My Travel Dreams. Unedited.

Last Review Date: May 26, 2008

Site Highlights:

Free "Thank You: Rewards Network". You earn 1 point for every $1 that you spend with Expedia. You can later redeem these points for travel, gift cards, electronics, and even household appliances. However, you will need about 100 points to equal $1 of redeemable travel. Your frequent flyer program can be used in conjuction, and it is not adversely affected. If you have a CitiBank account, you may be able to earn even more points in this Rewards Network.

Expedia "Elite Plus" is a member's-only club for their best customers. To qualify as a member, you must stay 12 hotel nights or book $10,000 worth of travel from Expedia within one year. You will be automatically enrolled when you qualify. Your benefits include "exclusive discounts", priority call handling, and Expedia will waive any change or cancellation fees.

A searchable "Insider's Direct" listing of the top hotels and resorts in the world.

Expedia® Package Protection includes coverage for airline, hotel, car and activities service fees in the event you changes or cancel a trip for any reason prior to the start of the trip or interrupt a trip for a covered reason. The cost varies depending on your destination. It generally ranges from $49 to $89 per person.

360° Virtual Tours of hotels.

Email alerts and RSS feeds to get automatic updates sent to your own computer's homepage.

24 hour live customer support.

Cancellation Policy*:

$0 charge by Expedia to change booked "flights" or "hotels". (Be aware that the variable "booking fee" is not refundable).

$50 charge to change a booked "package", plus any fees charged by the suppliers. (Unless you purchase Package Protection).

Service fees vary, and are disclosed when you make the purchase.

"Packages" usually cannot be cancelled.

If you cancel a "flight" before the departure date, you will receive credit that can be used at a later time (for up to 1 year) towards the purchase of a new flight.

If you cancel a "hotel" or "property", they can only be cancelled pursuant to the hotel's policy. The hotel may charge a penalty.

As always: Most airlines charge a fee of approximately $100 per passenger for changes and cancellations, plus any applicable increase in the fare. This $100 fee goes to the airline, and not this travel site. This fee would apply no matter where you book your flight.

The Good:

The way Expedia rates their hotels is more comprehensive than most other sites. We love the "Insider's Direct" hotel listing, because you can enter in the city that you are traveling to and it will instantly provide a list of the best hotels. Expedia does not base this list solely on customer ratings (like many other travel sites). Rather, they take an objective approach in rating hotels and "consider a wide array of factors, including ratings from independent ratings systems, media recognition, and post-trip surveys of our customers". You can read the customer reviews on the "Insider's Direct" page as well. After you find the best hotel in your budget, you can easily book it right there on the page. Remember to go back an write your own review after your trip, because these websites will be no good without your input!

The Bad:

Although Expedia claims that 99.85% of their customers are satisfied with their experience. We have found complaints from customers claiming that their bookings have been cancelled, even after Expedia claims that their reservation is "guaranteed". To our knowledge, Expedia has returned the money to these unsuspecting customers.

Our advice is to confirm all of your flights and hotel reservations directly with the providers before you leave. This is also Expedia's own advice, "All flights should be confirmed with the airline directly. We recommend that you do so at least 24 hours prior to departure for domestic flights (72 hours for flights to Hawaii and international destinations)". Also, be aware that Expedia cannot guarantee that your flight seat requests will be honored by the airline, "On certain flights, the airline will allow Expedia to request seats on your behalf (via our Seat Pinpointer tool), but these are only requests, and need to be verified with the airline"

As always: If you book with ANY online travel site, make sure to confirm reservations directly with the hotel and airlines!

The first thing you MUST do is plan early. At least 3-4 months before you plan to go. Spontaneity works well for day trips, but is not as effective for longer, memorable vacations. You will find almost always find cheaper fares and more available accommodations. (How do I know this? From personal experience. I made the mistake of waiting until May to try to look for a vacation rental for my family of six on the Oregon coast. No Luck! Unless we want to stay in an old rundown house that looks like a barn, there is nothing available until October). This also affords you the opportunity to save any additional funds you might need, perhaps include extended invitations to other family members, and get together all the paperwork you might need if traveling abroad.

Get your kids and grandkids involved in your planning. This will not only make them much more enthusiastic about the trip, but they can provide their input into what types of activities they want to do and what types of activities they'd like to do as a family. They'll be much more excited when they are fully involved in deciding where the family will be vacationing! You might be suprised by them. Often times children have the grandest ideas that you would never have considered. They may actually prefer a picnic on the beach over the big roller coaster park. You won't know until you ask them.

You probably already have some kind of idea as to what you'll be able to afford when taking a vacation. If you do have a specific number in mind, this helps you pick out a destination. You can research what's available in your price range and choose the trip that will best fit your family. Of course the internet is the easiest place to do this, as you can now be your own travel agent. If you don't have a budget in mind, make a list of your dream vacations. Include those places you've always wanted to go as well as places you think would fit the personalities of your family. See what these types of vacations will cost, and then pick the one you think you can save for or afford to take right away. It may be worth it to put your vacation off for a few more months so that you will have more time to save for the kind of vacation you really want. Why spend a few thousand on an "okay" trip, when you can save a little longer and take a vacation that your family will talk about for years to come.

When you use online travel sites, most can give you best prices for various destinations. But they can also provide valuable suggestions for where you can go, as well as activities that are available and ratings from other travelers who have taken the same vacations. Take advantage of their free travel guides and reviews! You don't even need to go to the bookstore anymore, as you can get all the free information you need about your desired destination online.

Obviously, you'll need to decide if you will be flying to your destination or driving. With gas prices as high as they are, you may find that flying is cheaper even if you are only traveling a relatively short distance (over state lines). Again, you'll need to be flexible on departure dates and times to get the best pricing.

Finally, my biggest tip of all: Stay flexible! Flexibility equals maximum pleasure for everyone. Don't let your "type A" personality get the best of you! Planning out an itinerary for every day of your trip makes it no fun to anyone, and it can end up feeling like a chore. This is especially true if you have special needs due to a disability or are taking along teens and children who will want to do different things.

Before you leave: Go ahead a pick about 1-2 activities for each day of your trip (ie. 7 day vacation, pick out 7-14 activites) and write down a list of them, or print off the information from the internet and bring it with you on your vacation. Then, after you reach your destination, get together with your family and go over the list of activities and decide what you want to do each day. Decide right then and there, while you are on vacation, and not one second before.

Go...Have Fun...and take lots and lots of pictures!

Last Review Date: June 1, 2008

Site Highlights:

Two membership options:

Free Gold Membership. Allows you access to the best fares publicly available online.

$50 Platinum Membership. Allows for deeper discounts and wholesale pricing. You may also bid on flights (cAgent).

You can see Platinum and Gold pricing no matter what your membership status is.

cAgent allows you to bid your own price on flights you want. You get to know exactly what airline you are bidding on, so there are no surprises. You must be Platinum status to buy, but not to bid. If you win a bid, they email you and you have 24 hours to decide whether you want to purchase it. No fees, no problems.

Hotel search engine available, with a lowest price guarantee.

Small business travel program.

Economy class, Business Class, and First Class searches available.

Cancellation Policy*:

cFares is not a booking site, so any flight change/cancellation fees will be charged by the company that you end up booking your flight with, which varies. cFares only allows you to FIND the flight (through comparison), and then you actually purchase it from the source.

You may cancel a cFares Platinum Membership if you do not make a purchase within 30 days.

Hotel bookings may be cancelled if a lower price is found and reported on a "Price Guarantee Form" within 24 hours of booking. No fee is charged.

As always: Most airlines charge a fee of approximately $100 per passenger for changes and cancellations, plus any applicable increase in the fare. This $100 fee goes to the airline, and not this travel site. This fee would apply no matter where you book your flight.

The Good:

We must admit that we were skeptical of their claim to deliver "wholesale and exclusive fares". Is that really possible? Well, yes it apparently is! We put them to the test, and found that they sold flights for cheaper than the airlines own websites (often with the same flight #, time & date). Several times we could find flights with better itineraries and significant discounts, and we're talking $300 per ticket here! True, you need to sign up as a FREE Gold Member or pay $50 for a yearly Platinum Membership to get these prices, but it is definately worth it! Several of the deals we found were even available to Gold Members. We highly suggest that you don't book another flight unil you check out cFares.com - Lowest Airfares Online! Money Magazine calls cFares "...the Costco of airline tickets!".

You can also use cAgent to bid on flights that you want, and unlike other similiar sites, you do not go into it blindly. You choose the airline, flight number, and even your seats (when available)!

The Bad:

Customer support appears to be by email only.

Not much else. We really like this site!

As always: If you book with ANY online travel site, make sure to confirm reservations directly with the hotel and airlines!