Travel websites

abhijitaparadh · 27th July 2008, 10:05

How many of you use WWW to find good deals for Hotels, airline tickets etc?
Or do you still go to your friendly old travel agent?

I usually use Expedia in US and MakeMyTrip in India.
Recently I have found Sidestep.com to be better than Expedia especially for airfares.

Any other suggestions/ experiences/ comments?

nirmalts · 27th July 2008, 11:53

Similiar thread exists here
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifti...ravelguru.html
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifti...ne-ticket.html

Check if you get some useful info here

Nirmal

deepakvrao · 27th July 2008, 12:43

Tripadvisor is a fabulous site for general travel info reg driving rules, telephony, local sites, restaurants, hotels B&Bs etc. They have good forums too.

Thad E Ginathom · 27th July 2008, 13:59

For general travel advice and information in forum style I'd have to recommend India Travel Forum | IndiaMike.com, having hung around that site more than any other for the past four years.

Whilst it started out as a foreign travellers' site, the percentage of Indian (both resident and non-resident) is now quite high and growing.

I'd go so far as to say that the atmosphere there is similar to Team-BHP, and certainly there are a few who belong to both sites.

If you do work out my IndiaMike ID (A few BHPers have; it is not that hadr, but I'm not telling) then please note that it is not, as many people think, 'my' site. It is owned by an Indian guy in America who took it over from the eponymous Mike when Mike got fed up with it.

It's not my interest (too lazy) but for those who are so inclined, there is a strong trekking section.

Wimwian · 28th July 2008, 11:28

Check out Tailor My Holiday

AJo · 16th September 2012, 07:26

Listing out my experience with Expedia (India):

I usually use Makemytrip (MMT) & have had a good experience with them. I needed a multi-city air ticket from Mumbai-Chicago-Vancouver-Newark-Pune & found that multi-city option in MMT crashed, every time I entered my itinerary.

So decided to try Expedia. Booked the tickets (seemed like a great deal at the time), got a call from my credit card (CC) bank about authorizing the payment (amount was 2.33 lacs), approved it & relaxed. 30 mins. later I get a call from Expedia - "Sir, your credit card has declined the transaction!". I am shocked! Call up the CC bank & they say "We have processed the transaction & the amount is blocked for Expedia". The CC bank says apparently Expedia tried to transact more than the allowed "times" & hence they blocked the other transactions. Expedia denies this!! Don't know whom to believe?!!

Net result - Expedia says they will not process the booking since they have not got paid, while CC Bank says "we have authorized the transaction & the amount is blocked for Expedia". (So I cant use the 2.33 lacs either). Bank says the amount will revert back to my a/c if Expedia does not claim it (after 21 days!!).

I request Expedia to hold my booking & try again after 24hrs (as advised by bank) but they refuse & ask me to cancel the booking & assure me I will not be charged at all & will be refunded any charges if charged to my credit card. I do so (since no choice) but am extremely nervous about getting charged 2.33 Lacs & anticipate a tough time for a refund.

I was told it would take 72 hrs for the refunds to reflect in my a/c. Unfortunately, this did not happen & was very nervous. Called up Expedia on 4th day & they sent a "Release form" to my CC Bank. A day later - entire amount is back to my CC a.c!!!

Kudos to Expedia for making a FULL refund. The air booking not happening was a bit of a downer, but I must say they were very professional & ethical in their response regards the charges.

Incidentally I did the exact same booking with ClearTrip & got the same flights even cheaper! Booking tickets on Clear Trip was a very smooth experience.

Hope my experience helps somebody.
Rgds.
AJO

manolin · 16th September 2012, 14:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

If you do work out my IndiaMike ID (A few BHPers have; it is not that hadr, but I'm not telling) then please note that it is not, as many people think, 'my' site. It is owned by an Indian guy in America who took it over from the eponymous Mike when Mike got fed up with it.

It's not my interest (too lazy) but for those who are so inclined, there is a strong trekking section.

Haha! thad, in the initial years of joining India Mike, i was very curious, and it took me a lot of digging around to be sure that you are not the owner. You are pratically popping up every thread there

and are super funny!

Mik · 16th September 2012, 15:27

A few travel sites worth going to

www.90di.com -- They use NLP so things like "mumbai to delhi tomorrow" work

They can give flights, flights+trains, trains as options. Note that its only search, booking happens at the parent site.

There is ixigo.com which is a air-fare aggregator from multiple airlines+travel sites. Very useful. It has the cute features like air fare calendars and graphs. Giving return fares in a single page is a big advantage too.
Do note that if some special deal is going on, ixigo might not pick it up.

goibibo almost always has a price advantage over most other sites. They have offers running throughout the year and one or the other coupon is bound to work. But, their post-sales experience can be terrible as i have learnt first hand.
For sheer booking ease, cleartrip has no equal. Though i have found their prices slightly on the higher side.
And then, you can never go wrong with makemytrip - the biggest boy in town with cars, buses, trains, rail packages, holidays, hotels, flights + hotels among a host of other features. Post sales rocks too

27th July 2008, 10:05	#1
abhijitaparadh BHPian Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: SF Bay Area Posts: 222 Thanked: 3 Times	Travel websites How many of you use WWW to find good deals for Hotels, airline tickets etc? Or do you still go to your friendly old travel agent? I usually use Expedia in US and MakeMyTrip in India. Recently I have found Sidestep.com to be better than Expedia especially for airfares. Any other suggestions/ experiences/ comments?
	() Thanks

27th July 2008, 11:53	#2
nirmalts BHPian Join Date: May 2007 Location: Stuttgart, Germ Posts: 252 Thanked: 7 Times View My Garage	Similiar thread exists here http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifti...ravelguru.html http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifti...ne-ticket.html Check if you get some useful info here Nirmal
	() Thanks

27th July 2008, 12:43	#3
deepakvrao BANNED Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 300 Thanked: 2 Times	Tripadvisor is a fabulous site for general travel info reg driving rules, telephony, local sites, restaurants, hotels B&Bs etc. They have good forums too.
	() Thanks

27th July 2008, 13:59	#4
Thad E Ginathom Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Chennai Posts: 10,990 Thanked: 26,379 Times	For general travel advice and information in forum style I'd have to recommend India Travel Forum \| IndiaMike.com, having hung around that site more than any other for the past four years. Whilst it started out as a foreign travellers' site, the percentage of Indian (both resident and non-resident) is now quite high and growing. I'd go so far as to say that the atmosphere there is similar to Team-BHP, and certainly there are a few who belong to both sites. If you do work out my IndiaMike ID (A few BHPers have; it is not that hadr, but I'm not telling) then please note that it is not, as many people think, 'my' site. It is owned by an Indian guy in America who took it over from the eponymous Mike when Mike got fed up with it. It's not my interest (too lazy) but for those who are so inclined, there is a strong trekking section.
	() Thanks

28th July 2008, 11:28	#5
Wimwian BHPian Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Mumbai Posts: 191 Thanked: 5 Times View My Garage	Check out Tailor My Holiday
	() Thanks

16th September 2012, 07:26	#6
AJo BHPian Join Date: May 2011 Location: Pune Posts: 57 Thanked: 320 Times	Re: Travel websites Listing out my experience with Expedia (India): I usually use Makemytrip (MMT) & have had a good experience with them. I needed a multi-city air ticket from Mumbai-Chicago-Vancouver-Newark-Pune & found that multi-city option in MMT crashed, every time I entered my itinerary. So decided to try Expedia. Booked the tickets (seemed like a great deal at the time), got a call from my credit card (CC) bank about authorizing the payment (amount was 2.33 lacs), approved it & relaxed. 30 mins. later I get a call from Expedia - "Sir, your credit card has declined the transaction!". I am shocked! Call up the CC bank & they say "We have processed the transaction & the amount is blocked for Expedia". The CC bank says apparently Expedia tried to transact more than the allowed "times" & hence they blocked the other transactions. Expedia denies this!! Don't know whom to believe?!! Net result - Expedia says they will not process the booking since they have not got paid, while CC Bank says "we have authorized the transaction & the amount is blocked for Expedia". (So I cant use the 2.33 lacs either). Bank says the amount will revert back to my a/c if Expedia does not claim it (after 21 days!!). I request Expedia to hold my booking & try again after 24hrs (as advised by bank) but they refuse & ask me to cancel the booking & assure me I will not be charged at all & will be refunded any charges if charged to my credit card. I do so (since no choice) but am extremely nervous about getting charged 2.33 Lacs & anticipate a tough time for a refund. I was told it would take 72 hrs for the refunds to reflect in my a/c. Unfortunately, this did not happen & was very nervous. Called up Expedia on 4th day & they sent a "Release form" to my CC Bank. A day later - entire amount is back to my CC a.c!!! Kudos to Expedia for making a FULL refund. The air booking not happening was a bit of a downer, but I must say they were very professional & ethical in their response regards the charges. Incidentally I did the exact same booking with ClearTrip & got the same flights even cheaper! Booking tickets on Clear Trip was a very smooth experience. Hope my experience helps somebody. Rgds. AJO
	() Thanks

16th September 2012, 15:27	#8
Mik BHPian Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: BLR Posts: 466 Thanked: 608 Times	Re: Travel websites A few travel sites worth going to www.90di.com -- They use NLP so things like "mumbai to delhi tomorrow" work They can give flights, flights+trains, trains as options. Note that its only search, booking happens at the parent site. There is ixigo.com which is a air-fare aggregator from multiple airlines+travel sites. Very useful. It has the cute features like air fare calendars and graphs. Giving return fares in a single page is a big advantage too. Do note that if some special deal is going on, ixigo might not pick it up. goibibo almost always has a price advantage over most other sites. They have offers running throughout the year and one or the other coupon is bound to work. But, their post-sales experience can be terrible as i have learnt first hand. For sheer booking ease, cleartrip has no equal. Though i have found their prices slightly on the higher side. And then, you can never go wrong with makemytrip - the biggest boy in town with cars, buses, trains, rail packages, holidays, hotels, flights + hotels among a host of other features. Post sales rocks too
	() Thanks