How many hours did you work last week? What about the week before, and the week before that? Yes, we know the life of an entrepreneur seems to revolve around work from dawn to dusk and it doesn’t stop there. When was the last time you took a vacation? Seeing as you are probably way overdue, we thought that we should take a look at the large number of online travel sites and have come up with our top three picks for sites that help you decide where you are going to go, to get away from it all. Disney World or the French Alps? The Mexican Riviera or the Australian Outback? Here are our top three travel sites:
1.Trip Advisor
Trip Advisor uses the power of social networking particularly well. Let’s face it, a vacation for you and your family can be an expensive proposition and has more attached than just cost alone – you badly need this “getaway!” Trip Advisor has long been known as the site that brings together real-time user experiences. Online market research company Compete, Inc., tells us that 56% of respondents consider consumer-generated content to be more credible than the descriptions entered by a supplier or venue. Trip Advisor has gone further and allows you to import and build upon a list of contacts within your “travel network.” Now you are likely to know the source of the first-hand experience as well, making for even more credibility. Trip Advisor has more than 20 million monthly visitors and has amassed more than 10 million consumer reviews. You should know that the hotels and travel venues themselves actively monitor the website and that the site is thus helping to improve the breed as well as providing you with the best unbiased advice.
2.Trav Buddy
Trav Buddy mirrors Trip Advisor in some respects, although it has fewer than half the number of members. Once again social networking is front and center and at Trav Buddy you can keep a diary of your travels as well as a general calendar showing where you’ve been, where you are going to and even list your dream destinations. The scale of interactivity means that you are likely to come into contact with other people who have the same interests as you, who become part of your network and you part of theirs. While it might be fun to think that you can make new travel friends this way, caution is always advised! Trav Buddy is a fun place but its interface is quite cluttered and in terms of site navigation you might feel that you are already on your journey!
3.Travellerspoint
Travellerspoint attracts bloggers who love to travel. As we know, blogs are powerful and primary sources of information on the web and you can tag reviews and information about your travels and append comments, good or bad about destinations, hotels and venues. This is one of the web’s most active travel-based communities and you can also interact via forums and get direct answers to questions from “travel helpers” within the site. Don’t expect to get too much inspiration from the design of the site however, as it is very uninspiring and not an ideal gateway for something which is, after all, one of life’s true delights.
So do you agree with our list of top three travel sites? We want to hear your choices. Who would be on your top three list of travel sites, and why?
Matthew Toren
“Small Business, Big Vision provides a framework for you to unleash your driven and relentless passion to achieve unprecedented growth.”
Love Trip Advisor but so chuffed to learn of these other two sites – I’m off for a web cruise and travel drool. Thank you!
Hi Matthew,
Thanks for sharing these travel sites. I always dream to have a nice travel and vacation to relax and pull new business ideas. The only problem is my time and financial budget is not yet manageable to allow me those travels and vacations.
Thanks Matthew for this list of travel sites – i agree with you on Tripadvisor especially the forums and reviews that helped me plan my trips and get the best deals and fun out of my travels
ZQ
To be honest, I had only heard of Trip Advisor before this post…it has been a long time since I’ve gone on vacation, so that might be why! I very much like to read online reviews and see what other people’s experiences have been like before I spend a lot of money going somewhere. It definitely helps to research prior to making a financial commitment. So in sum, yes I would agree with your list, but I’m no expert :)
Hi Matthew,
Great article, I just wanted to let you know about trivago.com an international travel information site that combines the best of the websites you have mentioned above. You even earn money for writing travel guides, writing reviews and uploading photos. Take a look and let me know what you think… http://www.trivago.com
It’s always good to know about new travel websites. thank you for sharing.
Thanks for the sharing. I uses Trip Advisor for reference too. The feedback people leave in the site has proven to be very useful. I was able to find a cheap and good hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam based on the reviews by some of the travelers. The hotel next to it would have cost me 30% more and it is just as good as the one they recommended.
Thanks for the links, I like trip advisor the best. It offers great advice as well as having a cool logo! (The owl!)
The most common and more successful travel portals are Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz. Simply speaking, these sites have replaced the travel agent.
I am going on a trip and I want to know out of all the online travel sites, which has the least problems? I heard and looked at orbits, expedia, priceline etc. But I would like soem feed back from people who use them.
We would like to travel to the Bahamas. I was just wondering if there was anyone who had any experience with purchasing tickets and setting up a cruise online. Site links would be very helpful.
The travel business is a messy, dog eat dog, dying business. If you are just getting into it, I wish you luck. You are going to need it. Commissions are never guaranteed. Travel agents have the same problem trying to get hotels to pay the commissions..
I never go anywhere without consulting tripadvisor:) have now added the other two sites to my bookmarks and will consult them too before my next trip :)
which will shop all of the other sources–including sources that check other sources–for you with just 1 input of cities and dates. It does not charge any additional fees.
Brick and mortar – physical – travel agencies typically have to charge higher prices for vacations to cover their operating expenses and to pay their travel agents. Online travel sites have access to all of the same travel providers that brick and mortar agencies use.
The most common and more successful travel portals are Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz. Simply speaking, these sites have replaced the travel agent. What they are
actually doing is purchasing “travel” at wholesale from a consolidator, marking the price up, then selling to you.
The answer to that question is very simple. Brick and mortar – physical – travel agencies typically have to charge higher prices for vacations to cover their operating expenses and to pay their travel agents….
Great article, I wasnt familiar with travbuddy, looks like a great site. I am a huge fan of Tripadvisor, I wont book a room without searching the hotel on trip advisor first. I wanted to mention one more I like to visit, if you are interested,
http://www.hoteltattler.com. It’s very similar to to tripadvisor, but it searches 30 travel sites from one place…saves me the time of jumping from hotels.com to travelocity. etc…
The answer to that question is very simple. Brick and mortar – physical – travel agencies typically have to charge higher prices for vacations to cover their operating expenses and to pay their travel agents.
Online travel sites have access to all of the same travel providers that brick and mortar agencies use. Because of lower overhead, the prices that are charged are lower resulting in better prices for the traveler.
its great to see a complete detail to get guidelines regarding top travel websites..
I agree that the 3 sites mentioned above are great in that they provide quite a bit of good quality travel information but when it comes to booking flights or hotels, I have to say that hipmunk.com is the best and easiest website to use!