So, it's new and improved...

From Traveller

Today • Thursday • June 26, 2008

 

What now for Internet users who are looking for that travel bargain?

 

Jennifer Chen

jennifer@mediacorp.com.sg

 

You know the travel deals are out there. It’s just a matter of finding them, a matter of hopping from one website to another until the best price pops up and the heart rejoices.

 

That process is about to get easier — or more complicated — depending on how you look at the host of new or improved travel-related websites that has been launched in the past several weeks.

 

Last month, travel search engine Bezurk.com showed it meant business by ditching its quirky but hard to spell name for a tamer, easier-to-remember appellation, Wego.com. The site had also undergone a revamp based on user feedback and now displays all-inclusive rates upfront — taxes and surcharges included — among its new features.

 

Three weeks ago, Visa debuted its Visagreatbreaks.com in Singapore, offering card members travel-related advice and exclusive travel deals.

 

The latest kid on the Internet block is TravClass.com, which went live last Thursday at www.travclass.com. Like the classified section of a newspaper, TravClass compiles advertisements from various companies and posts them on a single site.

 

There’s more to come. Online travel agent Zuji is in the process of revamping its website, details of which will be revealed early next month.

 

Each strives to streamline the bargain-hunting process.

 

Said Martin Symes, Wego’s chief executive officer: “We hope to narrow the search for the best rates from four to five sites down to one to two.”

 

But as each website caters to a different segment of the market, this is easier said than done for value-conscious consumers.

 

Said Yu-Mei Balasingamchow, a 34-year-old freelance writer who trawls websites such as wego.com and priceline.com for the best deals: “I like getting more bang for my buck, so I don’t mind spending a bit of time online to research air ticket prices, hotel prices and travel tips.”

 

So, travellers flying for business and looking for the best deal and timing on airfares can do their price comparisons on aggregator sites such as Wego.com — whose search engine incorporates rates from low-cost carriers.

 

If it’s to know what tour packages local travel agencies are offering, check out TravClass, which is endorsed by the National Association of Travel Agents Singapore (Natas).

 

According to Lee Chuen Kiat, TravClass’ country manager for Singapore, the website is “styled after a mega mall — a place where shoppers can browse for the best deals and deal directly with the vendors offering them”.

 

And if it’s the privileges of membership you’re looking for, visit www.visagreatbreaks.com.

 

While the idea is to trim the number of websites that users have to visit, the reality is that there are now even more — a boon for those who know what they want and what they are eligible for.

 

But, the Internet is not always the place to find the best deals.

 

Frequent traveller Sin Yee Lam, 28, managed to get the least expensive ticket to Chile last month by booking with travel agency Chan Brothers Travel.

 

“The travel agent was helpful in trying to get the lowest fare for me.

 

It wasn’t available at first but I got it by being on the waiting list,” said Lam, a lawyer. “If I had booked the ticket online, I would have had to pay for it right away.”