Trouble-free Travel Tickets

I get weekly emails from a site called Travel Mole, which provides insight into the travel industry, such as booking and destination trends. I’m not exactly religious about reading it, but this week, the headline caught my eye: “Online travelers shrinking, turning to agents.” I clicked to read more, and discovered that the decline in online booking is unrelated to our shoddy economy. Rather, people are turning to (human) travel agents because online agencies are too frustrating to use.

I can relate. Sometimes, looking for answers on travel search Web sites like Kayak or Travelocity turns out to be much more complicated and convoluted than expected. After reading the Travel Mole article, I wondered whether there was anything better online, or if I too would be forced to call a travel agent (and pay one) the next time I planned a trip. I started searching, and found two options that stood out for their simplicity.

Boo for hotels and city guides.

InsideTrip for flights. (Michelle Higgins of The New York Times also recommends the site.)

Sarah Amandolare
Senior Writer

Comments

[Kim at Best of Hawaii Directory]

I really agree with your comment "Sometimes, looking for answers on travel search Web sites like Kayak or Travelocity turns out to be much more complicated and convoluted than expected."

What began as a plan to simplify really can at times, be the opposite.

Thanks so much for your posting!

[Janelle]

I do find that nothing beats travel agents for package trips. Web sites may give you ball park numbers, but so often I get beter prices if I call someone like Liberty Travel. However, for just flights, I unfailingly use Kayak and will probably try InsideTrip.

[Kim Fischer]

I checked out Boo and believe it may be a wonderful reference while researching hotels for clients. InsideTrip, however, appears to be just another online booking engine actually powered by Orbitz, thereby possibly causing the same sort of frustrations as experienced when booking on Kayak, Travelocity and other similar engines. Our travel agency does not charge fees for packaged tours or cruises. We do charge a small fee for air only tickets, but you always have the comfort of knowing you can get help from a LIVE agent if something should go wrong or changes need to be made.