There are many reasons why firms offer reduced, or discounted travel deals, ranging from flights, up to packages which include several components, all inclusive in one price.

One of the main reasons for travel deals is the unsold places. Competition can also play a part in further reductions in list prices.

Before giving you a whole list of tips to get the best travel deals and discounts, I want to show you a amazingly simple but brilliant technique that you can use pretty much in most places and for most products and services.

I have used the technique all over the place it works so well it is almost unbelievable. But it is so simple that you may dismiss it without trying. I want you to be mentally prepared and be willing to give it a try, so here we go.

To get a discount or a bargain in most places, even in a high class boutique or a high street store, what you need to do is: “ASK”. Yes, just “ask”. But also I want you to remember, as they say, “… it is not what you say, but the way you say it …” that really counts.

So, to get a discount, you need to keep your intention to ‘buy’ to yourself until you’re ready to make your payment. You must always appear like you’re not convinced yet and that if the sales person doesn’t “do better” “he will lose” the deal. But you should also seem reasonably interested or else the sales person will think you’re not serious and therefore he won’t try to sweeten the deal for you.

OK, so how do you do all of the above? Easy and this is how I’ve done it for travel deals all the way to buying just 2 shirts at an up market men’s boutique – yes for just 2 shirts:

* I get information on the various options (be it travel deals or shirts).

* I decide what I want but will only – and this is the very important part – tell the sales person about a portion of what I want. So I may show interest in just one shirt or a holiday for 2 people and not 4.

* I ask all my questions and show that it is just what I want (so the sales person knows he almost has sale) but …

* I indicate that I’m not happy with the price. For example I may have seen something similar cheaper elsewhere. Or that I am prepared to go shopping around (all sales people know, if the customer walks out they usually will not come back). Or that I have the money (you’ll see why next) but had not planned on spending that much.

* I let the sales person try to ‘sell me the IDEA’ that it is OK to buy the product. Sometimes, they offer some free product (e.g. a pair of socks or tickets for a gallery or some show while on holiday). Then I ‘ask’ for the discount but make it clear that I will definitely buy if they give me the discount. This is how I ‘ask’ …

* “Look I’ll definitely take it at $X”. The sales person then says “… so you want $Y off the price?!”. They may tell you they don’t normally offer a discount outside of the sales season, etc. If they are very confident about not offering discounts, I then say “ok, I’ll take 2 shirts … this one and … that one, only if you give me them at $Z for both …”.

* At this stage the sales person may even say he hasn’t the authority to offer discounts. No problem, I ask them to speak to their boss. I have done this lots of times and get this: 90% of the time the boss agrees to the discount. Of the remaining 10% at least half the time, the boss offers me a counter discount which is a not as good as what I asked for but still pretty good.

Do you want to know the kind of discounts I’ve had? Well, on two shirts worth $62 I got $22 off. That is around 35%! On a travel package worth around $4,300, I got about $600 off but wait for it … I also got an upgrade from a deluxe room to a business suite in the same 5 star hotel. That suite was worth $800 per night and the deluxe room was worth $250 per night!

I had to explain the above details at length but all that I did was to display that I ‘WILL’ buy with a discount. They knew all they had to do was just one thing: give me a discount, so they did it. I made it, as they say, “a no brainer” for them.

In short just “ask” but (a) be realistic (let them make a little profit, don’t ask for 80% off) and (b) have a little flexibility as a backup plan (be ready to tell them that you’ll buy more, e.g. 2 shirts or a holiday for 4. Hey, even the sales people like to think they have got a concession form you … it is not a one-way street).

This technique works for almost everything but also works extremely well for travel bargains too. So lets get back to more tips specific to travel deals then.

Travel bargains, discounts and deals are all around you because we all travel regularly and repeatedly for holidays as well as for business and of course the travel industry competes for our dollars. Nevertheless, some research and being alert to travel deals can mean more substantial savings. Here’s how to spot and get the best travel deals:

* Booking as early as possible usually entitles you to some travel discount.

* If you’re buying more than one ticket, a further travel discount is possible.

* Be flexible. Sometimes weekend flights can be cheaper than weekdays (less business travellers).

* Flights departing later at night can be cheaper.

* Depending on your timetable, consider indirect flights, which take longer, but are probably cheaper, as opposed to direct flights.

* Travelling other than peak periods, such as schools holidays and public holidays will probably be heaper.

* More often than not, holiday packages are cheaper than buying the components separately.

* Compare prices online, by phone, or visit individual travel agents in the high street.

* As all airlines overbook, consider taking a later flight which usually comes with sweeteners from the airline in the form of further travel discounts, and travel vouchers.

* It may also be possible to travel on ‘stand by’, but it means that you’ll be called with very little notice

* If you’re lucky, it may be possible to travel as a ‘courier’. Some firms will pay, or subsidise your airfare in return for carrying important packages and letters.

* Buy travel insurance that best suits your circumstances. In case of emergencies it’ll save you lots of money.

The more time and effort you devote, the better travel deals you’ll bag. In many instances the saving could be quite substantial. So much so that you may be able to add on extra days stay. Happy travel deals.

The notion that all user-based travel reviews are untrustworthy is not a new one. Look at any of the big names, Tripadvisor.com, Rankers.co.nz or Tripreport.com – what questions have they all faced?

How can you stop the travel companies reviewing themselves?
How can you prevent competitors posting bad reviews about travel companies?
How do you know if the reviewer has even had contact with the travel companies?
How do you know it’s not just an automated post?

The truth is that, without breaking privacy laws, it is very difficult to answer these questions with any certainty. This article aims to give a few tactics to help the everyday traveller brush these concerns aside and see the real benefit to travel reviews:

1. Strength in numbers – read 100 reviews from 100 different people all saying that a place is bad and, in all honesty, it’s not likely to be great. Equally, reading one review saying that a place is perfect will not necessarily be the whole truth. Use the strength in numbers rule and if you are ever skeptical consult point 3 on this list, Review Content.

2. Reviewer History – some review sites, like TripAdvisor, allow you to see the reviewing history of the reviewer in question. From that, you can often spot trends. Whether it be a string of bad reviews for hotels in one city, with one exceptionally good one that stands out or if only very good reviews are posted, there are trends to be spotted and reviewers to be wary of.

3. Review Content – there are a few things to look out for when considering other travellers’ reviews. Firstly, is it actually about the hotels, tours or companies in question or is it a generic piece of text that could be pasted over and over for different hotels, tours or companies? Secondly, is the review full of directions to the hotel, email addresses for the adventure travel provider or a phone number for the travel agent? Commonly reviews posted by the company being reviewed contain helpful hints as to how a potential customer might reach them, by location, email or telephone. If you’re unsure about the review, copy some of the body text into Google and see what comes up, 10 sites with the same text usually means that you’ve got a spammer. Finally, take a broad look at the reviews on the site – if they are all favourable, and not ever negative, then it is likely you’ve found a site where the publisher is being paid to write good reviews.

4. Topic – review sites exist because of choice. More hotels, electronic goods or insurance providers than the world really needs and millions of consumers needing to know which is best for them. Legitimate reviews are far more probable on sites with more traffic, usually in less of a niche, like hotels or electronic goods. Trusting all reviews on a site that considers types of shirt buttons is not advised.

5. People – despite what much of the world’s 21st Century media might tell you, the world’s population is largely honest. That’s right, honest. There are unscrupulous types, but they largely stick to the Internet Marketing scene(!) We are travellers. We are honest and friendly. We are open to new things and new places. We can, on balance, be trusted.

If you want to visit a place that you have never visited before and you don’t have much information about that place either then you should search the net for travel websites. In travel websites you will find splendid travel reviews about different places across the globe. These travel websites hire professional travel reviewers to give you all the information you need to make your journey.

When you go on a tour I am sure you ask your friends and family, who have been to that place you are visiting, for tips and want to know about their experiences in that place. In travel websites you will find travel reviews of thousands of travelers. There you will get to know the experiences of different travelers you have been to that place before you. You will find quite a number of travel articles on the same place by different writers and if you read 5 or 6 of them you will be totally informed about the place you are visiting.

Search the different travel reviews and try to find out the different aspects of your trip.

The most important things that you should gather information about when you are planning a trip somewhere are-

Tourist attractions of that place- you will get information even about the most minute tourist attractions in travel websites. If you are planning your trip with your family where there are kids then you should probably visit sites that are solely for family travel. If you want to go for a honeymoon then you should search the travel sites meant for the newlyweds. If you don’t want to take your family or your friends to a place where they get bored and have nothing to do then you should read travel reviews.

Hotels- when you go for a tour you normally stay in hotels. So it is one of the most important aspects of traveling. There are numbers of hotels in tourist places and you can lodge in according to your choice. But finding one according to your choice can be a difficult task. Hence you should read travel reviews to find out the experiences of different travelers in different hotels and then select the hotel you like.

Restaurants- when you go to certain country or city you would obviously want to taste the special cuisines of that place. But as you will be new to that place you may not be able to find it on your. Here you can take the help of travel reviews. If you read some of the travel articles you will get to know which restaurants serve the best food.

People travel for numerous reasons. Either they serve a professional purpose or they are searching for places in which they can just relax and have fun. For that, they are always in the lookout for things that would make their travel experiences worthwhile. This is why convenience and budget are very much considered by any type of traveller. Luckily, there are now all inclusive travel deals being offered both online and offline. These are deals that you can check out when you are looking for service providers who can book and reserve an entire trip for you. But why should you really want all inclusive travel deals?

One reason you should choose all inclusive travel deals is that they cut your expenses by a really wide margin. Definitely, the “all inclusive” phrase refers a lot to the amount of money you have to spend for your travels. Especially if you are travelling to a foreign land, you can expect to be charged with exorbitant fees and humongous bills. Local travels are just as expensive. Therefore, what you should look for are travel arrangements that will provide everything you need for the entire trip-fare, hotel, food, and local tripping among others.

In this case, you need a travel agent who can make arrangements for your trip. If you consider it closely, you would find that the deals your agent offers are priced cheaper than when you spend on separate arrangements on your own. For example, a package of both the fare and the accommodations is a lot cheaper than if you buy a plane ticket and book a hotel separately. This may be brought by the fact that travel agencies have ties with other service providers. But surely, they can get arrangements done fast and cheap.

Another reason you can have for choosing all inclusive travel deals is that you need not to worry about making separate arrangements to cover for everything that you will need for your trip. This goes very much like the first reason except that you refer more to the effort of arranging a trip than to the amount you will be spending. Truly, all inclusive travel deals lessen your TTDs (things-to-do) when planning a trip.

Almost all travel agencies are reliable in this particular task. They enable you to come out with a scheduled flight, full hotel accommodation, and even a complete local itinerary before you even fly out to your destination. When you try to arrange for everything individually, you will have difficulties because service providers like airlines and hotels are not easily contacted. Further, you cannot book the trip on your preferred customized schedule-and this is very possible with the help of travel agents.

Finally, if you are asking why you choose all inclusive travel deals, then you should understand that these arrangements would help you go to more places than you originally plan to be in. Well, if you consider how much time and money you are saving from one trip to another when you choose all inclusive travel deals, then you would know this last reason is very valid. After two or three trips, you would be surprised to know that you have saved a good enough sum for yet another travel.

This is a perk of all inclusive travel deals that many people like because everyone loves a good travel experience. It broadens your mind and exposes you to different societies. Therefore, you need to choose travel deals that would help you plan more than a couple of travels without requiring you to pay for huge amounts.

Ultimately, all inclusive travel deals are not only part of a bandwagon now. True, people are becoming more familiar with arranging travels especially those bound for other countries. This may be caused by the ever-encompassing Internet that allows for online arrangements of everything that you might need for a better travel experience. But at the end of the day, if you are really after the affordability and convenience of a trip, then going for all inclusive deals is the best decision to make. Just choose the right kind of travel deal and you are off to that escapade you have always dreamed of.

Finally, a business you can manage even at home where you can get real money and real results. Discover the breakthrough work from home opportunity that builds income without any special skills, knowledge, or know-how, whatsoever. Discover how a professor and chairman of the board of directors of USV-JSC made his way to online business success by watching the FREE VIDEO when you click the link above. FREE: DOWNLOAD FREE REPORT ON HOW TO START YOUR OWN ONLINE BUSINESS TRAVEL. TODAY.

Certainly, without a doubt, we all hate it when we have a bad travel experience – an airline that handles a flight delay incompetently, a hotel that is carelessly managed and staffed by untrained hands – it’s all quite terrible for as long as we go through it. But what about the way we feel about it when we come back home and regale our friends and family with how incompetent people can be? It’s an oddly entertaining thing, and most listeners are interested in your story right away when you have a bad travel experience to share. In fact, this weakness we all have for gossip about bad travel experiences could actually explain the blockbuster popularity of websites like TripAdvisor and FlightsfromHell that specialize in morbid travel reviews.

Have you read some of the hilarious travel reviews on TripAvisor that throw wide open the doors to the truth about what even some reputed hotels can be like around the world? The inventive phrases reviewers think of to describe how disgraceful the hotels are that they stayed in are often real genius. “Cradle of filth” is how one traveler describes her bed in her hotel room; another woman says on TripAdvisor that her bed made her think of her own grave (at a hotel in England). There is even an insurance company called TravelGuard that gives prizes to the travel reviews that will tell the worst story ever.

In an industry that profits from bandying bad travel reviews about, this summer season may turned out to be slim pickings. Flights aren’t getting delayed as much as they used to for one thing. A flight that gets you there on time somehow doesn’t lend itself to nasty reviews. When you tell someone about an overcrowded flight, trash in the seat pocket from the last trip, and rude stewardesses, it doesn’t quite earn you that much of a reaction when the flight isn’t delayed.

The travel industry though complains that many of these stories are probably made up; and often by the competition. There has been article after article in the press quoting how hotel owners wonder about how they might deal with the raging venom they see in travel reviews on the Internet that describe their services. Websites publishing crowd sourced travel reviews like TripAdvisor and even Oyster.com, a new entry, have earned the ire not just of the services they run down – they are being dismissed as unprofessional by the established travel publication companies as well – for not being written by accredited professional travel writers.

But can travel reviews on TripAdvisor really be manipulated? Certainly, a few people do try to game any system by signing up under different names and inserting bogus bad reviews; but the websites do have filters that guard the system from too many sign-ups from one computer or IP address, and no one person could possibly hope to generate enough bad reviews to balance thousands of happy customers (if there are any) out. The crowd sourced travel reviews business is an incredibly vibrant one, and it looks like it is the future. The travel businesses that are affected of course, would like to see this never come to pass.

These days, there is a lot of competition going on in the travel industry. People are getting more and more options for finding the last minute travel packages. They, however, require to research a lot to find the best rates. Compare the cost of air tickets of different airlines and then make a choice.

No one likes to spend money on travelling. If you are looking forward to saving money, then you have to be flexible, willing to travel at odd hours, make your reservations around one to two months before the date of flying. One can search for the best rates in travel on the internet. The websites offer competitive rates

The last minute travel deals cover everything from hotel reservations, airline tickets, etc. The websites has an user-friendly interface and helps you to get the best airline travel deals for you. These online shops are a great way to compare the various rates online and find the one that fits your needs.

There are many airlines that offer discounts on weekends. Browse through for some fabulous travel deals. Often, people get amazing airfares but they are unable to go for the vacation because they think that they would not be able to do the packing in the last minute. So, you should pack your bags before looking for the right opportunity. The last minute travel can help you to save a significant amount of money. But you should be flexible enough to make compromises for the last minute travel.

Many of us are not great planners when it comes to going for vacation. The last minute travel deals which have become a very popular in the recent times. These exciting deals are cost effective and offer competitive rates. Visit the best travel websites and look for amazing options in travel.

The last minute deals are designed to meet your needs to a great extent. There are deals available for all classes like luxury, economy, budget and premium. As far as accommodation is concerned, the various options are guest houses, pubs, small hotels and apartments. For getting these last minute deals, you have to be flexible enough as you need to leave a day earlier or later to save fares. You do not get much time to think as may be you have to leave the very next day.

These brilliant and astounding travel deals are easily found on the Internet or through a travel agent. You would find these deals beneficial. Many airlines sell the tickets at lower rates to fill up the vacant seats. So, if you want to go on a vacation without spending a huge amount of money, these deals are the best for you. Take advantage of these deals and take those much needed holidays at the lowest price. Be prepared to go on a short notice and take full advantage of such deals. If you do not have much money to spend on travelling, the last minute travel deals are for you. Nothing can now stop you from going anywhere.

The internet is the best place to find such Last Minute Travel deals. It is packed with deals having cheap hotels, discounted travel packages, travel tickets, etc. One can easily find these deals on the internet. These are not only convenient but also affordable. These deals are updated on a daily basis. So, get your relaxing vacation this year by searching for the hottest deals. You do not need to spend too much this summer. Save your hard earned money and avail affordable prices while going to exotic locations. You just need to be flexible to make your travel exciting and full of adventure.

When you are planning to visit some country you haven’t been before, it helps a lot if a friend or family has gone to that country before you and he or she can tell you their experiences on that country. Professional travel reviews does the same thing but with much more expertise. From travel sites you can get to know the experiences of many travelers who have gone to that place and their tips of how to explore that place. You will get more knowledge about that place by reading more and more travel reviews.

The best thing about travel are that they are not only concerned with tourist attractions but they give details about hotels and restaurants and sightseeing. And its not only limited to larger countries but travel sites have reviews of smaller cities as well. Another good thing about travel review sites is that they provide detailed information about all your travel related enquiries. Some of queries you might have while traveling-

Where to stay?
Never take the advertisements of hotels for genuine. All hotels claim to be the best and they claim to provide the best of services. But you are clever enough not to fall for that. You can easily fall back to hotel reviews of other travelers who have gone to that place and stayed in that hotel. You will get to know what kind of rooms each hotel offers, their rent and the kind of services they provide. It’s absolutely not necessary to go and spend some time in a hotel without reading the reviews of that hotel when you will get the information you need about hotels at the click of your mouse.

Where to eat?
When on holiday to a new place or country it’s absolutely a natural habit of travelers to try the special food and cuisines of that place. It is one of the best parts of the trip. But you will never want to spend your money on eating foods which where not worth it. Here travel reviews can help you a lot. It gives you addresses of the finer restaurants where you can eat and also an idea of how much it will cost you so that you can choose according to your budget.

Where to go for sightseeing?
Travel reviews give an idea where to go for sightseeing when you are traveling with your family which includes zoo, amusement parks and water parks for children. Travel reviews also give ideas about where you should go when you are traveling with your girlfriend or your newly wed wife. You will obviously not want to mess up your places by going to boring places. That is why it is best to read travel reviews before going to any place.

So you are in the market for cheap airline tickets, but not sure where to start and how to find the best travel deals. The reality is that in order to find the cheapest flight fares and schedules you need to know when and where to look and how to search. Yes, it is that easy, and all you need to know is several tricks. First of all, do you need a domestic or an international travel ticket?

Domestic Air Travel

These can be US domestic flight or flights within Europe, or within any country or other continent. If you are looking great flight deals, you need to know WHERE to look for low airfares. If you are looking for flights within the US, you may contact local US airlines or travel agencies or look up flights on the online travel search engine.

Airlines compete among each other and they can give great flight deals (just know WHEN to look). Travel agencies might also find you great deals. Here is the truth… lately several airlines and several large and well known travel agencies started having some issues and several airline banned those huge agencies from selling their airline tickets. Therefore, small and specialized agencies still do have very good contracts with major airlines of the world. So, my advise is to look who has the best flight deal, not at the size of the agency or the popularity. At the end of the day, it matters how much you pay for the ticket and that you have a confirmed seat.

Most smaller travel agencies have online only booking so they can save YOU money by eliminating staff salaries. Most of the time travel agencies use the same fares as airlines offer (unless negotiated better rates), but usually with 0 commission. Since agencies need to survive, they are forced to add a small service fee on the top of the ticket price. If you do not mind that, call your travel agent or best of all go online and check flights yourself. If you are traveling within Europe, you might want to contact a travel agent or search online travel agents’ websites first. In Europe local travel agencies and agencies outside Europe that specialize in international travel will have low fares because they use very low so called consolidator fares. This is nothing else, but negotiated contracts with airlines to sell special very low priced airline tickets.

International Travel

Whether you live in the US or other country, you travel internationally if you leave your country of residence.

What concerns transatlantic, transpacific or other between countries international travel, your best bet is a travel agency. The consolidators will offer you the best fare deals and will find you the best schedules. Depending on personal preferences, some might prefer talking to a travel agent, while others would want to do their own fare search online at their own pace. There is no right or wrong choice here. As long as you find a flight and a fare that works for you, you succeed. HOW to find a travel agency or a good travel website Always work with the travel agent or travel website that specializes in your travel destination or region. For example, if you need to fly from the US to Europe, search for ‘flights to Europe’ or so. Usually online search will give you best results. Check several websites or call several travel agents and compare the deals.

NOTE, you might know lots of huge agencies like Travelocity, Orbitz, etc. They might seem attractive to you because they are big and well known. But they will not always give you the best flight, hotel or cruise deals. They might be good for US domestic travel, but not always for international travel.

HOW and WHEN to search for best fares

Where you need a flight, hotel or a cruise, you need to know how to find the best fares and when to look for those. Let’s say that you found a travel agent or travel website that specialized in your travel destination.

5 tips on How to Find your Best Travel Deal:

Be Flexible. In order to find lowest price, you might need to be flexible on travel dates, arrival/departure times, airlines, and sometimes destinations. In short, there are different price levels for every flight and the only difference is the price and number of seats an airline assigns to that price level. Therefore, all depends on when you buy a ticket, how popular is the destination, travel season (peak or low), and how full the flight gets.
Book domestic travel tickets as early as you can (this applied to some international travel as well). Most domestic airlines have best fares with 21, 14, and 7 day advance purchase. This means that you may find lower fares when booking (= purchasing) a flight this many days before the flight.
‘Play’ with the search. This means that you need to be creative when searching for flights. Check flights couple days or weeks (if possible) earlier and later, check various airlines, different connections (an airline might have several hubs or fly with 1 or several connections), search based on price and try searching based on schedule (you’ll see different results).
Check travel package deals. If the purpose of your travel is vacation, instead of booking flights, hotel, and car rental separately, check on travel package rates. Sometimes your total package rate is lower that if you book everything separately.
Use miles or points when possible. Apply for airline/ hotel/ car rental, etc. frequent traveler programs. They are FREE, and you can get lots of benefits. For example, I cannot remember the last time I paid for a hotel room when Hilton Hotel is in my destination. Check out hiltonhhonors.com website. Go to the airline, car rental, or hotel websites and sign up. The only disadvantage of using miles and points is that you need to book your travel early as there is limited number of seats for miles or points on the plane and they go fast.

If you cannot decide whether to use an airline or a travel agent, here are some suggestions.

AIRLINE vs. TRAVEL AGENT/AGENCY WEBSITE

Advantages of booking a ticket with an airline:

you are talking directly to the carrier, the entity responsible for a flight
it may take much less time to deal with the airline directly (if an agent knows his/her job)
airline customers representatives are usually open 24/7

Advantages of using travel agents or travel websites:

lower negotiated (consolidator) fares
more flight options; travel agents/travel websites search all possible airlines, not just one
low fares available 24/7 given that an agency has a online booking system

Kelly was determined to find the nicest little cheap place to stay that she could find on her trip to the South Island of New Zealand. She read some online travel reviews for New Zealand and found this cool wee place that looked perfect. Cheap as chips, and pretty too. She thought she’d done well, and used the same site to book nearly all her free nights away from the tour she’d also found online.

When she arrived at the motel late at night, her heart sank. There was a really good reason it was cheap. It might have been the middle of winter, but there was no heating, the beds were barely covered with a sheet and the thin walls rattled every time the neighbours so much as whispered (let alone the wind that tore up the valley at 2am that morning).

Kelly later discovered the review had been written by the owner of the motel, the pictures were really out of date, and there were many amazing (but still cheap) places nearby she could have stayed in instead.

It can feel a little daunting to know if the information you are reading is a true travel review, or merely an advertorial paid for with free accommodation or from a professional paid writer. Finding out the true story of any place, tour or event is best done when the information is coming from people just like you – travellers wanting the best experiences New Zealand has to offer.

Online travel reviews are the best ways to find out all the secret gems, and avoid the scary places like Kelly’s disaster. You can often find them by trawling through blogs, and people’s online travel diaries but doing this is completely hit and miss and can take hours. Finding a site that provides you with a mix of comments and reviews from hundreds of travellers who have placed online travel reviews after their New Zealand travels is the most ideal way of finding the secret spots (like the awesome cafe in Kingsland, Auckland or the scary Coromandel caves you can discover for free, or the gold digging brothers in Hokitika who’ll make you scones and tell you ghost stories with a cup of billy tea.)

So how do you find New Zealand online travel reviews you can trust? Here are some simple tips when looking for online recommendations:

1) Look for a site that is full of personal experiences
While one person suggesting a place is awesome, fifty people suggesting the same thing, with a few frank comments about any issues or problems is far better. Kelly certainly wished she could have warned other travellers about her motel disaster.

2) Look for one that lets real people comment
Some sites are really just travel agency sites, with lots of comments from people who have been given free trips to write about. This means the bias can be slanted a little more positively than may be due in a real response to the place

3) Look for one that caters for a wide range of people
Even if you are on a mega budget you might want the occasional night of luxury (ooh that hot shower feels great after a week tenting in the South Island.) If you’ve got a comfortable budget, the more luxury orientated sites might focus only on the high cost tours and places to stay, and so much of New Zealand’s gems can be found in places where the cost isn’t that high. Find the secret local places that other travellers have found by sharing a few quiets in the pub with the locals.

The best thing about a community driven online travel review site is you’ll get to comment on your New Zealand adventure as well. You’ll have Kelly and her mates telling you what they loved, and what they hated. And then after you’ve experienced what other people have suggested, you too have a chance to let other’s know what you thought.

Through talking with thousands of travellers while running their own adventure tourism business, company owners Cymen Crick and Nick Morrison discovered that there was a clear need for independent travel information for NZ, free of bias and written by the traveller, for the traveller.