Travel Websites

I'm a huge blind booking advocate. You book a hotel not knowing 100% what it is. The booking is based on area of town and star level. There is some strategy that goes into this to make sure you don't end up in a shite hole, but it is pretty reliable. I've never been anywhere lower level than a Holiday Inn.

For airfare, Google Flights and Southwest's site (since it isn't on Google Flights) can't be beat IMO. Especially if you have flexibility.

I wouldn't recommend using a 3rd party site for flights at all, and I wouldn't recommend using them for hotels unless you're doing blind booking (which is only through Hotwire and Priceline). You are just a lot less protected. It is almost always better from a customer service standpoint to deal directly with hotels/airlines. If something happens where you need to cancel/reschedule, you'll be stuck in the middle of a "deal with them" battle between the 3rd party site and your airline/hotel.

When/where are you looking to travel? Don't underestimate things like being on a hotel e-mail list. Ace Hotel sends out promo codes that can make their prices drop a pretty good bit. Many hotels do. I'm staying at Pontchartrain in NOLA for 25% off due to a promo code they posted on their Facebook.

I mean, people do it all the time so I'm not going to say RUN FAR AWAY. Chances are, you'll be okay. I would just keep the risk in mind if anything were to go wrong :)

The one and only time I booked through Expedia, they asked for the names of everyone staying. Then it apparently jumbled them up because when we arrived to the hotel, there was nothing under my name. After an hour on the phone with Expedia, it turned out the reservation was under one guest's first name and another guest's last name.

Most hotels will tell you that you can get the cheapest rate by calling them directly, but I don't know if that applies to a "package".

I will say I booked a trip (hotel, flight, car) through Priceline and I was impressed. For two people the trip cost a total of 4400 over 17 days for all of the above. Everything went smoothly and I never had a problem.

I've thought about Europeanvacations as they seem relatively cheap but not sure even though it has a 4.7/5 rating.

Momondo and skyscanner are best for flights

I used Tripmasters.com for the wife and I for a trip to Paris, 5 nights with hotel and flights, total was $2250.00. You can customize what hotel you want to stay in and flight times, obviously this affects the price going up or down. Easy to use, no issues, great trip. Check them out.

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I used Tripmasters.com for the wife and I for a trip to Paris, 5 nights with hotel and flights, total was $2250.00. You can customize what hotel you want to stay in and flight times, obviously this affects the price going up or down. Easy to use, no issues, great trip. Check them out.

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I'll check them out...thanks so much for the tip!