02 February 2010

How to save $450 on your next travel outing

Expedia makes a somewhat startling claim: a simple booking step could have saved American travelers more than $10 billion last year.

"When travelers book their hotel and flight as a ‘package - defined as booking them simultaneously on Expedia.com - travelers can save up to $450 per transaction compared to the cost of booking the same components separately," the company says in a press release.

If all US travelers who required a flight and a hotel had saved even just $100 by booking their flight and hotel together, they would have collectively saved more than $10 billion in 2009 alone.
Expedia claims its customers worldwide saved $410 million booking their flights and hotels at the same time last year, compared to what they would have paid had they booked the components separately.

"There's no trick, no special stipulations, no mail-in rebates, nothing required of travelers other than to book their flight and their hotel at the same time," said Tim MacDonald, senior vice president and general manager, Expedia.com. He added:

"Packages are the easiest money saver available to modern travelers. Book a hotel and flight together, and you could save big. It's that simple."

"Package" bookings are easily confused with pre-packaged deals, in which travelers are offered a limited set of bundled properties and flights. Despite the confusing terminology, packages are a straightforward concept, according to Expedia.

Airlines and hotels have empty seats and rooms. When travelers book them at the same time, Expedia can offer prices that airlines and hotels won't reveal separately, according to the online company.

"We actually kicked around some ideas for renaming packages, to try and eliminate the confusion," MacDonald added. "'Flotels' was considered, but it sounded like we were trying to rename cruise ships. 'Hotights' didn't make the cut, and neither did 'simulbookings.' We're obviously open to suggestions here."

Expedia.com claims to be the world's leading online travel site

By David Wilkening