Il futuro annunciato è nei motori di ricerca verticali, e questo futuro sta già cominciando a cambiare il mercato del turismo online. Motori specializzati in offerte turistiche permettono un confronto veloce ed immediato di più merchants online, traendo il massimo beneficio dalle tecnologie e opportunità della Rete, a favore degli utenti.
The launch last year of two new travel search engines, Kayak and Mobissimo, increases your odds of finding the absolute lowest prices on airfares, hotels, and rental cars.
Like SideStep, a travel search engine introduced in 2000, these sites are trying to do for travel what Google did for Internet searches. They scour scores of Web sites for pricing information, unlike traditional travel Web sites such as Expedia, Orbitz, and Travelocity, the so-called Big Three, which only search their own databases and travel-agency reservation systems.
When we tried out the new travel search engines, we found their wide-ranging approach to be very effective at uncovering great deals. As with any new technology, however, the sites are a little rough around the edges.
In our limited test, we pitted the three new search engines against the Big Three in searches for four purchases. In every case, the former found the lowest prices.
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The problem is that none of the search engines cover the entire universe of online travel prices, although they are expanding their reach all the time. One reason for the omissions is resistance from some sites to share their data. After Kayak came online, for example, Expedia and Travelocity (www.travelocity.com) told the company to stop using their proprietary databases.
Nevertheless, the search engines are very good at bringing you directly to the sites of travel providers, such as airlines and hotels, which don’t charge booking fees. So if you find similar fares on a travel search engine and on a Big Three site, you’re often better off using the search engine.
That said, search engines have a couple of drawbacks. They aren’t yet as flexible as the Big Three. Not all of them, for example, allow you to target direct flights or preferred airlines. And they don’t offer money-saving travel packages that can be customized to your specifications.
Navigating search results is another issue. The Big Three, for example, will show you a detailed snapshot of your results, so you can easily see the full range of options available. The search engines’ summaries are less detailed and require you to do more scrolling and clicking to uncover the outfits that are offering the best deals.
from ConsumerReports.org
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