The travel websites have put traditional agencies in trouble, and have opened a ban on competition. Taking a trip on your own has never been easier. Therefore, we want to know which is the best website within the best known.
Booking.com, Tripadvisor or Expedia are the ones we have chosen to make a comparison. We are going to analyze the number of options they offer, as well as the guarantees, in addition to the ease of browsing each website.
Booking.com
The Booking page is really complete, although it sins of cluttering the interface with options . In some cases, it can be overwhelming, and you forget a bit of what you were originally looking for.
Still, the center of the web is your accommodation search engine. We can select if we travel for pleasure or work, the means with which we travel and if we are accompanied , with adults or with children.
Once the search is done, we will have an extensive selection that depends on the area . For example, for Barcelona we find up to 600 places to stay. For Bilbao, on the same dates, 60 places. In any case there are always many options to choose from.
Search options
At Booking.com we can choose every last detail of our search . For example, the stars of the place, that have free cancellation, that have a gym or that are near the beach. They are options among a huge range.
When searching, the website itself recommends the cheapest places or those that have suffered recent price drops . Additionally, each location has an average score to guide us as we search. This score is created through the experience of all your users.
Entering the page of each accommodation we can see, in addition to the comments of the clients , all the characteristics of the enclosure, along with many photos . Once again, the page lacks an interface full of information that can be tiring to look at.
Lists
Finally, the web allows us to make lists of the places that have interested us the most . This way, we can later check our favorite options and not get overwhelmed with all the available content.
Tripadvisor
Tripadvisor shows us a much cleaner website than Booking.com . Its search engine is simpler, and the main options that we find on the sidelines are selections of hotels of different types and price ranges.
accommodation
Looking for hotels and apartments, we also find a simple website where we can choose if we want to sort the results by customer opinions, value for money or low price directly .
A curious element is that in each place on the list, the price of the reservation appears, accompanied by a short list with the prices of the competition . Obviously, the selection always shows places where the price is the same or higher. Still, it is an interesting strategy.
The search filters are almost as large as those on Booking.com, only they are spread out across the page using tabs, which makes viewing easier. Through a system of hearts we can mark the places that interest us for the future , before making a final decision.
Restaurants and flights
In addition to accommodation, Tripadvisor has also specialized in finding restaurants and flights . Through El Tenedor, your property service, you can manage direct restaurant reservations. Then, we can go to the flight search engine and choose one that suits us.
The interface and search capabilities when it comes to flights and restaurants is the same as for hotels , which is a positive point for Tripadvisor.
Expedia
The last website we analyzed is Expedia. It is not particularly attractive in design, but it is focused on being useful. What occupies a large part of the screen is a gigantic search engine where all kinds of options are offered .
We have a search engine for hotels, flights, hotels and combined flights, car rental and even leisure activities. We even have the option of choosing a flight, hotel and car pack .
Apart from the search engine, we have banners focused on offers and discounts of all kinds . As we can see, it is a website that goes to the point.
Performing searches
When we have filled in the fields that interest us and the search is carried out, we are already notified that all changes and cancellations are free . It's a good start.
When viewing the list, we find an interface quite similar to that of Booking.com . Each offer has a rating system that is also very similar to the aforementioned website. The main difference is that it allows us to access combined rates from the same search engine, and with prices that already include everything.
Accessing the page of each hotel or location, we arrive at a menu that is not very dynamic, with a lot of text and little image , but with all the information and the available possibilities well explained.
Conclusions
These three websites that we have analyzed have a distinctive element that differentiates them. Depending on the type of trip we want to plan, we will be more interested in one website or another. Booking.com specializes in accommodations , of all possible types and styles.
If we are interested in making a gastronomic route, Tripadvisor will be the best option , being able to leave the main elements of our trip: flight, stay and restaurants.
Finally, Expedia is the most complete website in terms of mobility options. It does not take leisure into account, it focuses on leaving our residence and means of transport tied up from the beginning.
From a technical point of view, the Tripadvisor website is the most visual and easy to navigate , followed by Expedia and finally Booking.com, which does not have an attractive website.