TRAVEL WEBSITES, PART 2

Since I published the article "Travel websites", I've received a lot of different questions about trip reservations and travel insurance. So, I decided to give you more information regarding these subjects.
There are two websites for flights reservation I like: http://www.kayak.com/ and http://www.vayama.com/.
Both of them provide many different options (direct flight, multiple-city, one way, etc). Both sites allow users to compare information from hundreds of other travel websites in one display when booking travel reservations for flights, hotels, rental cars, vacations, and cruises and provides the ability to filter search results by price, specific brands, timing, and other decision factors. In August 2011, KAYAK updated its flight search to include Hacker Fares in the search results. Hacker Fares refers to itineraries that require purchasing two or more one-way tickets on separate airlines. VAYAMA is known for its unique focus on discounted international air travel and its booking engine is similar to KAYAK's.
http://www.orbitz.com/  is famous for Orbitz Price Assurance program.
If you book a flight or prepaid hotel room on Orbitz, and another customer books your itinerary for less after you have booked yours, Orbitz will issue a cash refund for the difference. Amounts range from $5 to $250 per airline ticket or $5 to $500 per hotel booking. They mail your refund check about 6-8 weeks after your trip. For full terms and conditions go to http://www.orbitz.com/info/win?id=priceAssuranceTerms&popupsDisabled=false.
When it comes to hotels reservation, I like www.hotels.com, but my favorite website is www.booking.com. I find the hotel location, regular and special rates, what is included in price - breakfast, free WiFi, room amenities, etc, and the cancellation policy. The free cancellation option allows me to cancel an existing reservation if I find a better deal and make a new reservation, assuming I keep checking the rates after making the reservation. Although many websites do not charge for reservation changes or cancellations, the hotel you choose might so be sure to check hotel policy as well as that of the booking website.
Another benefit of the free cancellation option is reduced travel insurance cost. As I mentioned in my previous post, you calculate the price of the insurance on www.insuremytrip.com depending on the cost of the trip you want to insure. If a hotel reservation could be canceled free of charge, you do not include it in the total cost of trip to be insured. If you have any questions or concerns what insurance to buy, call www.insuremytrip.com Customer Service at 1-800-487-4722, they are really very helpful.