My tools for getting a good deal: The best websites

So there are many, many websites out there that you can look at to try and find a good deal for your trip. The following are a couple that I use regularly to find a good deal:

Kayak.com
This is a good website for comparing a lot of different websites and companies at once. I generally use them first to get a sense of how low I can go, or what is average for a flight. They also do hotels, and cars, and packages. I found looking for a rental car using the site was not that great, so I would stay away from that function.

Farecast.com
Farecast is a good site if you are traveling between major cities which they have forecasts for. If the cities are indeed ones that can be predicted for, I have found the predictor was accurate, and when they said buy, the fares did indeed go up the next day which would support their accuracy. The downside of this site is that smaller airports and many larger airports do not have the prediction function. Same applies to hotels - good site for predicting, but only if you live or are travelling to one of the major cities.

CheapoAir.com
I have just started looking at this website and using it. It is especially good for flights to far apart places, or places overseas. I believe that they look at flights that you can connect to, that do not code share - so essentially finding you deals that you wouldn't normally see. I am not positive on this because I haven't booked with this site yet. But I was going to book a flight I found on the site, from Toronto to New York for $120 round trip, but sadly I waited to long and it was gone by the time I decided to book it. So yea, it is worth taking a look at.

Priceline.com
Priceline is good for its 'bid your own price' function which I have used many times. I will write a post about that specifically in a later blog, but it does work if you know how to bid smart and are careful. The regular functions of the website are covered more adequately by the sites listed above though, in my opinion.

Hotwire.com
Similar to Priceline in the sense that you don't know what hotel or flights you are getting before you buy. There are sites out there that can help you decipher what hotel it really is, and you can do it yourself sometimes based on the tripadvisor.com rating and using the amenities listed. Haven't used it myself yet to book a trip though.

Couponcraze.com
If you go to the travel section, they have various deals by different travel companies, including codes for things like 20% off, $30 off, etc...Worth looking for codes for sites that you are going to be buying from anyways.

So there are just a few to start out with. The regular ones like expedia and orbitz are also good for scanning. Also, individual airline's websites can often have the best deals, and some do not have their fares included in the other sites search engines. This would be Southwest, JetBlue for the most part, and Allegiant Air. All 3 can have good prices. And I am sure there are other good websites out there to find deals, so hopefully I can find some more and post them in another post! Happy deal hunting!