Best Travel Deal Tips: Get travel shopping-savvy with our top tips for getting the best travel deals online.

How To Book the Best Travel Deals Online

• Decide what type of holiday you’re looking for, then shop around. Travel deals comparison sites are fantastic, but look at a couple to make sure you really are getting the best deal for you.

• It may call itself a four star hotel, but how do you know you’ll be getting great value for your money? By reading other travellers’ reviews, of course. Try Travel Connect, or look at travel deals comparison websites like Expedia and Last Minute. Read travel reviews from all over the world, click here.

• Sometimes, it’s cheaper to book direct with the hotel website – sometimes, it’s far better to book as a package. Do your research so you know!

• For travel deals comparison sites, always sort by price rather than “most popular” or “we recommend” – usually, the results that come up tops are not the best deals, but simply have paid the sites to put them first as a form of advertising.

• To get the best possible deals, it’s always best to keep a lookout for deals as far in advance as possible. To take the guesswork and effort out of it, keep up with great deals and airline sales by signing up for online travel deals newsletters – Travel Connect offers a fantastic option as it’s advertiser free, so you know you really are getting the cheapest options rather than advertisers who have paid to be included. Sign-up for the Newsletter Here.

• With the current exchange rate, many internet savvy Brits have realised that you can often make huge savings by booking through a US website. Since the pound is now worth over 2 dollars for the first time since 1981, it’s already cheaper to fly to and holiday in America. But it’s also generating savings on flights within Europe too, when you buy tickets through US-based sites like Travelocity.com and Cheaptickets.com

• Although you can get great last minute deals, it’s almost always cheaper to shop in advance, before the cheap seats allocated to each flight are snapped up. Added benefit: you have longer to look forward to it and make plans!

• Before you book, beware of unsafe sites. The term ’https’ should always precede any website address where you enter personal information or pay for anything online. The ’s’ stands for secure. If you don’t see ’https,’ you’re not in a secure web session, and you should not enter data.

• Sign up whenever you are given the option whilst shopping online to Verified by Visa (www.visaeurope.com/verified) or MasterCard SecureCode (www.mastercard.co.uk/securecode).

• Always print out your order once it has gone through – you may need it as proof of payment at a later date.