Best websites to find flight & hotel deals?

[MyNewBearTotoro]

Hello, I’m just wondering if anybody can recommend any good websites for finding cheap flight & hotel deals? I’m looking for deals for towards the new year, am not in a position to look for last minute deals.
Thanks in advance!

I use Opodo for finding flights. I then book directly with the airline.
I use Tripadvisor for finding hotels. I then book directly with the hotel.

We use hotel.com. You get a free room after ten bookings with them

Flights : Use Skyscanner or Kayak for price comparison, then book direct with the airline rather than via a third party wherever possible.

Car hire : Use Price comparison sites then book through a reputable broker (eg Holiday Extras). Avoid Goldcar in Spain, as they are notorious for rip-offs and scams.

Hotels : I always check Lastminute.com’s ‘secret hotels’, as you can get a genuine bargain with a bit of research into the hotel’s identity.

I was just coming on to ask a similar question. DH and I have always shopped around ourselves but haven't had a holiday abroad in years. Now looking for a Spanish half-term break so great to see these recommendations.

I do the same as @purpleleotard but compare flights with sky scanner and hotels with booking.com
I sometimes book accommodation directly, but sometimes get a better rate on booking.com

Thanks.

I’ve always booked flights and hotels separately in the past but was wondering whether some of these packages offer a better deal and was hoping to compare - because I’m wanting to travel at a peak time the flights are all very expensive so was wondering if it would be cheaper through a deal.

Having looked at some of these sites though I don’t think that’s the case so maybe I am best doing it separately. Thanks for everyone’s advice.

Secret Flying for flight alert emails (free to sign up, but emails are daily once per day so only use if you don't mind daily emails).

Google flights ( www.google.co.uk/flights ) on your phone for price tracking alerts, so you can set up alerts and get notified and book when the price drops. Skyscanner for ideas / route checking by month or specific dates using 'Everywhere' function.

Complete Savings cashback site for 10% cashback on hotel and airline sites (mostly main carriers though not budget airlines) and holiday companies. Always book direct with airline rather than some third party OTA you have never heard of just to save a few quid. For accommodation, check price direct as booking sites charge up to 25% commission (usually 15% minimum base commission and then more if they want to be featured, appear higher in the search results etc). Always worth a quick email or phone call to accommodation to see if they will beat booking site price or throw in an extra like free breakfast or room upgrade, although many people can't be bothered to do this for some reason hence the popularity of the booking sites. Sites like booking dot com useful for finding places though (use the filter function and sort by function) and for reviews (unlike TripAdvisor only people who have made a booking and stayed there can leave a review) but keep in mind their rating system misleadingly starts at 2 not 1 or 0, so an overall rating of 8/10 is more like a 6/10.

Hotels dot com as mentioned gives you one night free for 10 booked, although more limited selection of places you can book your 'free' night. Can be combined with CS cashback so effectively up to 20% discount.

Ebookers gives you 10% off the first booking made using their app, but check cashback sites too, eg topcashback currently doing 12% cashback on them.

Use a cashback credit card to book accommodation if payment is by card, usually only 0.5% but every little helps, but make sure it's a credit card that charges no fees for overseas transactions and uses Visa or MasterCard exchange rate as accommodation will almost always bill you in the local currency. Can combine with Curve card and app to pay for flights and avoid credit card fees on those and still get points/cashback.

Take Starling / Monzo / Monese card for spending abroad with no fees and best exchange rate + fee free ATM withdrawals (limited to 200 GBP/EUR per month with Monzo, no limit with Starling, not sure about Monese).

Perhaps it is worth a little 'upfront' when booking direct and ask 'is there is a discount for direct booking or should I book through a site'?

@MyNewBearTotoro I generally start off looking at package holidays and then look at similar holidays booked directly. If you want AI in an established resort, there's not much difference in price.

I think Travel Republic include a discount if you book both the flight and hotel through them, but it's not necessarily the cheapest way to do it, because hotel prices vary so much, it could be that they charge more for the hotel in the first place, so you have to shop around and compare.

Jet2, BA and Easyjet (and maybe other airlines) all offer flight+hotel city break packages.

If you're wanting to go somewhere like the Canaries, it's also worth looking at packages, we've been to Tenerife on a package where it wasn't that much more than booking the same flight only, with jet2holidays.

I find Momondo really easy to use. Kayak is good as well and Onthebeach is great for deals

I flit between Expedia, Booking and LastMinute.
this summer my hotel in Brussels was cheaper on Expedia, Toledo on LastMinute and Madrid direct with the hotel.
Flights I tend to track on Skyscanner and Google though the former always seems to find sth cheaper.
Remember that once you start searching (esp on Expedia) they'll send you member pricing/half price deals etc.
Fairly good and reliable cashback on all of them.

Use search filters on TUI - this time of year they will have lots of rooms to shift. So take leg work out of searching on the different seat only and accommodation sites and just use tour op - they are prob your first port of call as so big so lots of choice. Hope it helps.