{"id":5220,"date":"2011-10-18T10:42:17","date_gmt":"2011-10-18T08:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tokao.com\/?p=5220"},"modified":"2011-10-18T10:42:17","modified_gmt":"2011-10-18T08:42:17","slug":"travel-tips-who-needs-hotels-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tokao.com\/wordpress\/2011\/10\/18\/travel-tips-who-needs-hotels-anymore\/","title":{"rendered":"Travel tips: who needs hotels anymore?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Traditionally when we go on holidays, we used to go to a travel agency where they could either help us build a trip with their limited options, or sell us a package (something still interesting).<\/p>\n

Now the biggest travel agency is Internet. We we create our custom trip, filter options like dates, type of travel and get listings of suitable options.<\/p>\n

At the same time we can check for reviews of either the website we are using, the hotels they suggest or even the destinations.<\/p>\n

The idea of the is post is to give you some of the tools I use and stress the idea that we don’t need to book expensive hotels anymore, that a new bree of websites where you can rent apartments wherever you are planning to, could threaten hotels in the future.<\/p>\n

Flights<\/h2>\n

Kayak<\/a> will let you search for the cheapest dates to go to your desired destination or suggest you cheap destinations for your selected dates. Kayak has an incredible iPhone app and a pretty good iPad app.<\/p>\n

Alternatives to Kayak: airfarewatchdog<\/a>, yapta<\/a>, farecompare<\/a>…<\/p>\n

If you are looking for a set of flights around the world, then I have to recommend you the one we used:\u00a0http:\/\/www.roundtheworldflights.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hotels…<\/h2>\n

Kayak<\/a> will give suggest you hotels, and it uses the most notable hotel booking sites such as expedia<\/a>, booking.com<\/a>, etc…<\/p>\n

If you want Cheap Hostels and Bed and Breakfasts, the we use: HostelWorld<\/a>, it is great for that.<\/p>\n

A cool resource for knowing if the hotel you are about to book is OK with tons of reviews, is: tripadvisor<\/a>\u00a0(also for iPhone and iPad).<\/p>\n

Another cool tool for hotels (specially for the US) is room77<\/a> a website where they show you the best rooms for a specific hotel, with the views and so.<\/p>\n

but… who want hotels?<\/h2>\n

Who wants to book a hotel when you can find a great located and flat or a room shared at an incredible spot…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We went to Paris booking an apartment with hometown<\/a>, luxury\u00a0apartments\u00a0for a fraction of what you pay for a hotel, located at the heart of Paris (highly recommended). I also used Isabel’s apartments<\/a> in a couple of\u00a0occasions, also great apartments, even if the website is not that nice.<\/p>\n

Here is where I want to go: \u00a0big websites covering apartments all around the globe.<\/p>\n

The most notable:<\/p>\n