TRAVEL PACKAGES

Looking for low airfare without having to scour the web? In recent years, discount travel sites have spread like wildfire, offering travelers the best deals and rewards not only on airfare, hotels and apartment rentals, but also on travel packages loaded with add-ons and perks.
The wide offerings explain why sites such as Jetsetter.com have become more like lifestyle portals with a serious cult following. For instance, many travelers only book with Jetsetter, including a couple I met at Banyan Tree Mayakoba. They scored not only a price almost 50% off the published rate, but also a complimentary upgrade, dinner at the signature Tamarind restaurant and 1 spa treatment each. New sites continue to offer incredible deals for all types of travelers.

Check out our picks for discount travel sites with the best bargains.

Jetsetter.com

Since it launched in 2009, Jetsetter has led the pack of discount “flash sales” on high-end properties, in this case hand-selected by the Jetsetter team. The travel-lifestyle website now has 2.2 million members (and counting), and 20 to 40 sales per week at prices up to 50% off. What makes Jetsetter successful (and fun to visit) is the variety of new features that keep it from being just a flash-sale site. It offers themed-sale formats, such as Mystery Mondays (even deeper discounts for members willing to book before learning the name of the hotel) and Jetsetter Journeys (where the Jetsetter team customizes your trip).

Airfarewatchdog.com

Looking to leave sooner rather than later? Airfarewatchdog.com has the upper hand on last-minute flight deals, pulling them from carrier sites fast. It’s like having a personal assistant do all your grunt work. The site’s fare listings and alerts including airline promo codes and unadvertised fares are found and verified by humans (in this case, former airline and travel agency employees), not technology alone. The site even lists Southwest Airlines, which is notorious for not showing up on search engines. Best of all, fares come straight to your inbox (or real-time tweets)

Momondo.com

Denmark-based Momondo.com finds and compares airfare prices from more than 700 websites (including airlines and travel agencies). It also finds small airline carriers few other sites can. A huge hit in Europe, Momondo is now generating buzz stateside with its growing routes, no-frills functionality and sexy design. It also offers color-coded city guides where a specific color represents a theme (adventure, romance, etc.), rail transportation within the flight search results and soon-to-launch fare predictions.

Airbnb.com

There’s no other way to truly feel like a local than staying in a local’s “space,” whether it’s an apartment, a house or even a countryside castle. Since it launched in 2008, Airbnb has booked more than 50 million nights worldwide and become a popular portal for city sublets. Guests can directly contact the host, view photos of their space, negotiate payment and even make the transaction through the site. Peace of mind comes with a host guarantee that offers protection of up to $50,000. There’s a cool toolthat helps you calculate how much money you can make by listing. You can also connectwith other users based on shared interests.

Luxury Link

The “eBay of travel” offers auctions on luxury hotels, with extras included. (You can also “buy now” at a considerable discount.) A recent search on Orbitz.com found a 3-night stay at Mandarin Oriental was $1,497 plus taxes for a deluxe room. With Luxury Link, it was $1,388 for a dynasty suite with wrap-around balcony, breakfast for 2, and complimentary wireless and taxes for 3 nights.

Budgetplaces.com

The popular Budgetplaces.com’s recent launch in the US is already generating buzz among budget travelers. The site consolidates more than 9,000 of the world’s cheaper hotels, hostels, apartments, and bed and breakfasts onto 1 site, offering special deals and guest reviews.

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Cheap Travel Deals

When there is a budget to a vacation, all-inclusive deals are the best option. For a low-price, the all inclusive holiday packages feature round trip airfare, luxurious rooms, meals and drinks and resort activities. These cheap-travel deals are great if you have teenagers because they are not much of a concern and pretty independent. All-inclusive packages also feature a tour or two and on-sight recreation.

With an all-inclusive deal you don’t need to spend on anything else, except for when you want to go out on your own, or feel the urge to go curio shopping.

The benefits of an all-inclusive package outweigh the cons of cheap vacations. The buffet-style allows you to experiment a wide variety of food. The service is always good plenty of are activities included in the package. The all-inclusive trips also include diving, snorkeling and a host of other water sports. There are several activities like swimming, tennis and golf that may come as part of the package.

A good bargain is to buy an all-inclusive package to Disney World, which includes many activities. Some include visits to water parks, biking, and horseback riding. There are also miniature golf courses for the golf aficionados. They offer shuttles back and forth, and need not worry about renting a car, which is an added expense.

A family with older children might treasure an all-inclusive package with a skiing adventure in the Rockies or a trip to a ‘dude’ ranch in Arizona. Whatever your likes and dislikes, you can find activities for all to enjoy on an all-inclusive holiday. You should explore your destination on-line.

An all-inclusive vacation in Cancun sounds like heaven. The resort on a reef just off the major island is different from the regular hotels in the heart of Cancun. But you can be subjected to sales pitches to buy time-shares by low- priced resorts. What you thought would be a perfect vacation could turn into a bad dream when you realize that a few places, workers still expect a tip, even if there are notices advertising to the contrary. Tipping would also get you that extra bit of service. At the resorts, there are tip jars everywhere. Tipping is banned in some resorts and you need to find out in advance what kind of a resort you are going to.

Another disadvantage of taking an all inclusive holiday is that after reaching the resort, everything you do has to be paid for and some resorts also have limited access to activities. If not careful, a vacation you thought would help you to get away from it all may actually turn into a vacation that is restrictive and more costly. A trip to the mainland and back is the only feature offered by some packages. That means that they get you to the resort and back, to leave for home. All other visits and excursions become your responsibility and you have to pay for it.

All-inclusive packages provide you with a cheap vacation, but you should be sure that where you are going is all-inclusive. There are plenty of resources available online for vacationers to gather information about their destination. They need to check the tariff before making reservations. The tourists need to research online, on the resort and the regular services offered and compare those that are available within the ‘all-inclusive’ package. The difference should be clear and worth the money it costs.