Sea Venture Resort - When clicking around travel websites, which sections do you find the most helpful?

When clicking around travel websites, which sections do you find the most helpful?

When planning a trip online, you can do more than book the flight. Many websites offer travel guides, lists of destination activities, etc. We’d love to know which online travel tools you rely on the most.

Public Comments

It depends on what I'm looking for. I tend to find the pages regarding earning SkyMiles helpful. I recently found the MQM calculator for other airlines to be a big help. For finding out information about destinations, I'll usually go to the Destination pages of the web site, and there is usually some information or links there. Other things that I find helpful are podcasts (I think you guys at Delta did something with that), and especially the Delta Blog. That gives us a different perspective of your airline. In essence, all of the tools on your web site have their own specific purpose. They are all useful; it just depends on what you need to know.
Seat sale pages.
Anything that is helpful, and not just something promoting their own site. Also, I tend to steer clear of overly-colorful websites with text in many different places to look "cute" if the website is supposed to be proffesional and for information.
not the hotel part the surroundings because i spend 50%in the hotel(including sleep) hope i helped=)
Flight planning, car rentals, and hotel reservations are the most useful links for travel websites. It's easier to go to one location and plan everything (and receive good value) for your trip.
i find it to be the prices destination and most of all the hours and how long it takes many airlines are slow but reall i always choose delta cause there fast and reliable and very comfortable
I rely on mostly the tourism opportunities that location serves.
price and ease of tools to find things and no stinking flashing ads
Besides booking a flight, I like to see lists of activities or sights that are off the beaten path. Because by the time I make my reservations, I already know about the usual tourist stuff. For example: - Where the locals eat and hang out - Movies that were filmed there - Best things to do and places to go alone, especially at night
Route maps are important to me (and I'm in the travel industry, by the way). In addition, I have a family member whose vision is not great. Therefore the text size and color combinations make a huge difference. And when you remember that those in the older age brackets also have a significant number of disposable dollars, it might make sense to make your website easier for them to read. Perhaps a panel in one corner that allows the user to modify the text (like on the Rush Limbaugh website). Also, when I was a trainer I remember reading about color combinations and their readability. White letters on a dark blue background are easiest on the eyes. Red letters are very hard to read in some combinations. Thanks for soliciting this info!
yahoo travel...flights expedia.com expedia.ca southwest northwest airtran travelocity delta usairways roomsaver.com
I like an easily accessible "cheap seats" page. I'm not a fan of having to guess when I'm going to get the best fare. I like it when there's a calender showing the fares for different days, that has proven to be the most helpful for me.
Lists of destination activities, places to go alone or not, about local food, habits of local people, news...
I love when there's a recreation section with an interactive map of things to do in the area and the ability to buy a combo pass for those things.. Guides are great and all, but there are tons of guide sites that I already prefer.. However, I like to be able to just select a few things I want to do and buy a discounted pass for those at the same time I buy my car rental.. I like to have a lot to choose from, not just a golf course or particularly expensive experience.. Local museums perhaps with links to an already popular guide with reviews.. I also love when a site can show me what the cheapest price will be to my destination in the next month or suggest an alternative airport if there's a substantial savings..
i think it depends on what i am looking for.actual,iam only look at the section i am interested in,such as travel destination.
What I find helpful are lists of destination activities, also calendars of special events ie. festivals, list of different neighborhoods and what each offers, hotels and restaurants in the area. Also weather and airport information, and links to other sites such as shuttle or car service, tour guides, museum or activity websites.
when i just want an airline ticket, i go to yahoo travel. if i am looking for airfare, rental car and hotel i check out hotwire for better deals. i don't look at the destination activities, since most of the time i've already researched it online through a chamber of commerce or lonely planet travel guide.
Last Minute Deals and Customer Reviews!
When i am searching around on travel sites i mostly only want to see the flight schedules and prices and i hate being int erupted by a pop p about something else. I like the site to be clear and easy, updated and the necessary information available.
rental cars.
I like to see what the weather is going to be like or is currently at my final destination. Also what type of weather to expect when I get there so I know how to dress/pack.
I like sites that allow me to search dates by price. I can plan my trip around the least expensive flights. I used to do this a lot with Travelocity, but I'm in Asia now and can't book through them for the flights I make most.
I want to know about the unique things that I would be able to see at my destination. Don't tell me that there's lots of great shopping and then I go and find out that it's all of the same stores I've got back home. It is the same thing for dining. I want to know about unique dining experiences that I will remember once I am back home. It would be useful to have some sort of an events guide available. This way I could plan my trip and see what there will be to do during my stay (i.e. festivals, celebrations, local exhibits, concert series, etc). So that if I'm going to New York for example in January, then I will know what is going on in New York for the week that I will be there that I may not be able to experience if I'm there in May or August.
helpline number
http://www.betterbidding.com http://www.hotwire.com http://www.priceline.com http://www.tripadvisor.com
I often read questions like this asking the consumers opinion on different things, (like the company has genuine concern for the consumer) when in reality the consumers desire for a particular type of service is often offered the opposite of what they want.
Up to date pricing information is most important
For me, I like to know more about the destination cities or countries. the facilities, information about cool place and tourism area, etc. I also would like to know about the accomodation that travel agencies provide. About the flight, I would like to know the plane type, the services they give especially for a long journey, and all kind of important information such as baggage limit etc.
Online hotel booking with instant confirmation of rates and availability
My husband and I travel both in U.S.A. and in Europe for pleasure - never for business. Which country or state we choose often depends on what there is to see or do there, with the cost of the flight itself being a only close second in priority. We live in Europe, and we've discovered that most American travel businesses seem to be unable to process requests for information (brochures and such) sent to Europe, so getting that information online is very important to us. We seek travel goals with interesting history, rich musical culture (especially traditional folk music), and nature trails for hiking and biking. Therefore, adding local bike rental shops and the area's best hiking trails to a site would be very attractive to us. An interactive map also helps us to choose where to travel. We like to make one city a kind of "home base", so therefore suggested day trips from a certain location would be good. A list of area hotels is helpful, but we've found that it's cheaper as well as more fun and interesting to just look for a "mom and pop" local hotel when we arrive rather than reserve a room in one of the more expensive "cookie-cutter" chain hotels. We couldn't care less about shopping, restaurants, or nighclubs. We're nature lovers, so where or what we eat is of little concern to us. Thanks for asking!
travel guides
When I travel, I want peace of mind about making sure my connections to and from the airport will run smoothly and like to explore my transportation options both price and convienience wise. It is nice to have access to detailed information in English about shuttle services, trains, etc even in places all over the world. I also usually look for customer reveiws about destinations and hotels, restaraunts, shopping etc.. I am a budget traveler, so I like to try and find the most bang for my buck wherever I go and I don`t like to rely on only commercial advertisements which may not give the full story. I also like to find out which destinations are unique to the area and which places are good for families (since I am now traveling with a small child). When planning a trip to Hong Kong for instance, I found out about an amuzement park/zoo/water park/aquarium/seaworld place called "Ocean Park" which turned out to be much less crowded and a better value than going to Hong Kong Disneyland and had a lot more culture as well! We only read about it in a few places but the place was fantastic and makes Hong Kong a wonderful family destination!
i honestly do not plan trips online it is a hassel for me because it is to timing consuming for me and it is aheadache.
Travel sites I like have flexible travel dates and nearby airports. It's very important to me to have options for cheaper flights. I also like that I can sign up on sidestep to keep me on alert for any price changes on a certain trip.
I would really like to see a fare calendar so I can pick the cheapest period to fly.
The flight and the total price. We don't care about fancy graphics, the blueprints for the airplane, useless promos, or company news. We just want to book the best flight at the best price without having to click through 10+ pages. Please include the taxes and fuel charges in the promos. You can still show the basic fare to attract attention, but maybe include the extras on the same page.
Area Hotels, Car Rentals. Wether....
My favorite section is user opinions or user reviews on hotels, restaurants, activities/excursions, etc.
i look at the prices to see if it is within my price range and I check if there are any hotel guides or hotel sponsors on the site to help me out so that I can book pretty much everything in one go and on one website without hassle and doubt, for instance if I know the Flight company is good I know that the hotel is probably gonna be good as well...after all the flight company isn't exactly gonna be sponsored or advertise a bad hotel?
The yellow pages.
It would be nice to click what airport you can fly out of (or nearest you) and then have a list of great vacation locations ideas and prices of air travel and hotel average prices.... they do this with major airports but not smaller ones, like Omaha or Des Moines... that feature would be great for us in the midwest that are looking for winter vacations last minute!
Specials, and the calender which shows the cheapest days to fly........dunno if that's on the Delta site though. (Look at Southwest Airlines for some tips)
I used Trip Advisor to plan my last trip - and found the forums there most helpful. Even if I had asked a question that had been asked 100 times before, someone was always willing to answer or point me in the right direction.
Expedia, and Priceline,,, find these two to work the best for Air travel and Hotel and Auto,,,, For cruises,,, There are a number of really good agencys who can get you the best cruise values,,,, I book with these outfits at least twice a month and they have never done wrong.
I always rely on personal anecdotes from travelers that have first hand advice on what to do, what not to do, and where the best places are. Many large websites have those personal rating systems by users, so I always check those out.
I like to start with airfares, since they're usually the largest single expense. I like a site with flexible search options because I would rather pick my dates according to when the lowest fare is available than choose an exact date first. Once I've settled on a destination, I like to look at activities. I like to see links to multiple providers so I can shop around and compare the various options.
Activities that tourists go to. Only so I can avoid those. Restaurants (if McDonald's is listed I X-out immediately) are very helpful. I like to know what other people think of the restaurants, and helpful links.
Pricing out the trips is cool, putting together different times and dates for offpeak travel and having the flexibility to price different scenarios withought having a card charged is important.
For flights I usually start with sidestep.com. To gather more information on locations I usually go to trip advisor. Besides that, I search the web on the location I am visiting and gather information on travel that way.
Reviews section on any carriers web page. Honestly, I do not travel or book a hotel until I read the reviews on Tripadvisor.com. That site has never disappointed me and is usually right on with every review.