What are the best sites to aid in holiday/vacation planning?

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Mar 2, 2021

Last
Updated

Trip Advisor vs Google Flights vs Kayak

vs Lonely Planet vs Wikitravel vs Foursquare vs Fodor's Travel vs FlyGRN vs Telegram vs Blue Planit travel planning app vs Guestboard

Specs

Platforms

Google Play Rating

Search

Free Carbon Offsetting

Compares sites

Publisher

File Size

End-to-end encryption

Videoconferencing

Media

Audio recording

VoIP

Service integrations

Groups

Video recording

Locationsharing

DIY integrations

Message history

Unit Testing

Multidevice

Open source

In-app purchases

Usernames

Message deletion

Audio/video streaming

Open source backend

Cloud sync

Open clients API

Multiplatform

Proxy support

Type

Platforms

Google Play Rating

Search

Free Carbon Offsetting

Compares sites

Publisher

File Size

End-to-end encryption

Videoconferencing

Media

Audio recording

VoIP

Service integrations

Groups

Video recording

Locationsharing

DIY integrations

Message history

Unit Testing

Multidevice

Open source

In-app purchases

Usernames

Message deletion

Audio/video streaming

Open source backend

Cloud sync

Open clients API

Multiplatform

Proxy support

Type

Platforms

Google Play Rating

Search

Free Carbon Offsetting

Compares sites

Publisher

File Size

End-to-end encryption

Videoconferencing

Media

Audio recording

VoIP

Service integrations

Groups

Video recording

Locationsharing

DIY integrations

Message history

Unit Testing

Multidevice

Open source

In-app purchases

Usernames

Message deletion

Audio/video streaming

Open source backend

Cloud sync

Open clients API

Multiplatform

Proxy support

Type

Platforms

Google Play Rating

Search

Free Carbon Offsetting

Compares sites

Publisher

File Size

End-to-end encryption

Videoconferencing

Media

Audio recording

VoIP

Service integrations

Groups

Video recording

Locationsharing

DIY integrations

Message history

Unit Testing

Multidevice

Open source

In-app purchases

Usernames

Message deletion

Audio/video streaming

Open source backend

Cloud sync

Open clients API

Multiplatform

Proxy support

Type

Platforms

Google Play Rating

Search

Free Carbon Offsetting

Compares sites

Publisher

File Size

End-to-end encryption

Videoconferencing

Media

Audio recording

VoIP

Service integrations

Groups

Video recording

Locationsharing

DIY integrations

Message history

Unit Testing

Multidevice

Open source

In-app purchases

Usernames

Message deletion

Audio/video streaming

Open source backend

Cloud sync

Open clients API

Multiplatform

Proxy support

Type

Platforms

Web, Android, iOS

Google Play Rating

3.8

Search

Free Carbon Offsetting

Compares sites

Publisher

File Size

End-to-end encryption

Videoconferencing

Media

Audio recording

VoIP

Service integrations

Groups

Video recording

Locationsharing

DIY integrations

Message history

Unit Testing

Multidevice

Open source

In-app purchases

Usernames

Message deletion

Audio/video streaming

Open source backend

Cloud sync

Open clients API

Multiplatform

Proxy support

Type

Platforms

Google Play Rating

Search

Free Carbon Offsetting

Compares sites

Publisher

File Size

End-to-end encryption

Videoconferencing

Media

Audio recording

VoIP

Service integrations

Groups

Video recording

Locationsharing

DIY integrations

Message history

Unit Testing

Multidevice

Open source

In-app purchases

Usernames

Message deletion

Audio/video streaming

Open source backend

Cloud sync

Open clients API

Multiplatform

Proxy support

Type

Platforms

Google Play Rating

Search

Meta Search Engine

Free Carbon Offsetting

Yes

Compares sites

Publisher

File Size

End-to-end encryption

Videoconferencing

Media

Audio recording

VoIP

Service integrations

Groups

Video recording

Locationsharing

DIY integrations

Message history

Unit Testing

Multidevice

Open source

In-app purchases

Usernames

Message deletion

Audio/video streaming

Open source backend

Cloud sync

Open clients API

Multiplatform

Proxy support

Type

Platforms

Web, Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, macOS, BSD, Windows phone, UWP

Google Play Rating

Search

Free Carbon Offsetting

Compares sites

Publisher

Various companies affiliated with Telegram

File Size

2048 MB

End-to-end encryption

Secret chats

Videoconferencing

Yes

Media

images / video / audio / GIFs / stickers / PiP Video / Videomessages

Audio recording

Yes

VoIP

Yes

Service integrations

Through bots

Groups

≤ 100,000

Video recording

Yes

Locationsharing

Live

DIY integrations

Yes

Message history

Yes

Unit Testing

Yes

Multidevice

Cloud

Open source

Most clients

In-app purchases

To pay 3rd parties

Usernames

yes

Message deletion

Mutual/timed

Audio/video streaming

Only from some clients

Open source backend

Cloud sync

Yes

Open clients API

yes

Multiplatform

Yes

Proxy support

yes

Type

Platforms

Google Play Rating

Search

Free Carbon Offsetting

Compares sites

Publisher

File Size

End-to-end encryption

Videoconferencing

Media

Audio recording

VoIP

Service integrations

Groups

Video recording

Locationsharing

DIY integrations

Message history

Unit Testing

Multidevice

Open source

In-app purchases

Usernames

Message deletion

Audio/video streaming

Open source backend

Cloud sync

Open clients API

Multiplatform

Proxy support

Type

Platforms

Event Communication and Management

Google Play Rating

Search

Free Carbon Offsetting

Compares sites

Publisher

File Size

End-to-end encryption

Videoconferencing

Media

Audio recording

VoIP

Service integrations

Groups

Video recording

Locationsharing

DIY integrations

Message history

Unit Testing

Multidevice

Open source

In-app purchases

Usernames

Message deletion

Audio/video streaming

Open source backend

Cloud sync

Open clients API

Multiplatform

Proxy support

Type

Webapp and Mobile App

Pros + Cons

Pro
Good interface for hotel booking

Intuitive interface for finding hotels or hostels and booking them on the site.

Comment

Pro
Good for food/restaurants

Tripadvisor will usually have the not-to-miss restaurants, even if they can end up being touristy. A good yelp equivalent in non-US countries.

Comment

Pro
High quantity of reviews

Tripadvisor lists tour options for many of the available attractions. Many of the individual tours have lots of recent reviews so you can get a better idea of what the experience will be like.

Comment

Pro
Large compilation of sightseeing spots

[add description]

Comment

There is a lot of incentive for companies to post fake reviews in order to increase their ranking/visibility. Tripadvisor does very little to catch the false reviews, so it's hard to know what's authentic and what isn't.

Comment

Con
Lots of sponsored content

Sponsored content such as sightseeing tours and hotels can clutter up the content users are actually searching for.

Comment

Pro
Google integration

It's integration into Google (example: query "flights to Sydney") makes it convenient to use.

Comment

Pro
"Explore" feature helps you discover new (cheap) places to go

Google Flights offers a neat explore feature that allows you to search by dates, continents and interests to discover new destinations.

Comment

Pro
Ability to compare price for many dates at once

You can pick the cheapest date to fly easily by comparing the different dates at once.

Comment

Con
Not able to book directly on Google Flights

You can't make a purchase/booking directly on the site. You are instead redirected to the company offering the service and must book there.

Comment

Con
Limited to flights only

Google Flights only provides information for flights, and does not include other categories that many travel search engines do (such as hotels and packages).

Comment

Pro
Able to search bookings concurrently on multiple travel sites

Kayak searches hundreds of travel sites to find all the possible flights to ensure you don't miss out on the best options. They have the most comprehensive results out of the competition. One of the biggest advantages of Kayak that most of their competitors don't have is the choice of where to book after you have found what flight or hotel you want. This means you are not locked into a single vendor and can compare the various booking fees etc.

Comment

Pro
"Explore" is awesome for trip planning

Kayak has a feature called "explore" that lets you answer the question "Where can I go for how much?" Explore is a fantastic tool for initially planning out your trip while finding the cheapest flights. From CN-Traveler: You punch in parameters for a trip and how much you're willing to spend to fly there, and your options magically appear on a map. You could punch in, for instance, that you want a maximum-four-hour nonstop flight in January to someplace where there's a beach and the temperature is between 70 and 90 degrees and they speak Spanish, and you don't want to spend more than $500 on airfare; Kayak will spit back your options.

Comment

Con
Dishonest about prices

There are a large number of complaints against Kayak questioning their honesty. It's frequently reported that after booking on the site and enter your credit card information, you will be told to call Kayak as something went wrong. You are then given a higher rate, or sometimes charged the higher rate without being told.

Comment

Con
Poor customer service

There are many negative reviews containing complaints of very rude and unhelpful Kayak customer service.

Comment

Pro
Good interface for flight booking

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Comment

Pro
App available

Lonely Planet offers an app for Android and iOS that helps you find attractions while you're on the move.

Comment

Con
Not in-depth

Only provides short descriptions (usually one paragraph) about each site and a map to the location. There are no photos or reviews.

Comment