then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Travel Search? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Travel Search and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.

6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Travel Search wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

7. Feedback - happy with your Travel Search then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.

8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Travel Search site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about Travel Search, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your Travel Search, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

Travel search engines focus specifically on helping visitors purchase travel products, such as airline tickets, automobile rentals, hotel rooms, cruise tickets, and so on. They are "domain-specific" in contrast to search engines which search all sites on the World Wide Web. Most have comparison shopping capabilities, allowing visitors to compare offers from multiple competing vendors.

Travel companies and analysts often use the terms “search sites,” “meta-search sites”, “aggregators” or “travel-specific search engines” to describe various forms of travel search engines.

Overview of the travel search engine market Travel remains the single largest component of e-commerce according to Forrester Research, a consulting firm in Cambridge, Mass. But despite the dominance of such online travel agency heavyweights as Expedia.com, Hotwire.com, Orbitz.com, Priceline.com and Travelocity, most users consult multiple Web sites when shopping online for travel. In fact, the average consumer visits 3.6 sites when shopping for an airline ticket online, according to PhoCusWright, a Sherman, Conn.-based travel technology firm. Yahoo claims 76% of all online travel purchases are preceded by some sort of search function, according to Malcolmson, director of product development for Yahoo Travel. And the 2004 Travel Consumer Survey published by Darien, Conn.-based JupiterResearch noted that “nearly two in five online travel consumers say they believe that no one site has the lowest rates or fares.” Thus a niche was created for players such as BookingBuddy.com, Cheapflights.com, Kayak.com, Mobissimo.com, Pricegrabber.com, SideStep.com, Travelzoo.com, and Yahoo.com FareChase, which seek to find the lowest rates from multiple travel sites, thereby seemingly eliminating the need for consumers to cross-shop from site to site. Recently two new comparison sites Bezurk.com and HotelsCombined.com have been launched by travel industry experts. Bezurk.com managed and run by well-known industry experts including the former senior management from Expedia.com, InterContinental Hotels Group, Fairfax Digital, Priceline.com, China.com and Yahoo!, has its finger on the pulse of the travel and travel meta search industry in the Asia Pacific. HotelsCombined.com is run by former senior managers of large hotel reservation site Cendant and a leading Australian last minute hotel reservation site Cendant.

Within the class of travel search engines are several subcategories of sites that offer a range of services and search methods:

■ Portal sites.Several of the leading generic search and information aggregator sites also offer travel components. In the broadestsense, virtually any search engine could be considered a “travel search engine.” However, some generic search engines also should be ranked as TSEs, since they include both paid and unpaid links to travel sites and maintain “travel” pages, often accompanied by original editorial content. This category of generic search sites includes About.com, AOL, MSN, Yahoo.

■ Meta-search sites.These sites use technological tools to “scrape” or scan other travel sites, including third-party travel agency sites– such as Expedia.com, Orbitz.com and Travelocity.com – and branded sites maintained by individual travel companies, such as Delta_Air_Lines, Hilton_hotels, or The_Hertz_Corporation, for example. This category was largely established by companies with executives with technological experience and includes Kayak.com, Mobissimo.com, SideStep, Yahoo.com FareChase, NexTag and more recently Bezurk.com and HotelsCombined.com.

■ Aggregators of “hot deals” and “special fares.”These sites collect and publish bargain rates by advising consumers where to find them online (sometimes but not always through a direct link). Rather than providing detailed search tools, these sites generally focus on offering advertised specials, such as last-minute sales from travel suppliers eager to deplete unused inventory; therefore, these sites often work best for consumers who are flexible about destinations and other key itinerary components. This category was largely established by companies with journalistic pedigrees and includes Bestfares.com, BookingBuddy.com, Cheapflights.com, Travelzoo, and USAToday’s travel listings.

■ Destination aggregators.Such sites often provide specific editorial content, such as user reviews of travel products or detailed destinationinformation. In some ways, these sites are similar to non-Internet media, such as newspapers or magazines, in that they provide news alerts and rate advisories, but the burden of surfing to these deals often is left to the consumer. In many cases, the emphasis is on the destination rather than the booking specifics. Whether these reviews and/or recommendations are in any way affected by business agreements with travel suppliers remains an unanswered question in many cases. This category was largely established in the tradition of destination guidebooks and includes Fodor's_Travel_Guides, IgoUgo, LonelyPlanet.com, TripAdvisor, and Yahoo Travel. Within the sub-category of meta-search sites, there is yet another sub-division: 1) sites attempting to woo consumers directly to them; and 2) sites using their technology to power other sites’ search functions.

Travel Search Tips Aside from choosing flights on days and times that are inconvenient for you, there are a few steps you can follow to help you find better and cheaper flight days and times. When looking for the best deals on flights there are a few things you should know.

1. When searching, there are certain days and times during the week that will provide you with cheaper flight options. Generally searching on a Tuesday or a Wednesday will help you find some of the best deals. Also, searching early in the morning or at other non-peak hours may help find an internet special deal.

2. Deals come and go and if you know that you will be flying somewhere well in advance you should always keep an eye out for cheap flights. It is very common to find a deal at 10am and look again a couple hours later and it be gone. If you have the time to wait I would suggest you do so. If you have seen a deal once and your trip isn't for a couple months or so it doesn't hurt to wait 2-3 weeks for that deal to pop back up. It's definitely worth it! Also, if on a whim you decide to take a trip somewhere, some of the best deals can be found right around the 2 week mark of your intended trip. At that point airlines generally drop their prices to sell more seats that have not purchased as of yet, but don't wait too long because the closer it gets to the day of travel the more likely the price is to skyrocket upwards.

3. Search engines like Orbitz.com or Expedia are great when trying to find the best deal and compare vendors. One thing to remember is that a) these search engines do not compare flights of ALL airlines and b) there is a small service fee of several dollars to book through them. Southwest Airlines is commonly not found on search engines such as those and it is a good idea to always check all of your options.

4. Being familiar with where airline hubs are is key because these are where certain airlines have most of their planes flying in and out of. Generally these flights are cheaper and knowing which airlines have hubs at which airports can help you narrow your search and shorten the time you spend searching for flights.

5. Knowing other airports in your area of interest is always a plus. There might be deals for flying into one airport and not the other so keeping you options open, it may help you save.

6. Lastly, if you're not sure where to begin or what search engine to trust, Bookingbuddy.com is a good place to start. It is similar in looks to an Orbitz.com search engine except for instead of searching for specific flights, it searches for other airline and search engine websites that can help you find cheap flights. Simply put it's a search engine for other search engines.

History Sidestep was the first popular travel search engine in the USA. Their sidebar appeared in the browser any time the user searched another travel site, and allowed that user to then search for the same travel on other sites. Other popular travel search engines include, for the US market, Kayak.com, Farecast, and flights price search and comparison only site Cheapflights.com; and for the European marketSkyscanner.net, whilst for the UK market Cheapflights' .co.uk site was the first ever flight price comparison site to be launched online in 1996. Other UK sites include Kayak.co.uk Travelsupermarket.com, and Orbedia.com for the Asia Pacific market Bezurk.com, Expedia and Best Flights. Recently, the fast-growing online travel market in India has created new entrants such as Zoomtra.com and iXiGO.com

Before the new travel search engines appeared, most online travel was purchased through one of the big Online Travel Agencies (OTAs).

Future As the new travel search engines allow a consumer to directly search airline and hotel websites, the consumer can often find deals not available at the OTA websites and can also save the consumer the additional booking fees charged by the OTAs.

On-line engines are based on the belief that the OTAs only show consumers airlines and hotels where they can make good profits. Thus the OTAs usually can not show low-cost carriers such as Jetblue, and their hotel inventory and displays are also highly biased to the hotels which pay the OTAs the most money.

In addition to these new travel search engines, there are now some simple travel search tools which allow a user to enter their search criteria in one window, and then to display results from each selected travel site in its own window. While this approach lacks the ability to filter and sort results from multiple sites, it does allow a user access to launch the same search across multiple OTAs.

Some do not compare prices but instead concentrate on searching all available routes served by low-cost airlines. Visitors are typically referred to the appropriate airline website to complete the booking process.

See also