The top 10 online travel agencies
- Booking.com
- Agoda
- Lastminute.com
- Expedia
- Hotwire
- Bookmundi
- Skyscanner
- Kiwi.com
- TravelPerk
- SAP Concur
- MyCWT
Best online travel agencies for leisure travel
1. Booking.com
Booking.com is the world’s largest accommodation booking website, and it also offers customers the chance to book their travel and car rental, too. It enables travelers to explore different accommodation types, destinations, and deals. It’s a comprehensive OTA for the everyday traveler.Overall, booking.com is a comprehensive online travel agency with hotels and flights anywhere in the world. That being said, you’ll need to concentrate—it often gets criticized for its overwhelming UI.
2. Agoda
Agoda doesn’t offer much in terms of flight booking, but it's a great platform for finding accommodations—especially private homes and apartments.The flight booking tool isn’t as comprehensive as some others, however, so you may want to look for a tool with wider coverage.
3. Lastminute.com
Lastminute.com specializes in finding flight-and-hotel packages and all-inclusive vacation packages at great prices for last-minute travelers. If you’re brave enough to play chicken, lastminute.com is where you’ll find the golden egg of travel experiences.This is a great OTA for travelers who prefer to leave things to the last minute in pursuit of the best deal. You’re sure to find it here, plus a wide selection of other flight and hotel deals.
4. Expedia
Expedia has been providing travelers with access to flights, hotels, and cars since the nineties–and they’re still a strong contender today. In fact, they’re the biggest travel agency in the world. Hotels.com, trivago, Travelocity—they’re all owned by Expedia, so you know you’re unlikely to find a better deal elsewhere.Expedia is a particularly good option for those wanting to pay for flights, accommodation, and car rental in one go.
5. Hotwire
Hotwire is another long-standing online travel agency—it’s been around since 2000. It’s known for its ‘secret deals’, in which travelers get a great deal on a trip they know very little about. It requires some flexibility, but it’s a great way for adventurous types to travel on a small budget.If you’re booking last minute, consider doing it with Hotwire.
6. Bookmundi
This means the customers can request the operators for changes and work on an itinerary that best matches the needs of the travelers. Furthermore, their customer care team acts as a bridge between prospective travelers and tour operators.
Best online travel agencies for flights
1. Skyscanner
Once you make your decision, you’ll be taken from the Skyscanner website to the third party’s booking form to complete the booking process and secure the airfare.Skyscanner is trusted by millions of people to find the best deals with the most flexibility. It essentially gathers all the offers from every OTA to present customers with the best deals available.
2. Kiwi.com
It offers consistently low prices and travel insurance for multi-city travel.Kiwi.com is an innovative OTA—perfect for city-hoppers and the travel-hungry. Be wary, though—some reviews claim that cancellation is tricky and customer service can be unreliable.
Best online travel agencies for business travel
TravelPerk is a modern solution for modern corporate travel. Its easy-to-use OTA is a refreshing change from the clunky UI often associated with business travel. TravelPerk enables you to make flexible bookings for employees, and even offers the option to offset your carbon footprint.
2. SAP Concur
SAP Concur has been around for years—since 1993—and is trusted by many businesses to provide comprehensive business travel solutions. Its technology is self-owned and managed, meaning there’s no back and forth with third parties for changes or updates.SAP Concur is a great tool for organizations looking for a traditional approach to business travel. However, it requires patience–the platform takes 6-8 weeks to implement and user onboarding in order to make the most of it. Plus, some users report that the UI is outdated, making it a less enjoyable experience for business travelers.
3. MyCWT
CWT’s been in the travel industry for over 150 years, but MyCWT is an experienced travel management solution for business travelers everywhere.MyCWT is a great solution for companies with a bigger budget and big corporate travel needs. They do, however, use third-party software to deliver deals to business travelers and organizations—meaning updates and changes to the software can take time. There’s lots of back and forth that slows down progress and platform development.
How do online travel agencies work?
What are the advantages of booking through an online travel agency?
- Access to comparison tools
- Peer reviews to help you with your decisions
- Flexible cancellation policies
- All your travel in one place
- Local flights and deals
- Rewards programs