Author: Eric Spellman
Published: February 12, 2005
Tool: [ email ]
I love to travel. I don’t care where. Anywhere will do. I just love taking trips. Of course this wanderlust can get expensive if I’m not careful. Luckily, the Internet helps me get the most “mileage” out of my travel budget. Using a few tips, and a few, key sites, you, too, can make some great trips at some incredible prices.
Before I continue, though, I need to make a small disclaimer: I am not AGAINST travel agencies, nor do I believe the Internet will put them out of business. Follow my logic on this: How do travel agencies currently make the majority of their money? They receive commissions on the travel they book with airlines, hotels, and rental car companies. The reason that most of us used travel agents in the past was because this process was very complicated. Travel agents had instant access on the cheapest rates all around the world. Today, that paradigm is changing. Airlines, hotels, and rental car companies have automated and simplified the process so that non-professionals could use it. By putting their systems on the Internet, everyday people could easily make their own travel plans. Airlines, especially, have embraced this model, as airfare wars eat into their profits. By not having to pay commissions to travel agents for online reservations, they are able to keep more for themselves or offer lower rates to their passengers.
So, where does that leave the travel agent? In the next few years, you will see the revenue model for travel agencies change. Instead of making their money from commissioned sales, they will be compensated by the customer directly. Here’s how: On the Internet, I can book a room in hundreds of thousands of hotels worldwide. But how do I know which hotels are good and which are roach-traps? Travel agents will make money on their EXPERIENCE. People will pay good money for good advice. Just like financial advice, qualitative travel recommendations are worth money. Customers want their trips to be perfect, and are willing to pay for that guarantee.
Now, back to finding good online deals… I basically frequent three travel sites on the Net: Expedia (http://www.expedia.com), Travelocity (http://www.travelocity.com), and Southwest Airlines (http://www.southwest.com).
Expedia is owned by Microsoft. At this site, you may easily reserve flights, hotels, and car rentals from their easy-to-use web interface. Expedia is always my first site to check for airfare, mainly because of its speed. It is able to pull up travel information faster than any of the other sites I use. In addition, Expedia seems to have a larger catalog of international flights and hotels than its competitors. If you are flying overseas, you definitely need to check here.
Travelocity is owned by American Airlines. Can you guess which airline receives the best reviews on the site? Despite the obvious bias, this site is great for finding last minute deals. Hotels, rental car companies, and especially airlines don’t like having empty “seats” and are willing to cut significant discounts to make a little money. Now, at this point, some of you are going ask, “What about PriceLine? (http://priceline.com). Yes, I’ve tried Priceline, and it works great. Remember: at Priceline, if you make a “bid” for travel and it is accepted, you HAVE TO take it. In fact, you have to give them your credit card number BEFORE you even make your proposal.
Finally, I like to use Southwest Airlines’ site, mainly because they are a major carrier in the Texas Panhandle. Unfortunately, Expedia does not have Southwest in their database, so that searches you make on travel will not include their rates. While the interface at the Southwest website is not as intuitive as Expedia or Travelocity, I can sometimes still find the lowest deal here. What I REALLY like about Southwest, though, are their “Click ‘N Save” E-mail Bulletins. Every week, they will send you, via e-mail, a list of the lowest rates to different destinations only offered on the Net. I got some GREAT tickets to Las Vegas through this program.
Now that your reservations are booked, can the Internet be of further assistance? You bet. Check out Cheap Tickets (http://cheaptickets.com). Click on “Travel Resources” and then find the “Flight Tracker.” This page allows you to check the current status of any plane in flight. Will your flight be delayed? Find out here. This page will even show you a map displaying an airplane’s current position in flight! Click the “Flight” tab on their homepage.
Ready to try it? Well, before you fire up that browser and start scheduling your next round-the-world excursion, remember this: You aren’t GUARANTEED the lowest rate using the Internet. Most online travel sites don’t take into consideration any discounts or coupons you might have. For instance, on a recent trip, I had to make my car rental with a travel agent because the online site had no place for me to put in my “Sam’s Club” discount.
In my experience, though, I’ve found that using the Internet, I can often find some incredible travel deals that I would not have found anywhere else. Give it a try. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the “deals” you discover.
I’ll see you in Cyberspace!
Eric Spellmann, Owner
Spellmann & Associates
2600 Paramount, Suite G-1
Amarillo, TX 79109
Voice: 806-353-0004
Fax: 806-353-9407
http://www.EricSpellmann.com
