Where do you get your best results on "research" on best deals at?

[Vince]

Kayka?Travelocity?????~Thanks for any info

[jamaicarob]

i book over the phone directly with the resort about 4 to 5 months in advance, they book up quickly especially when we stay for 18 days, then book our flight at the same time thru expedia.ca with westjet, soon come

[TizzyATX]

I have had the best results with Kayak

[Blake]

I have had the best results with Kayak

It's funny because in my experience kayak returned higher prices than some of their competitors.
I actually spent a lot of time researching over the course of months, sometimes I would have everything including kayak,orbitz, priceline, hotwire, travelocity, hotels.com, google flights, and so forth and so on because ocassionally the pricing will be different.

In my opinion Orbitz and Hotwire often returned the lowest prices, aggregators like google.com/flights allow you to quickly scan for airline prices.

This time around I ended up booking through the hotel directly(catcha gardens) and booked my airline ticket through hotwire because I had a $20 entertainment book rebate.

Often I'll call the hotel directly if I feel their pricing is a little high for what the rest of the market is looking like, and I have no issues with looking for a discount because that means I'll have more money to spend on food, drinks, and tipping!

I was raised frugal and it's helped in the business world and it helps when planning vacations, the key is to not wait too long to book because it does become a gamble( I ended up paying $479 for my flight, a month earlier I would have paid $350).

[yetta]

I like to book directly with the hotel or resort. Generally, it has always worked out better. Regarding airlines, booking directly with the airline has given me the best prices. I might add, that I live in a very small state with small airports. I'm sure that those living in other areas might find better deals with travel sites. Every vacation, I always enter my info on these sites and everytime...the prices are cheaper when booking directly. Might add, that flights are generally booked about 5-6 months in advance and sometimes more.

[Blake]

I forgot to mention it also depends on WHEN you're booking the flight/hotel room for, if it's during high season 5-6 months in advance is critical for best pricing.... Off season it's usually the complete opposite and booking that far out is bound to cost you a lot more.

I generally also do a stopover in Florida instead of a direct flight from DC, as it saves money and I don't mind being in an airport terminal for a few hours, flying direct can be a LOT more expensive and a layover on the way back lets me get caught up on work.

I wish I had enough miles saved up for the flight, generally airline tickets are "free" thanks to putting everything on a work credit card.

[kaycee]

I always use Orbitz but someone posted a website yesterday called Otel.com. I think it has the best deals on rooms right now.

[Ras Walleye]

For hotels I have always booked directly with the property except once when I was looking for a deal on one night in MoBay.
For flights I check Kayak, Orbitz, and Vayama and then double check the airlines sites also.

[Blake]

As an fyi, for flights google flights aggregates pretty much all of the deal sites and is extremely easy to use.

They also check the airline sites directly, which makes comparison shopping a lot easier.

[Mike_D]

It doesn't hurt to shoot the hotel an e-mail and ask if they are offering any deals. It's worth it just see if they will beat the prices on the travel sites. If you are a repeat customer, mention that and you will often get a price better than the advertised rate.

For airfare, I find that the prices I get directly through the airline are generally a few bucks cheaper than through the travel websites. Also, I use a US Airways rewards card, so I get double miles if I book directly through them. (I'm hoping that my miles will pay for at least one ticket on our next reach.)