Book Your Flights & Hotels Direct - Travel Smart

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wondeirng the best way to buy plane tickets? buy direct!
filmed in Vicenza, Italy
Copyright Mark Wolters 2024

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[rebeccatelgenhoff]

Great Advice Mark! I learned my lesson from using Expedia last fall.. Not to mention hidden fees with 3rd party bookings.

[raztaz]

I use the 3rd party sites to just find places, then book direct if the price is the same or cheaper

[TripHacksDC]

A thousand percent this! Better for the traveler, better for the company providing the service. Wins all around.

[michaels]

Really good advice. Last October we booked a room in Luxembourg near the Airport with check in time until 9PM. We got there at 8:30pm and couldn't check in. Couldn't get ahold of anyone so we had to spend the night in the airport. Never was able to get out money back because my son used a 3rd party app.

[ganymedes]

Booking directly with an airline will also give you the extras of their benefit program. So make sure you give them your frequent flyer number during booking 🙂
I got confronted with a cancelled flight last December, called the airline and was immediately rebooked. Got to my final destination just 2 hours after my original arrival time 🙂

[paulkoza]

The absolute truth. However, I have heard that if you are taking a cruise, it is better to go through a dedicated cruise travel agent as opposed to booking directly with the cruise line. Why? A good cruise TA will have knowledge of the line, the ship, your needs and desires, and is better equipped to run interference if things go wrong. I'm not a cruiser, but this makes sense to me.

[rese]

Just booked with a hotel directly as I always do and even though a rewards member I got a cheaper rate with hotel directly.

[jorgem.]

yeah, I booked via Expedia once...go to the hotel and they had no record of the booking. I was lucky they had one room left.

[onelonleyfarmer]

we went through hell with the third party experience. it was a car rental in England in January and they still are not refunding.go direct even if it costs $20 more it will be way cheaper if there is a problem.

[celeste]

I worked at the front desk of a few hotels and booking sites charged $30 over our rate to book a room and often made mistakes in their bookings. We did not authorize them to list us on their sites and they did anyway, and they paid Google to list their site above ours when guests searched for our hotel. If you do use a third-party site, be very careful to choose one that is ethical!

[PWSEETr]

Never had any problems with 3rd party websites, always pick free cancelation

[pollyduron]

I tried to book directly, but it was WAY more expensive because Expedia gave me a package deal. My car rental, I book directly because my work gets me a 25% off deal. I also have a big group and airbnb gives me more space for less $. Hotels in the UK rarely have room for over 3 people (adults). You have to book two rooms.

[johnnytx]

A problem with booking through an airline is connecting flights through other carriers that aren't provided, especially for international flights that have no direct flights. Registering with the hotel, directly, is a good idea, especially if they have apps.

[willthetrucker]

We have a travel guru that we've used now for 3 international trips. We're making our 4th trip in the summer of '25 and I keep thinking it would be less $ if we did our own booking. There's just so much to plan when we might be going to 5-6 countries in one trip! I'm not sure I'm up for the challenge!

[joannunemaker]

Always good to be reminded of this. Thank you!😊❤

[jamesharrison]

We booked our 2018 trip to Munich through the airline with a hotel, was a great experience and due to a hurricane coming they contacted us and flew us out earlier to Germany in case the airport had delays or closures on our original date. Using them again for this years trip.

[stanislas]

I agree, always book directly hotels and flights, it’s always a better choice.

[StanHasselback]

Great advice Mark. I never book a hotel except directly. I have called non chain hotels that are on apps in Asia to see if they will match the price and they usually will as they get less money from the app. I have booked a few crazy airline deals that were probably mistake fares just for me with the expectation I may have to eat the ticket. So far I've been lucky but the prices were just crazy cheap.

[clowchan]

I use booking's pay when you get there option and I've never had an issue. Esp if you can't pay right away. So that's another option esp when you can cancel for free before arriving.

[petek]

I’ve never used third party booking and I never will. Booking directly from the hotel/airline website gives me peace of mind.