Posted on Thursday, July 17th, 2014 by Rebecca Doctrow
This Top 25 Travel Websites list is the only travel advisor you need for a trip that you’ll never forget. Don’t hire a travel advisor, go to the right travel sites and become one.
While everyone likes to travel in different ways, do different things, and stay different places, one standard is the fact that nearly everyone does research and books trips online. Everyone knows the standard travel websites such as Expedia and Priceline, but what about the unconventional sites like Jetsetter and Agoda? All My Faves is here to help by bringing you a list of our favorite 25 travel websites, thus creating the ultimate travel advisor for your next trip. For more travel websites, you can always visit our thorough travel Wibki page.
Step one of planning a trip is figuring out how to get there. Whether you are looking for a flight, train or bus, these sites are worth looking at!
1. SkiplaggedSkiplagged helps you find the cheapest flights possible, even if that means booking a ticket that has a layover in your destination city and not getting on the second flight. For example, say you wanted to fly from Boise, ID to Los Angeles, CA. Skiplagged found that a flight from Boise to San Diego that has a layover in Los Angeles is cheaper than flying from Boise to Los Angeles. While there are many cheap flight websites out there, Skiplagged is one of the only one that takes layovers into consideration. The only downside to this is that passengers can not check baggage since it will continue on the flight without you!
2. RocketMilesThis website allows you to earn a large quantity of Frequent Flyer miles for many different airline rewards programs just by booking certain hotels. Simply enter which Frequent Flyer program you are a member of and which city you need a hotel in, and RocketMiles will return results that will help you earn no less than 500 airline miles. Depending on the rules of your rewards program and how many other points you have, use the additional points to get there!
3. WanderUIf flying isn’t your thing, check out WanderU. The website uses buses and trains to get you from point A to point B. It gives you the options to sort by distance, travel time, arrival time or price, and will show you exactly how to get to each station needed during the travel. WanderU saves you from having to search through the websites of countless discount bus websites and immediately pulls up the least expensive options and provides you with links to book each leg of the journey.
Like getting good deals on hotels? Maybe you want to book a travel package that includes the flight and hotel? These sites are for you!
4. JetsetterJetsetter is a members only travel booking website. You can find some of the best hotels along with “flash sales”, all organized by region in the world. The hotels have either been personally verified by Jetsetter corespondents or meet a certain set of criteria. The website also has apartment and home rentals and travel planners to help members plan a personalized vacation.
5. StayfulStayful is a wonderful alternative to your run-of-the-mill hotel deal websites. Like Priceline, it allows you to either bid for hotel rooms up to 30 days in advanced, or to use the deals the website has found for you. However, unlike the other hotel deal websites, it features only independent boutique hotels, so you will get a unique experience.
6. AgodaThis website allows you to book hotels online with a best price guarantee. Agoda also allows you to sign in and manage your bookings right on their website. The site is easy to use and many of the hotels offer the “book now, pay later” feature. You can also sign up to receive promotional emails with great deals and special offers from Agoda.
7. BookingBooking.com is interesting because it allows you to search destinations by what you may be looking for, whether its a top destination for beaches or fine dining. It also offers the “book now, pay later” feature and free cancellation on many of its rooms. Search by price range or type of property to find your best stay.
8. Top 10This website will pull up the top 10 hotels for whichever city and date you are looking for. The website will also give you the best deal based on what other websites, some listed here, are offering. For example, the best price for one of the hotels may be on Agoda, so clicking on the link takes you to Agoda’s page for that hotel.
If you prefer the comfort of home rather than hotels, these sites are worth looking into!
9. Kid & CoeIf you are traveling with kids, this site is not to be missed. On Kid & Coe, you can book apartments and houses that are family friendly. You can contact both Kid & Coe and the property owners easily on the site. Upon booking, you are given an online city guide and a list of things to do in the city during your stay, all compiled by local parents. This website is one of the best for planning a great family friendly vacation!
10. Villas.comVillas.com is great if you need a little more space. You can book lavish villas and chalets all around the world on the site, with properties ranging from single family homes to resort properties. If you enter a country as your destination they will help you narrow it down to find you ideal location. Some fun facts about the properties? Nearly half of them accept pets, 89% of reviews rave about the stunning views for the properties, and there are over 5,000 private swimming pools on the site!
11. House TripSometimes, booking a whole house for your trip is less expensive than booking hotel rooms, especially for groups. With over 300,000 properties around the world and a 95% recommendation rate, House Trip is hard to beat.
12. AirbnbOne of the most unique features of Airbnb is the fact that you are able to list/rent rooms from a home, not just the entire property. This can give you the ability to stay in a home without having to shell out the money for the whole place. Airbnb also offers neighborhood guides on their website so you can make an educated decision on where to stay in the cities you’re traveling to.
If you aren’t a fan of conventional travel destinations, or want to explore the traditional cities in luxurious ways, check out these websites!
13. Secret EscapesThis website offers deep discounts for luxury hotels around the world. Membership is free but you must be a member to search the site and access the up-to 70% discounts. They have discounts on hotels that you can book at any time, sales, and also “impulse” rates. The “impulse” hotels are those that you can search for on Thursday to travel that weekend. As it is a luxury hotel site, there is a separate category for day and overnight spa vacations. Some deals even include flights!
14. HolidifyHolidify is the website to use if you want to take a trip to India. You can search hotels and things to do by location (“Explore”), or you can search for weekend getaways by distance from your current location in India. Holidify also has a blog for all the information you could need for your trip. The coolest feature, in my opinion, is the “surprise me” function that will pick a random place for you to go to. The informational page that comes up is the same as the one that would come up had you used the “explore” feature, but you don’t have to search for anything in particular. This website is not to be missed for a vacation to India.
If your main concern is what you will do while you’re on vacation rather than where you will stay, these websites are for you!
15. PeekPeek allows you to search and book activities, tours, and day trips within the city you are traveling to, many times offering a best price guarantee. It also enlisted the help of celebrities who have planned out their perfect day in the city and shared it with the Peek users! These perfect days also include lists of favorite spots for each of the celebrities. This is a great site to check out if you already know your destination or are looking for something different to do in your hometown.
16. OwegooIf you know you want to do a specific activity but don’t know where to go for it, head over to Owegoo. Filter your results by the activity or activities you want and Owegoo will return cities that are hot spots for them. Each city’s link gives you tons of information on that particular city, along with a link to book flights through Owegoo or a hotel through Hotels.com.
17. Inside.coInside.co utilizes locals of top travel destinations to put together 3-day guides for the cities. While the 3-day guides cost $10, they will save you time and money since you do not need to buy another tour book, look up reviews, or anything, just follow the guide! Each one is written by locals and works on any device. Inside.co also promises a money back guarantee if you didn’t like your guide. Although it is only currently available in a limited number of cities, it is worth checking out if that is where you are traveling.
18. Tour RadarOne of the best ways to explore a new place is with an organized tour. Tour Radar lets you search by region of the world, date, length of trip, and more. The tours on the website are by a variety of tour groups so you have a wide variety of options to choose from. These tours often are all planed out and include meals and hotel stays and give you all the itineraries and details up front. This saves you from having to search multiple websites to find a tour or design your own tour.
19. TravelistlyThis website offers a list of travel blogs pulled from around the web created by people who have traveled to the cities you’re interested in. You know that you are getting authentic travel suggestions and experiences because you aren’t looking at hotels and companies that have possibly paid to be sponsored on the website.
20. Atlas ObscuraAtlas Obscura is another travel website filled with blogs. The blogs are specifically dedicated to more obscure locations in each city, so you won’t find popular tourist attractions like the Empire State Building and Eiffel Tower on the site. This doesn’t necessarily mean its for adventurous travelers, but it is definitely for people looking for a different type of trip.
You have worked hard to plan your trip and booked an amazing non-refundable hotel, but something came up and vacation has been canceled. Check out these websites to see your hotel room and make some of that non-refundable money back!
21. RoomerOften times, it is less expensive to book a hotel room that is unrefundable. But if something comes up, Roomer is here to help. The sellers benefit by making some money back on the price they paid for the hotel, and buyers benefit because sellers are encouraged to price the listing at slightly below what the other discount websites are selling the room for. Roomer also takes care of doing almost everything, so sellers only have to provide a little bit of information, and buyers can proceed as though it were a normal booking website.
22. CancelOnCancelOn is another website that allows travelers to resell hotel rooms they have already paid for. It is the same concept as Roomer with a few variations. CancelOn allows buyers to offer a lower price for the reservation if they feel the asking price is too high. The website is free, but CancelOn charges a 10% transaction fee for each room sold.
Once you’re on vacation you’ll need help on-the-go. These apps can help make your trip a little easier!
23. Hotel TonightIf you decide to stay an extra night on a trip, want to have a last minute celebration, or just need a hotel at the last minute for any reason, Hotel Tonight is a crucial app to have! Hotels send the app their unused rooms and they are sold at rock-bottom prices.
24. Trip ItIt can be a pain to have to look through all of your confirmations for traveling when you are on the go. The Trip It app will consolidate everything into an easy to read itinerary. The itineraries are made in 2 ways, either by emailing confirmations to the app or through the app being connected to several travel websites. It makes it easy to stay organized while traveling.
25. TriposoTriposo is one of many apps that will help you plan what to do on a vacation. What makes it great though are the over 8000 locations and the dashboard the app has that features a currency converter and a phrase book!
