Several unique terms and phrases describe the features of services we review on this site, some easier to grasp than others. This list briefly defines terms relevant to Online Travel Sites.

Ratings

Additional Features

Additional features the travel services offers in addition to regular booking. These may include the ability to earn frequent flyer miles, the service’s low price guarantees or the ability to access your itinerary through a cellular phone.

Booking Options

The various booking options the travel site offers. This is usually airfare, hotel rooms and car rentals; many travel sites also offer cruises. Additionally, this feature includes how specific or flexible you can be when booking your reservation.

Resources

Additional reading material or information the travel website provides to fulfill your travel needs. This may include weather reports, maps, security updates or travel guides.

Ease of Use/Support

Information about travel websites should be easy to find and provide comprehensive details about the services offered. They should also provide FAQs about the various booking options as well as responsive email or telephone support.

PRODUCT FEATURES

Airfare

The travel service offers airfare bookings.

Hotel

The travel website can make hotel reservations.

Car Rental

You can book a rental car through the travel site.

Cruise

The travel site can book a cruise to various destinations.

Additional Bookings

Activities

The travel site will help you plan for activities while you are on vacation or out of town. Many will inform you about special events taking place while you are visiting a town or help you book sports or theater tickets.

Corporate Travel

The online travel service offers specials to business travelers. Often this works as an extension of the travel site and may require you to register or call a sale representative.

Train

The travel site can book a train ticket for you or link you to a train company. Unlink airfare; many sites only affiliate themselves with one or two train companies.

Vacation Packages

The travel site offers packages to assist you in planning a vacation. Top travel sites will help you find a vacation based on price and location, others may suggest vacations based on theme. Some sites will only help you book flight and hotel together.

Bundle

The travel site allows you to purchase tickets in a package, often with a discount. For instance, you can reserve a flight, hotel and car all at the same time.

Taxes and Fees

Paper Ticket Fee

Most airlines and travel service will only issue electronic tickets. These are fees the travel service charges if you require or want a paper ticket. The prices shown are for two–day delivery. This price does not include the fee the airline may charge.

Itinerary Change Fee

The fee the travel site charges if you need to make changes to your ticket, such as date or time. Airlines will often charge about $100 in addition to this fee to change your ticket. Some things, such as the passenger’s name, cannot be changed.

Flight Search Options

Round Trip

You can specify your flight to be round trip.

One-Way

You can buy a one–way ticket.

Multiple Destinations

You may book a flight with multiple destinations. For example, you can book a flight from Los Angles to New York, spend three days in New York then continue to London.

Non-Stop Flights

You can specify the travel site to only search for non–stop flights.

Specific Dates

You set specific dates to fly.

Flexible Dates

The service doesn’t required you to set dates to fly; it will automatically look for the best price regardless of dates. Or you can adjust your flights to be +/– 1 or more days from a specific date.

Flexible Times

You can adjust your take off times from anytime, a general time of day or a specific hour.

Preferred Airline

Searches can be narrowed by only looking for preferred airlines like Delta, United or American. By default, online travel sites will look for all available flights regardless of airline.

Class

The online travel site will look for fares within a particular seating class or cabin. For example, economy, coach, business or first–class.

Show Refundable Fares

If this option is chosen, the online travel search will only display flights with refundable tickets.

Nearby Airports

The travel site’s search engine will also search flights departing or arriving in airports near your take off location or final destination. Flying into smaller cities or airports near your destination may result in cheaper flights.

Hotel Search Options

Whole City

Your hotel search will include all lodging available within the city.

Near Airport

The hotel search will only look for hotels and lodging near the airport.

Near Address

The travel site’s hotel search will look for available rooms near a specific address.

Point of Interest

The hotel search engine will display rooms near places of interest like museums, theaters or historic monuments.

Hotel Chain

You can narrow the search engine’s results by specifying a hotel chain like The Hilton, Holiday Inn or The Ritz–Carlton.

Hotel Name

You can farther narrow your search results by requesting a specific hotel name like Hotel Windsor or Best Western Garden Inn.

Star Rating

Request the search only return hotels with specific star ratings.

Amenities

The hotel search can search for lodging with specific amenities like pools, fitness center or free Internet.

Price

The online travel site can place price restrictions on hotel search including sorting listed results from least to most expensive.

Distance

The search engine will search for hotels nearest to farthest from the airport. Some services can sort hotel distance from a city, specific address or place of interest.

Car Rental Search Options

Car Type

You can specify the type of car the search engine looks for like, economy, midsize or luxury.

Rental Company

The car rental search engine can search and produce results for only one car rental company.

Pick up/ Drop Off Different Location

The online travel site allows you to arrange to pick–up your rental car then at the end of your trip, drop it off at a different location. This option works great for those taking road trips or those leaving from different airports from which they landed.

Special Option Choices

You can request the car be equipped with special features like car seats or ski racks.

Transmission

You can specify if you would like an automatic or manual transmission.

Cruise Options

Cruise Line

Some search options may only be available after initial search. For example, the service may ask for port of departure and length; after the results are displayed, you can begin to narrow your search for specific cruise lines, ship name and more.

Destination

Cruises can be searched by destination.

Departure City

Cruises can be searched depending on your chosen departure city or port.

Length

You can search for cruises depending on how long you would like to be on the boat. Most cruises run three, five, seven and nine days. However, some liners also offer more than 15–day cruises.

Ship Name

You can search for fares by a specific ship name like The Carnival Pride or Disney Magic.

Star Rating

Cruise ships like hotels have a four–star rating system. You can narrow your search results by choosing an acceptable star rating.

Departure Date

You can search for cruises depending on your chosen vacation dates.

Additional Features

Earn Frequent Flyer Miles

The travel service allows you to earn frequent flyer miles with flights you’ve booked through their website. However, no online travel site allows you use your frequent flyer miles for free flights.

Deals Finder / Deals and Destinations

The online travel site offers or advertises special trips and features. Many can be last minute vacations or one–day rates to specific locations.

Low Fare Guarantee

The travel site offers a guarantee to present you with the lowest airfare available; if you can find a lower fare on another travel service, they will compensate you, often by reimbursing the difference. Many sites and have specific rules regarding this guarantee including time limits and price restrictions.

Low Hotel Rate Guarantee

The online travel service promises to have the lowest available hotel rates. Many sites have specific rules regarding this guarantee including time limits and price restrictions.

Travel Insurance

The online travel site offers optional travel insurance. Often the insurance is provided by a third–party insurance affiliate at additional cost to the consumer.

Manage Itinerary

As a registered member of the travel site you can manage your flights and booking through a personal account or itinerary. This will often display your travel history and credit card information for quick checkout.

Mobil Access

You can access your account through a cellular or smart phone. Additionally, updates can be sent to your phone and email.

Name Your Own Price

You can negotiate your flight, hotel or car price by submitting your own price. The airlines, hotels and rental have the right to accept or refuse your offer.

Emails/ Newsletters

The travel site will email you news and fare alerts.

Resources

Travel News

The online travel site provides news about travel including new security procedures, advisories or TSA updates.

Check Flight Status

The travel site provides information about your flight status including updated departure times and delays.

Weather

The site offers weather updates or a link to the National Weather Channel.

Currency Converter

The online travel site has a currency converter calculator.

Driving Directions & Maps

The online travel site provides maps and driving directions.

Passport Information

The travel service provides information about passports and visas including updates, rules and procedures.

Travel Guides

The online travel site has guides and information about various cities and countries.

Airport Guides

The online travel site has guides and information about various cities and countries.

International Travel

The online travel service provides additional information and news about traveling internationally.

Airline Contact List

The travel service has a list of phone numbers and contact information for many major airlines.

Additional News

The online travel site provides additional news and information not mentioned above. This may include specific airline requirements or tips for flying.

Additional Cruising Information

The travel site includes news and information about cruising. Often articles are about what to expect and guides for first time cruisers.

Blogs

The online travel service provides a section for customers to place stories or anecdotes about their experience with the service or travel experiences.

Ease of Use/ Support

Telephone Support

The online travel site provides a phone number for technical support and booking.

Email Support

You can contact technical support by email.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions can often answer common problems regarding reservations and fees.

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