There are two websites that you absolutely have to visit in order to prepare a great trip. I will tell you also which ones to stay clear of if you don't want any problems on your trip.

BEST SITES:

1)www.tripadvisor.com....This site is divided into big cities and travel destinations. You have the central page which they call overview and then you have different sections like hotels, restaurants, etc. It can get very confusing when you try to book a hotel in a big city. I love to go to New York but new hotels spring up regularly and some change names. You visit websites and the hotel websites always paint a flattering portrait of their hotel. You have the better pictures. They could have one renovated room in all their hotel and you only see the pictures from that room. You then get to the hotel and it is totally different. The good thing with tripadvisor is that travelers post pictures from the hotels. They are called candid traveler photos. You then get to see the hotel as it is in real life.

There is also a forum on that website where you can post questions about your trip. There are a couple of "experts" as they are called and they always answer your question gracefully. Not all forums are like that! They are not paid by anyone and give good advice.

2)www.travelzoo.com...This site is for hotels specials. You deal directly with the hotel, not a third party like expedia, and you get great specials. When it is a slow time of year you get even bigger specials. You have to go regularly to check the specials out, but it is the best website for hotel specials.

3)Hotwire and Priceline...They are opaque sites, that means that you buy your hotel room and you don't know where you will be staying other than the area of town. They are excellent and dependable organizations where you will not get robbed or that they will love your reservations, like expedia, and you get great specials. Hotels don't always want people to know that their hotel rooms are half-off the price so they go through those websites. I got the Millenium Hilton in New York city for 100$ off a night. When you stay 4 nights, that means 400$ more to go shopping:)

WORST SITES:

I have heard too many horror stories from Expedia and Travelocity to depend on them and risk losing my money. I even saw a client once in an hotel I was staying in having problems with his bill and he was with Expedia. They don't have specials interesting enough to go through them. I have been often to New York and I have never seen a special interesting enough for me to be tempted to book through them.

The best thing is not to make any fast decisions and go through many websites before finally booking.

Learn more about this author, Cristy Hebert.
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