Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - Orbitz Ranked #1 by Forbes

Orbitz #1
Expedia #2
Travelocity #3

Full story at:
http://www.forbes.com/2003/08/21/cx_cv_0821feat.html

Their methodology(from the article):
"To help you make the most of booking your next trip online, we took a look at the best and worst aspects of the ten most popular Web sites, such as Orbitz, Priceline and Skyauction.com. We judged the sites on ease of use, design, clarity, flexibility and other options available, such as car rentals or hotels."

flyorama
Thanks for the post. I liked their synopsis of each site. It does seem that their ranking had very little to do with which one saves you the most money. I like Orbitz,but usually Expedia,Travelocity and especially Priceline will reward their users with larger discounts.

There are some interesting points there. Jabez, you make a good point in that they don't use price as a point of differentiation. Generally speaking, I found the summaries of sites that I'm familiar with to be well-researched and on target. With regard to the price issue, I have to say that I consistently get better prices for airfare and hotels from Orbitz. Certainly an interesting study.

I agree with Jabez. Based on my recient comparison between an airline site and Orbitz, I discovered that you pay a high price for the one-stop-shopping offered by Orbitz.

I think the article put too much weight on convienence and really did not factor value into the comparison at all. Forbes is a magazine geared toward affulent business people so perhaps that is the reason. If you are making $1 million per year waiting 15 minutes to save $100 per-night on a hotel using Priceline probably does not seem worth it.

If ever you want a laugh just read the restaurant reviews in the print edition of Forbes.

IMHO Comsumer Reports' comparison of travel sites a few months ago was more useful.

aqueouschief
I'm a bit surprised that you say you get hotel prices from Orbitz. While I don't use discount sites for my air,I've never found Orbitz's hotel prices as anything great. Expedia and Travelocity almost always beats them.Priceline "kills" them. The comparison that Forbes did was interesting,but I also think that they didn't put enough wait to savings.

I"m too nervous about where I'm staying to shop Priceline -- too risky for my taste. But I have to say that I check all the travel sites pretty frequently for cars and hotels and usually end up back at orbitz because of the prices. Not sure where everyone else is traveling, but for my destinations (Tampa, Albany, Orlando) Orbitz gets the job done.

It was a great article.. I saved it so I can refer to it from time to time.
Also, did anyone take advantage of the Orbitz United Airlines deal, where you got 1000 FF points on UA by booking through Orbitz??