4 ms·

With travel booking it's hard to have sympathy for anyone, I don't really care if "evil" Google defeats or buys up the other brand. I pretty much feel ripped of

With travel booking it's hard to have sympathy for anyone, I don't really care if "evil" Google defeats or buys up the other brand. I pretty much feel ripped off no matter what service I use. I also call up the hotel directly most of the time to see if I can get a better rate or room, often works. With air travel I want the one with the best grid to win, if I have to launch a new search every time I try a new date or nearby airport it's a no-go for me.

ryandrake 7y ago
Online air travel UX has been a dumpster fire since the very first booking sites 20 years ago. The major players mostly share the same flaws and try to mitigate them in the same crappy ways. It’s almost as if there is a single query system underlying them all, and their UIs are merely similar-looking wrappers around that same old clunky system :)
- iudqnolq 7y ago
  Thankfully Google hasn't killed [ITA Matrix][0] yet. They bought the company to make Google flights, but their original site is so much better, even if it's a bit slow. To book flights you find from them, use the free [bookwithmatrix.com][1] [0] http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ [1] https://bookwithmatrix.com/ https://bookwithmatrix.com/
  - kajecounterhack 7y ago
    Curious in what ways you find it better? I find google flights UI to be much better -- it's faster, has nice visualizations, easier to read, etc.
    - iudqnolq 7y ago
      I like the UI it provides to find the solution for the problem "I want to travel from near City A to near City B some time around November, and I don't want to spend too much." Specifically, I like the "calendar of lowest fares" view. I also like the ease of inputting advanced search parameters. If you're going to use it to make a list of flights Google Flights is usually better.
- gpderetta 7y ago
  Historically it used to be the case [1], at least for most airlines. I think there is more competition now. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabre_(computer_system) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabre_(computer_system)
  - mynegation 7y ago
    The smiley at the end of ryandrake’s post makes me think that they are very well aware of SABRE and hinting at it.
    - gpderetta 7y ago
      yes, I thought the same :)
lotsofpulp 7y ago
I have no idea why people would ever choose to deal with a middleman than the merchant directly, especially when they have their bank as the arbiters in disputes since they're paying with credit cards.
- newsbinator 7y ago
  Often the merchant directs me to the middleman, in travel search.
  - lotsofpulp 7y ago
    I haven't experienced that when dealing with any major US airline/hotel/car rental brand. They all have their own websites. If not, I can usually email the merchant and work something out that avoids them paying a middleman. With one merchant in a developing country, I even hashed it out over WhatsApp! But I always like to communicate directly with the person or organization providing me the product or service.
- crazygringo 7y ago
  Because the middleman can be significantly cheaper. This is for straightforward business reasons: if you're visiting a hotel's site directly, you clearly already have a strong interest in it, and are less likely to be comparing by prices. Whereas if you're advertising rates on an aggregator, you're competing much more strongly on price, and are forced to provide discounts. And for a significant number of people, it never occurs to them to check an aggregator to save money. When traveling, I'm almost always saving 30-50% off the prices listed on hotels/lodging on their sites simply by using one of the aggregators. (Discounts tend to especially skyrocket when booking day-before.) Does that answer it?
  - lotsofpulp 7y ago
    The hotel brands I stay at (Hyatt/Hilton/Marriott/etc) offer the cheapest pricing directly on their website, with best price guarantees giving discounts or free nights if another website offers it for cheaper. I've never seen it cheaper anywhere else though, so I'm pretty sure they have their computer systems configured not to allow it to happen. And I reserve a cancelable price so that I can always see if they lowered the price before the cancelation deadline, sometimes yes, sometimes not. Even if I wasn't staying at a brand that offered a best price guarantee, I would still contact them and offer them the chance to win business directly by being lower than the aggregator and avoid paying commission.

ryandrake 7y ago

Online air travel UX has been a dumpster fire since the very first booking sites 20 years ago. The major players mostly share the same flaws and try to mitigate them in the same crappy ways. It’s almost as if there is a single query system underlying them all, and their UIs are merely similar-looking wrappers around that same old clunky system :)

iudqnolq 7y ago
Thankfully Google hasn't killed [ITA Matrix][0] yet. They bought the company to make Google flights, but their original site is so much better, even if it's a bit slow. To book flights you find from them, use the free [bookwithmatrix.com][1] [0] http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ [1] https://bookwithmatrix.com/ https://bookwithmatrix.com/
- kajecounterhack 7y ago
  Curious in what ways you find it better? I find google flights UI to be much better -- it's faster, has nice visualizations, easier to read, etc.
  - iudqnolq 7y ago
    I like the UI it provides to find the solution for the problem "I want to travel from near City A to near City B some time around November, and I don't want to spend too much." Specifically, I like the "calendar of lowest fares" view. I also like the ease of inputting advanced search parameters. If you're going to use it to make a list of flights Google Flights is usually better.
gpderetta 7y ago
Historically it used to be the case [1], at least for most airlines. I think there is more competition now. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabre_(computer_system) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabre_(computer_system)
- mynegation 7y ago
  The smiley at the end of ryandrake’s post makes me think that they are very well aware of SABRE and hinting at it.
  - gpderetta 7y ago
    yes, I thought the same :)

lotsofpulp 7y ago

I have no idea why people would ever choose to deal with a middleman than the merchant directly, especially when they have their bank as the arbiters in disputes since they're paying with credit cards.

newsbinator 7y ago
Often the merchant directs me to the middleman, in travel search.
- lotsofpulp 7y ago
  I haven't experienced that when dealing with any major US airline/hotel/car rental brand. They all have their own websites. If not, I can usually email the merchant and work something out that avoids them paying a middleman. With one merchant in a developing country, I even hashed it out over WhatsApp! But I always like to communicate directly with the person or organization providing me the product or service.
crazygringo 7y ago
Because the middleman can be significantly cheaper. This is for straightforward business reasons: if you're visiting a hotel's site directly, you clearly already have a strong interest in it, and are less likely to be comparing by prices. Whereas if you're advertising rates on an aggregator, you're competing much more strongly on price, and are forced to provide discounts. And for a significant number of people, it never occurs to them to check an aggregator to save money. When traveling, I'm almost always saving 30-50% off the prices listed on hotels/lodging on their sites simply by using one of the aggregators. (Discounts tend to especially skyrocket when booking day-before.) Does that answer it?
- lotsofpulp 7y ago
  The hotel brands I stay at (Hyatt/Hilton/Marriott/etc) offer the cheapest pricing directly on their website, with best price guarantees giving discounts or free nights if another website offers it for cheaper. I've never seen it cheaper anywhere else though, so I'm pretty sure they have their computer systems configured not to allow it to happen. And I reserve a cancelable price so that I can always see if they lowered the price before the cancelation deadline, sometimes yes, sometimes not. Even if I wasn't staying at a brand that offered a best price guarantee, I would still contact them and offer them the chance to win business directly by being lower than the aggregator and avoid paying commission.