Compare 8 Travel-Booking Sites: Booking vs. Priceline vs. Agoda vs. Airbnb vs. Expedia vs. Others

Booking.com (www.booking.com)

Booking.com is a website that primarily manages a collection of lodging reservations but also offers vacation packages, flights, car rentals, and airport taxis. It is also known as an Online Travel Agency (OTA). It is one of the largest travel e-commerce companies in the world.

Basically, you can book thousands of accommodations on the website booking.com. That means anything from Camping to 5 Star Luxury Hotels.

Booking.com, originally formed in 1996, went through several transitions over the years and hit its stride by 2011. The first Booking.com mobile app launched in late 2010 and is now available for Android, iPhone, Microsoft Windows, and Kindle Fire available for download from Amazon.

What We Like

What We Don't Like

Payments

Booking.com accepts the world’s most popular and secure payment methods，such as Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay, and PayPal.

If you want to book hotels or tickets at Booking.com, and don't forget to sign up at Extrabux (What is Extrabux?) , then you can get 6% super cashback from Extrabux! Sign-Up Bonus: Free to join it & get $20 welcome bonus!

Priceline (www.priceline.com)

Priceline was founded in 1997, which provides travelers smart and easy ways to save on hotel rooms, airline tickets, rental cars, vacation packages and cruises. With access to over 600,000 properties of all types, consumers can find accommodations with a Best Price Guarantee as well as free cancellations and pay-at-arrival. Priceline's Express Deals offers exclusive savings without bidding.

What We Like

1. You Can Save a Lot of Money as a Priceline VIP

Priceline has a loyalty program called Priceline VIP. It’s free to join, and you get access to VIP discounts and benefits as soon as you sign up.

For example, a recent search for a four-star hotel in Seattle returned a VIP rate of $137 per night for the Thompson Hotel. This rate was significantly lower than any other rate offered across the internet, including on Hyatt’s own website, where the Member Rate was $176 a night for the same dates.

2. You Can Save Even More by Using the Priceline APP

“Tonight-Only Deals,” sometimes referred to as "Deals Tonight Nearby," are deeply discounted rates that you can snap up at the last minute only in the app — a great way to save if you’re feeling adventurous. Or, take advantage of another app-only feature perfect for road trips: “Road Deals." Simply enter your starting point and destination into the app, then Priceline will plot available hotels along your route.

3. You Can Find Great Deals at Boutique Hotels

Typically, a stay at a boutique hotel is a special occasion — as reflected in the price tag. Many boutique hotels aren’t part of a loyalty program, so it’s not always possible to pay for your stay using hotel points. Priceline makes it possible to score a great deal at a premium hotel for a nice discount.

For example, a recent search for a room at the NoMad hotel in New York returned a rate of $280 per night for VIPs on Priceline and $360 a night everywhere else, including the hotel’s own website. That’s a savings of 22%.

4. You Can Stack Discounts to “Triple Dip” on Savings

First, sign up for the Priceline VIP program. Besides giving you access to discounted prices, it'll also email you coupons and discounts.

Second, start your Priceline search by clicking through a shopping portal such as CashbackMonitor, which can earn you as much as 10% back in cash or rewards points.

Finally, use a credit card that offers a bonus for travel spend, such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve®. Put it all together for a triple dip in savings.

5. The Priceline Express Deals Hotel

Priceline offers mystery hotels for extra savings of up to 60% off. The catch is that the exact hotel is revealed only after booking. There are usually different price points for the hotel if you select your room type. However, you’ll see the greatest savings if you select the option to have your room assigned to you at check-in. The Priceline Express Deal hotel bookings are also non-refundable.

Note: Make sure you are not going to have a change of plans from the time of booking to the time of stay (easier said than done). These hotel bookings are non-refundable so there is some risk involved.

What We Don't Like

1. Priceline Guarantees Occupancy for Only Two People Per Room

Typically, hotels in the United States allow up to four people per room. Priceline guarantees only two per room, which could be an issue if you have more than two people in your party.

2. It Can Be Difficult to Actually Find the Best Price

Unfortunately, neither the Priceline website nor app is intuitive to use. To ensure you’re getting the best price, you have to navigate an avalanche of deals across both mediums, including:

• VIP deals.

• Pricebreakers.

• Discount coupons.

• Express deals.

• Tonight-Only Deals.

• Road Deals.

• Mobile deals.

It’s a lot to sift through and can be confusing.

3. There Are Major Differences Between the Website and the APP

Some of the deals offered on the website don’t appear on the app and vice versa. For example, “Pricebreakers” is a website-only feature that allows you to pay a deep discount for one of three similar hotels — but you won’t know which one until you book. On the flip side lies the aforementioned “Tonight-Only Deals.” Visible only in the app, this deal offers substantial savings on hotels for that night only.

4. Many Priceline Bookings Are Absolutely Nonrefundable

Priceline’s cancellation and refund policies can be very restrictive. While some policies may have changed in response to COVID-19, it can still be difficult — if not impossible — to cancel a booking or get a refund on Priceline. This holds true for regular bookings, but even more so for deeply discounted rates such as Priceline Express Deals.

Nerdy tip: When booking with Priceline, use a credit card that offers great travel insurance benefits. If you need to cancel your stay, you may be able to use the cancellation coverage provided with the card.

5. You won’t Earn Loyalty Points or Enjoy Elite Status with Hotel Stays

When you book a hotel with Priceline, you generally won’t earn hotel loyalty points for your stay. In addition, the hotel likely won’t honor any elite status you hold.

Payments

Priceline accepts Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express. We recommend checking with your bank for credit limits and/or daily spending limits prior to paying with your debit or credit card.

Extrabux Cashback: 

Make a purchase on Priceline through Extrabux, then you can get up to 5% super cashback.

Agoda (www.agoda.com)

Agoda is one of the world’s fastest growing online travel booking platforms. From its beginnings as an e-commerce start-up based in Singapore in 2005, Agoda has grown to offer a global network of 2 million properties in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. It provides travelers with easy access to a wide choice of luxury and budget hotels, apartments, homes, and villas to suit all budgets and travel occasions.

Headquartered in Singapore, Agoda is part of Booking Holdings (Nasdaq: BKNG) and employs more than 4,000 staff in more than 30 countries. Agoda.com and the Agoda mobile app are available in 38 languages.

It is Asia's leading and fastest growing online hotel reservation service, focused on securing and providing the lowest available hotel prices in every destination worldwide. Agoda is part of Priceline.com (Nasdaq:PCLN). Based in Singapore with operations in Bangkok and the Philippines, Agoda's network includes 7,000 hotels in Asia and more than 33,000 worldwide.

What We Like

What We Don't Like

Payments

AGODA only accepts credit card (Visa, Master Card, AMEX, JCB and Carte Bleue) and PayPal.

Extrabux Cashback: 

Make a purchase on Agoda through Extrabux, then you can get 6% super cashback.

Airbnb (www.airbnb.com)

Airbnb takes a unique approach toward lodging. Part of the “sharing economy,” Airbnb offers you someone’s home as a place to stay instead of a hotel. On Airbnb, you can find places to crash on your backpacking trip through Europe, or you can find a place to stay for a month during your internship in Los Angeles. It’s also a great way to explore a town you’re thinking about moving to, or finding an alternative to traditional hotel options in 2020 if you’re just around for a weekend. 

If you want to rent out extra space in your own home, you can host through Airbnb and make money for allowing a guest to stay the night.

Listing a house on Airbnb is extremely easy. If you have decent pictures, and the ability to write a compelling description of the property, you can easily list a house within 20 minutes. Plus, Airbnb allows you to manage the listing, so that the property is listed as a “sometimes” offering, a “one-time” offering, or an “all-the-time offering.”

It costs nothing to list a house on Airbnb, and in most parts of the United States, Airbnb charges a 3% booking fee. Guests are also charged a service fee (which Airbnb collects directly), and it may collect a VAT (value-added tax) in some jurisdictions. It’s up to the operator of the house to pay all other applicable taxes and fees charged by a city, state, or country. To learn more about the fees, you can look at the Airbnb fee schedule.

What We Like

1. The Options Are Unique And Nearly Endless

If you’re looking for a very unique stay, then Airbnb could be absolutely perfect for you. Unique, one-of-a-kind accommodation options is something that Airbnb offers in droves. Whether you want to stay on a boat, in a treehouse, a glamping pod, a cabin or even a castle, you can find it on Airbnb.

2. You Really Can Feel At Home

If you want to feel completely at home when you travel, then an Airbnb could be just the thing. You get all the creature comforts that come with being in an actual home. You can cook in the kitchen, lie on a couch and watch television, walk around the block and see what the locals see.

Keep in mind that, just as you’d have to pick up after yourself at home, you’ll have to pick up after yourself at your Airbnb, too. Or you'll pay a cleaning fee.

3. It’s Perfect For Big Parties

Big parties such as family reunions, bachelor or bachelorette parties, girl's trips, etc. can really make use of Airbnb spaces to their full potential. Large properties provide plenty of bedrooms and social spaces for a price that, when broken down among a group, often makes staying in an Airbnb more affordable than staying in a block of hotel rooms.

Plus, these properties targeted to traveling groups often offer you things you could never get in a hotel, such as a private game room with pool or foosball tables, a hot tub, yard space, pool and/or a large dining room. 

4. Immersion is Easy

When staying at a big hotel in a foreign city, it can be easy to feel like you’re staying really anywhere in the world. After all, most big brand hotels all feel the same inside. Close the curtains and you could be somewhere else entirely.

Immersing yourself in a foreign culture can be much easier when you stay at an Airbnb, especially if you book a single room instead of an entire property. This gives you the chance to socialize frequently with your hosts who can offer the best insider advice about your destination.

What We Don't Like

1. A Lengthier Booking Process

Yes, the first con is that the booking process is generally lengthier. Booking a hotel is so easy. You just go to a website, add in some credit card info and book. Done and done.

Booking an Airbnb requires an account on the website and then actually conversing with the host (in most cases) to get your stay booked, something that might take days. There are, of course, instant book options available on Airbnb. But even then, you’re still at the mercy of the host.

2. The Host

This con can go either way. Some travelers love people. They love getting to know locals. Others do not.

When you stay in an Airbnb, you may meet your host and they may be very chatty. You may get roped into a long conversation. They may make you a snack. This could be good or bad, depending on your preferences.

However, it is most definitely a con that, regardless of how nice your host may be, you’re always at their mercy. If they decide the day before your stay that they can no longer rent their room or home out to you, they can cancel. 

3. It’s Not Always Cheaper

A lot of people tout Airbnb as a more affordable option to staying in a hotel. This can be true in some circumstances. But, as with most things in life, you get what you pay for.

An Airbnb private room in your host’s home might be more affordable than a hotel room, but it’s also not as private as a hotel room (for example, you probably won’t get your own private bathroom). An Airbnb that gives you a full apartment to yourself might be more affordable than a hotel room, but it may also be in a more residential part of town, away from the city's more desirable areas.

4. You’re A Business Traveler

The business travel market is one that Airbnb has consistently tried to tap but without much success. Business travelers just want amenities that most Airbnb properties don’t offer. They want plenty of plugs and places to charge their devices, a workspace, reliable internet, somewhere that makes it easy to get around, quiet spaces to work and maybe even places to meet with colleagues. 

Payments

Airbnb accepts major credit, debit and prepaid cards, PayPal, and Google Wallet. 

Extrabux Cashback: 

Make a purchase on Airbnb through Extrabux, then you can get $6 super cashback.

Expedia (www.expedia.com)

One of the world’s biggest third party travel companies, Expedia, has been around for over 20 years. It started as a company within Microsoft, and then was spun out, built up, and then made public as one of the fastest growing travel companies in the world. They work with thousands of hotels, airlines, car rental companies and more to create custom travel packages for anyone looking for a one stop shop to book a vacation.

When you search on Expedia, you’ll get a clear picture of just about every offering that’s out there. You can trust that you will get a great price as well, as their search results list from lowest price to highest price, but you can also filter the options in several other ways. So you know you can reliably find a vacation package, whether that’s just a flight, or a flight, hotel, and a rental car.

Expedia also offers no change fees on Hotels, which is a great benefit by booking through them. Flight changes, like with all major airlines, vary by provider, so make sure you check the flight reservation while you’re booking it.

What We Like

1. It Can Be Cheaper

Booking travel through Expedia can help you save, especially when you purchase a bundle of services for your trip. Expedia claims you can get an estimated 43% savings when you add a hotel booking to an existing flight reservation. In short, travel bundles especially can help you rack up savings.

Nerdy tip: A perk of booking travel through Expedia is that you select your hotel, airfare and car rental in separate steps in the process. This makes it easy to bookmark the page and compare the cost of these items on Expedia versus the cost on the company’s direct website.

2. Payment Plans

If you don’t want to pay for your whole trip at the time of booking, Expedia allows you to make monthly payments toward your vacation. Expedia also offers exclusive "Book Now, Pay Later" hotel deals, so there’s less reason to let the looming cost of your accommodations deter you from your travel plans.

3. Options to Purchase Trip Insurance

You can purchase a travel insurance policy that covers your entire trip easily on the website, giving you near-instant access to car rental, hotel, cruise and flight protections.

Policies vary, so be sure to read the fine print to understand what’s covered and what isn’t.

Current insurance policy options include:

• Flight cancellation plan.

• Flight protection plan.

• Hotel booking protection plan.

• Cruise insurance.

• Car rental insurance.

• Package protection plan.

• Vacation waiver.

4. Availability of Last-Minute Deals

Good news for spontaneous travelers: Expedia offers some impressive last-minute travel deals for flights and hotels. Offers are valid for stay dates within the next 14 days. The visible hotel costs are priced per room per stay based on the cheapest double room available, whereas the quoted flight prices are per person based on the cheapest return flights — potential additional baggage charges not included.

What We Don't Like

1. Iffy Cancellation Policies

It is possible to change or cancel your Expedia reservation without fees, as long as you’re in the 24-hour window for cancellation. If you’re not, the site warns that standard cancellation fees apply.

It’s fairly difficult to figure out Expedia’s various cancellation windows beyond the first 24 hours after booking. Here's just a taste of some of the policy differences:

• Hotels have various cancellation deadlines; if the reservation was made on a nonrefundable booking, you may still qualify for cancellation, minus any hotel fees, by giving Expedia a call or chatting online.

• Unused time on a rental car won’t be refunded, but if you cancel a qualified rental at least six hours ahead of pickup, you might get a refund.

• Cruises must be canceled 90 days ahead of departure to still be eligible.

What’s more, you may have to pay Expedia’s cancellation fees on top of any fees the service provider might impose — though many of these are currently revised due to COVID-19. While some bookings through Expedia are nonrefundable altogether, view all of its cancellation policies to make sure you understand the potential financial consequences of a possible change in plans.

2. Lacking Customer Service

Outsourced customer service can be hit or miss with Expedia. If you have a specific complaint to make toward a hotel or airline, for instance, you may be given a longer runaround before actually having your question addressed. On the bright side, there are many ways to get in touch with Expedia to discuss bookings, including live chat.

3. Fewer Opportunities for Upgrades

When you book through travel search engines rather than through specific loyalty programs, you may hurt your chances of receiving free upgrades or other useful loyalty membership perks. Further, when you book through Expedia, you're not always guaranteed a room type or fare type. This alone can leave a lot of your travel comforts up to chance.

Payments

For most bookings, you can pay with Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, Diners Club, and debit cards. A “bill me later” payment option is not offered at this time because most reservations require either payment of a deposit or payment in full at the time of your reservation.

Extrabux Cashback: 

Make a purchase on Expedia through Extrabux, then you can get up to 6% super cashback.

Travelocity (www.travelocity.com)

Founded in 1996, Travelocity is one of the most well-known online travel booking sites. The company, which falls under Expedia's umbrella of brands, allows consumers to book flights, hotels, rental cars, cruises, and vacation packages using its platform.

And there's a Travelocity mobile app to help make the process even simpler and to encourage customers to use the service while on the go. The app, which is designed to work on Android and iOS, makes booking your next vacation and finding activities easier than ever before. 

What We Like

1. Easy Upgrades at Checkout

Through the reservation procedure, Travelocity will show you the cost of updating your trip out of the fundamental economy. It’s easy to compare the advantages versus the expense of the upgrade and weigh if an upgrade is worth it.

2. A Definite Cancellation Policy

Throughout booking and at check outside, the website demonstrates to one of the extra fees associated with your booking class and outlines the cancellation policy for the trip.

3. Useful Flight Scores

Travelocity features a flight score beside the flight search results. These scores account for aircraft-style, amenities, and your own flight length.

4. Save Car and Hotel Deals

In case you will reserve a hotel or hire a vehicle anyways, bundling them along together with your flights may save on the overall cost of your journey.

5. Get a Discount with Your First Hotel Booking with the Mobile App

The first time you use the Travelocity mobile app, you will receive 15% off your very first hotel booking. This is a pretty decent discount to get when you are booking a trip somewhere, and that extra cash saved on the hotel price can come in handy for other activities while out and about!

What We Don't Like

1. No More Multi-City Hunt

While additional flight search engines, like Google Flights, allow you to search for multiple cities at the same time, it only allows you to search for numerous airports within one city.

2. No Flexible Date Hunt

It does not show consequences for flexible dates, making it a frustrating experience to look for flights if your traveling dates are wide open.

3. No More Substitute for Booking Directly with the Airline

It keeps passengers inside Travelocity. They don’t really demonstrate a choice where you are able to book directly with the airline if you see a trip you like tickets.

4. Not Necessarily the Best Price

The travel agency does not contain flights from all of the competition OTAs, so the flight may be found cheaper elsewhere.

5. Missing Map Functionality

For decades, other online travel search engines possess a map in which you could see the cheapest airport to fly into within a region. Travelocity has to incorporate that.

Payments

You can use a Mastercard, Discover, American Express, Diners Club, UATP, JCB, or Visa debit or credit card for their purchases made through Travelocity. Masterpass can be used to pay for flights with Travelocity.

Extrabux Cashback: 

Make a purchase on Travelocity through Extrabux, then you can get up to 4% super cashback.

Orbitz (www.orbitz.com)

Orbitz is another reliable OTA that has been around since 2001. One thing that makes this site a little different is they offer their own rewards program called Orbitz Rewards. You can earn Orbucks when you book hotels, flights, and vacation packages through Orbitz. However, you can only redeem Orbucks for hotels.

When booking a flight through Orbitz, you’ll earn 1% of your purchase price back as Orbucks. If you book a $500 flight, you will earn 5 Orbucks, which is worth $5 toward a hotel booking. Joining the Orbitz Rewards program is free.

What We Like

What We Don't Like

Payments

To purchase through Orbitz, you need to have a: Mastercard, American Express, Diners Club, Discover, UATP, or Visa debit/credit card. You can also pay with Masterpass. 

Extrabux Cashback: 

Make a purchase on Orbitz through Extrabux, then you can get up to 5% super cashback.

TripAdvisor (www.tripadvisor.com)

TripAdvisor is world’s largest travel review website. Travellers use the site to read and write reviews for various types of tourism-related businesses, including hotels, restaurants, bars, national parks, tourist attractions, and shops.

TripAdvisor was founded in 2000 by Stephen Kaufer, Langley Steinert, Nick Shanny, and Thomas Palka. Their initial goal was to create a social media website that allowed travellers to swap reviews of travel-related businesses and travel destinations. It gave visitors the opportunity to tell others about their journeys and the good (or bad) experiences they had.

The website was immediately popular and within a few years was generating millions of page views per month. Over the years, it has grown into a fully fledged travel website which offers:

• Accommodation, flight, cruise, and rental car booking services

• Package holidays

• Travel forums

• Travel-related content including “Things to Do” guides

• User-generated reviews for hotels, restaurants, bars, national parks, tourist attractions, shops

The TripAdvisor website has about 315 million reviewers (active and inactive) who have created about 500 million reviews of hotels, restaurants, attractions and other travel-related businesses.

What We Like

• Trip Advisor is a unique, timely, populist resource with both reviews and photographs posted by travelers

• Trip Advisor enables a variety of opinions to be voiced

• Functionality has been added so users can now book hotels, flights, vacation rentals, restaurants and directly from the site

• Hotel managers have the option to respond to reviews, good and bad

1. The Reviews 

One of TripAdvisor’s best features — and the reason it became such an established travel website — is the collection of reviews the website has. Users from all over the world have reviewed accommodations and locations based on their own, real experiences. 

2. Real Images From Real Travellers 

Along with reviews, TripAdvisor allows its users to share photographs of their own experiences. How many times have you booked a stay at a hotel or resort, and then when you arrived, your room looked nothing like the pictures that were on the website? TripAdvisor fixes this by allowing travellers to add their own photos, so you get a much more realistic impression of where you are going before you book!

3. Variety of Information 

TripAdvisor offers insight into many different aspects of your travel. You can learn every detail about your accommodations or the city you’ll be travelling to.  TripAdvisor even has travel guides to help you decide what to do when you reach your destination! You can do a lot of research before you book, which greatly increases your chance of making a good decision when you finally choose to book.

What We Don't Like

1. The Reviews 

Though one of TripAdvisor’s best features is the millions of reviews it has on various properties, literally anyone with Internet access and an email address could contribute a review. There is no way to know how truthful any one review is, and it is even possible that property owners add positive reviews for their own accommodations to boost the ratings.

• Widely diverse opinions ("Loved it!"..."Hated it!") can make it hard to objectively evaluate a place

• Dissatisfied guests use Trip Advisor as a venue to broadcast bad experiences

• Trip Advisor has many poorly written trip reviews

• Bogus positive reviews posted along with honest ones can confuse users

• Hotels with less-than-glowing reviews have been known to try inducing guests with discounts, free nights, gifts, and other bribes to post positive reviews that counteract negative statements. Some also encourage staff members to post bogus positive reviews. While Trip Advisor aims to monitor and remove fakes, there's no way the service can totally eliminate them.

2. Not an Advanced Booking Website 

The ability to book right on TripAdvisor is a newer feature of the website, and is therefore not quite as extensive as it is on other booking websites. To guarantee that you get the best prices and deals, you may want to use a more established booking website.

Payments

TripAdvisor accepts credit, debit card, and PayPal.

Extrabux Cashback: 

Make a purchase on TripAdvisor through Extrabux, then you can get up to 4% super cashback.

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