Section 8.2. Last-Minute Deals

8.2. Last-Minute Deals

If you're not fussy about when or where you go, you can find even bigger, better bargains on the Web. Certain discount travel sites specialize in selling off empty airplane seats, unreserved rooms, and unrented cars at the last minuteat rock-bottom prices.

GEM IN THE ROUGH
The Art of the Last-Minute Deal

Some Web- travel services sell nothing but imminent departures. These fire-sale sites may not give you as many potential destinations as regular electronic travel agents , but spontaneous and savvy shoppers can get some crackin' good bargains.

Some of these time-sensitive agents include Site59 (www.site59.com, named for the last minute on the hour ), 11thHour (www.11thhourvacations.com), and LastMinuteTravel (www.lastminutetravel.com). All specialize in deals that have you in the air anywhere from a few hours from now to less than two weeks hence.

Most sites sell you package deals, say flight and hotel, or a rental car and hotel if you're not going far. In many cases, you have to buy an e-ticket (Section 8.1) because there's no time to mail paper tickets to you.

The last-minute deal sites let you buy a whole weekend getaway to somewhere with a minimum of clicks, getting you on that mini-vacation you deserve that much faster.

8.2.1. Priceline

The original " Name Your Own Price" travel site, Priceline (www.priceline.com) can save you up to 40 percent on flights and hotelsif your travel schedule is flexible.

If you need to leave at a precise time, Priceline may not save you much money. But if you're not locked into a schedule, you can get some nice deals when you punch in your airport information, the day you want to travel, and the maximum amount you're willing to pay.

Priceline crunches through its database trying to find flights that match all your criteria. The results may offer more layovers than you'd like, but your bank account may not mind. (Of course, you're not limited to those cheap seats; you can get more direct flights at specific times if you're willing to up the ante.)

Like the other travel sites, Priceline directs you to hotels, cruises, cars, and package deals. Its Pricebreakers deal page specializes in limited-time offers, mostly from big hotels and resorts looking to fill up empty rooms on short noticea great way to get luxury accommodations at low, low motor-lodge prices.

8.2.2. Hotwire

If Expedia is a name-brand department store full of travel opportunities, then Hotwire is its discount store at the outlet mall. Like Priceline, Hotwire (www.hotwire.com) requires some flexibility on your part, but offers up to 60 percent off hotel rooms and 35 percent off air fares. Last-minute flights purchased within 7 days can be up to 50 percent off.

Hotwire finds hotels and flights that match your requests , but doesn't tell you where you're staying or who you're flying until after you make your purchase. This setup may be a little suspenseful for some people, but it's what allows Hotwire to find the lowest prices from the hotels and airlines that really want to sell off unused inventory.

If you don't like that idea of flying blind, Hotwire also displays the lowest published price from its partners , too.

8.2.3. Travelzoo

The point of Travelzoo (www.travelzoo.com) isn't to book trips; it's to get descriptions of the very best deals of the moment, generated not by a database but by human researchers who hand-pick the goodies . Once you find an appealing offer, you can buy the trip from the site that's actually selling it.

Travelzoo also acts like the other travel discounters described here. When you search for a flight or hotel on the site's Super Search page, Travelzoo presents you with a list of links to other sites selling what you want, like Hotwire, Priceline, or even the airlines themselves .

If you like to travel inexpensively, you may want to sign up for the Travelzoo Top 20 newsletter, which comes to you by email each Wednesday. It rounds up the best travel sales and specials that week so you can make plans before the weekend.