Times Online names the top ten travel websites
In a recent article, the Times Online has named what it considers to be the top ten travel websites.
Rather than focusing purely on website statistics alone, sites with high visitor numbers which can also be low on thrills, the Times has opted to select websites that they feel are more interesting and offer ease of use plus extensive information on products and services for visitors.
As with any top ten list, it’s often found that some less well known companies are found to offer as much or sometimes more than the bigger well recognized organisations in the market reinforcing the advice to shop around.
An online comparison website that allows visitors to compare travel related products and services from thousands of service providers. Although one of the biggest players in the price comparison field, the service is limited to companies that pay to be included within its listings so alternative comparison sites shouldn’t be ruled out when searching for the best online deals.
Ok, so it may be blowing their own trumpet but for good reason. The Times Online is world renowned for the quality of its travel articles plus its feeds and links to other great quality sites, deals and travel blogs.
Another great comparison website that’s quick and easy to use, instantly returning availability and pricing details from the leading parking providers allowing users to quickly compare and book from a simple search. Covering over 120 car parks at 24 airports across the country, as well as central
With around 98% of its bookings now made online, the no frills airline claims that with it’s easy to use online search and booking facility, bookings can be made in around 3 minutes. The review concludes that although airport parking, airport hotels and car hire can also be booked via the site, better deals can be found elsewhere with other major comparison sites.
Does exactly what the name suggests. With a large range of availability for last minute bookings, discounts of upto 70% can be made on the published room rates if booked upto 7 days in advance. If you draw a blank on your search with laterooms .com, alternatives such as Wotif.com could provide the answer with a booking window of 28 days.
Maybe one of the lesser known sites but this great travel-networking site puts you in touch with the worlds travel community. The name which is short for “Where are you now?” currently has over 8 million members. Based in the
When booking a last minute departure, it’s now more important than ever to check the weather at your destination with ever increasing occurrences of flooding and storms. Although sunshine and rainfall figures can sometimes be found at travel agents, these can appear optimistic when compared with official meteorological statistics. The World Weather Information Service is run by the World Meteorological Organization and uses official data to create forecasts at more than 1,200 locations worlwide.
A great alternative to the various software options available, Multimap.com provides access to maps that are packed with useful details and driving directions in a clear and easy to follow format that can be printed. The site remembers your previous searches and allows you to send maps direct to your mobile phone. The site covers much of the worlds road network although the level of detail can reduce dramatically when comparing say a major city to some of the farther flung locations.
Established for almost 10 years, Expedia has built a reputation of trust and reliability within the trade. With a huge inventory of deals on everything from car hire to flights, it’s a great resource for travellers looking for the latest travel information and deals online.
Owned by Expedia, Tripadvisor is geared towards user-generated content. With over 10 million reviews, there has in the past been suspicion that a number of the reviews have been written by hoteliers and other individuals to falsely boost the rating of a service or venue. This said however, hotels with a large number of reviews tend to provide a good indicator of the overall standard; Tripadvisor is also getting better at spotting and weeding out false review submissions.
Airport Lounges : 10 of the best
With the ever growing popularity and number of airport lounges, there has never been a greater choice for travellers.
In a recent article by the Telegraph online, Jeffery Mills was given the enviable task of scouting the worlds airports to find and name his top 10 luxury airport lounges.
When searching for airport lounges, there are a number of web sites that take the hard work out of the process by providing easy to use search facilities. Once the country and airport required have been selected, these systems will return details of availability and pricing along with an option to book online in advance, saving on the normal ‘turn up’ daily rates.
One of the more well known sites for this is Simplylounges.co.uk, with a database of over 130 airport lounges in around 40 countries, this easy to use site provides instant access to the worlds airport lounge net work, including some of those highlighted by Jeffery Mills in his worlds top ten luxury lounges.
Coming to America, go ahead given for Virgin America flights
Sir Richard Branson, founder of the virgin group of companies, has been given the go ahead to launch a new Virgin America airline. The inaugural flight will take off from the operations home base in San Francisco to New Yorks JFK airport by mid-summer although no date has been yet confirmed.
The go ahead was finally confirmed after nearly 18 months of negotiations between Virgin and the US competition authorities, a further condition of approval was that Sir Branson limited his interest in the new venture to 25% with the remaining share being owned by US investment banks.
Within the first year of startup, Virgin America is aiming to offer flights to 10 cities within the US including Washington, Las Vegas and San Diego growing to 30 destinations by 2012. Further routes under consideration for future operations currently include Boston, Orlando, Atlanta and New Orleans.
Virgin America hopes to build on the reputation of the virgin group as well as providing a service that betters the conventional US carriers, part of the new operation will be the inclusion of first class cabins on the new services.
Manchester Airport key to BMI network
BMI has pledged to retain Manchester airport as a key part of its network of services. With eleven routes that include flights from Manchester to Barbados, Las Vegas, Chicago and Antigua, BMI says that it sees Manchester as a vital part of its ongoing expansion program.
With the signing of the open skies deal between the UK, Europe and the united states, BMI may now opt to fly from Heathrow to the US, BMI chairman Sir Michael Bishop went on to say that such a decision however would not effect the Manchester operation.
As a member of the Star Alliance, the Chicago route is of particular importance to BMI as the city is a major hub for fellow member United Airlines. Although BMI intends to continue providing long-haul service from Manchester in the future, it has admitted that the number of opportunities for long haul services from the airport are limited.
In addition to the existing services that operate to Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow, a new Lyon service that operates from London Heathrow airport has been added by BMI Regional.
Short-haul flights from Heathrow cut by BMI
BMI, the UK airline that operates cheap flights from the UK to Europe the Middle East and the USA is set to announce a reduction in the number of short-haul services that it operates from Heathrow airport.
Over the next two years, the company that currently operates 19 short-haul services plans to cut back on its short-haul services in favour of it’s medium and long-haul operations. The change has been attributed to intense competition on some of the routes from other London airports, the companies purchase of Bmed from BA and the introduction of the new open-skies agreement between the UK, Europe and the US.
BMI’s chief executive Nigel Turner said that the future reductions in short-haul services would likely affect domestic services as well as flights to Spain, these cuts would be in addition to the 25% cut in short-haul services that had already been made over the past 3 years.
The airline is said to be conducting a review of it’s position and considering it’s options following its £30 million purchase of Bmed from British Airways earlier in the year. The acquisition of Bmed gave BMI an additional 17 mid-haul destinations and several slots at Heathrow airport. Sir Michael Bishop, the BMI chairman said that the slots would be returned back to BA in 2009 meaning that BA would need to rethink its services to fit the medium-haul and proposed US routes into the restricted space at Heathrow.
Air France Restores Bristol-Paris Connection
A new service that will restore a link between Bristol airport and Paris is being re-introduced by Air France. The route that was previously operated by BA Connect will provide 3 weekday flights to Charles de Gaulle airport with a less frequent weekend service.
The new service that starts on the 11th June will be operated with a 48-seat turboprop aircraft that will depart from Bristol airport at 06:30, 10:40 and 17:75 Hrs daily. The service is designed to provide direct access to Paris and the AirFrance network as well as the many other long-haul connections that operate from the Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.
Economy return fares are expected to start from £105 and are combinable with KLM’s service from Bristol to Amsterdam providing round-trip options through both the KLM and Air France hubs.
Flying high in the Highlands
More than 1.2 million passengers took to the skies from the Highlands and Islands airport according to figures released by the Highlands and Islands Airports Limited. This figure represents an increase of 7% in the year to March 31, 2007 on the previous year with overall passenger numbers to the regions airports increasing by 57% since 2000 / 2001.
The increase in passenger numbers is said to be largely due to the introduction of the Scotish Executives Air Discount Scheme in May 2006 and the introduction of new routes.
With the better air connections supporting the population and economic growth in the Moray Firth area, the increase in flights and routes is also helping to support business growth and boost tourism in the more remote island communities.
Britons Love to Cruise
The Passenger Shipping Association have reported a further increase in the number of Britons now opting for a holiday on the open sea. The 1.2 million UK cruise passengers in 2006 is an increase of around 12% on the 2005 figure of 1.08 million passengers. The overall growth of the UK cruise market has doubled in the last 10 years with passengers rating good food, itinerary the standards of accommodation and price as the main reasons for booking a cruise.
Tourism Boost for Hong Kong
New figures for the first quarter of the year have shown a 20% year-on-year increase for the number of passenger arrivals in Hong Kong. According to the Hong Kong Tourism Board, the increase in passenger figures is largely due to the opening of the Hong Kong Disneyland and the increase in the number of flights from the UK.
Figures show that there were over 157,000 arrivals from the UK between January and March with March figures alone showing an increase of 30%.
Fruit Veg and now Euros at the Co-op
18 Co-op stores in the Nottingham area are to start selling pre-packed euros at the checkouts. The new initiative is a partnership of the travel business Travelcare and retail arm of the Co-operative group.