My Favorite Travel Websites, Apps & Resources

Travel Resources You Need To Know

I love travel. I can honestly say that I’m a little bit addicted to travel. If I’m not on a trip then I am researching and planning my next trip (in between work, obviously ;)). I have also had a chance to work with travel and hospitality companies through the years, and because of this and my own travels, have gained a lot of knowledge about the best travel industry tools and resources. Below I am highlighting some of my favorites.

1. Skyscanner: One of the leading travel meta-search engines in the world, and recently acquired by Chinese giant Ctrip, Skyscanner is the best place to search for flight deals. Not only do they partner with virtually every airline so you will always have the most choice and opportunities for comparison, they have the lowest prices available. In addition, they have amazing tools for travelers, like price alerts, you can see what is the cheapest month and day to fly, and my personal favorite feature is their “Everywhere Search” feature. This is amazing for discovering flight deals to destinations you might not have previously considered. Basically you find unexpected and amazing destination ideas. I love it, and you can use Skyscanner both on web browser and through its app.
2. Google Flights: Though not as advanced in terms of features as Skyscanner, I love how simple, fun and effective the Google Flights interface is. I love that like Skyscanner, you can also search by month and it has an everywhere search, but you can also click on tags that narrow down your trip by length of stay, from weekend, to one or 2 weeks. You can also help find your destination by activity, which I haven’t seen on other flight search apps or websites. It’s just a very intuitively designed platform and I love to use it.
3. Scott’s Cheap Flights: Scott’s Cheap Flights is an email newsletter with over 500,000 subscribers that gives you daily flight deals directly to your inbox. They scour sites to find flight deals and give you information like when the deals are happening, with which airlines, to what destinations, from which airports, as well as the prices. The information is all very succinctly written and to the point. They have a a free as well as a paid version (I have the free one), and the only difference that I know of is that they send you more flight deals when you pay. All in all, I love to get their notifications and see what sales are going on.
4. Airbnb: I think Airbnb is just an overall amazing company. Besides disrupting a huge industry and being completely forward thinking with their technology and booking platform, they also do amazing things in terms of disaster relief and now expanding their business into Experiences, which I am super excited to try. With Airbnb you can stay at people’s homes anywhere in the world, on any kind of budget, and can choose from having a shared or private room to an entire apartment. It has given people like me an incredible opportunity to explore the world at a reduced price. It also works on web browser or through their app.
5. TripAdvisor: TripAdvisor is another big travel company that I think does an amazing job in helping travelers plan their trips. TripAdvisor’s greatest strength is the amount and quality of their user generated content (UGC). TripAdvisor is great when it comes to searching for hotels, restaurants, activities and tours. It is so easy to search by ratings, location and you can often book immediately on site. This has been a very handy tool when traveling abroad and looking for things to do.
6. Hotel Tonight: Hotel Tonight is a mobile app I found a few years ago, which provides last minute hotel deals. I think that they have really great deals and it is definitely something to check out. The only thing is that they are in a limited number of cities, but most major metropolis like Miami and New York are included. Also because they really do focus on last minute deals, sometimes you can’t book more than  7 days in advance.
7. Skift: For more serious travel industry-related news, Skift is a great resource. Following airline, OTA, hotel, tourism, cruise, startups and more, Skift provides industry news articles, reports (which you have to pay for), conferences, podcasts and more on anything and everything relating to the global travel industry including emerging trends, tech, and analysis.
8. Travel Influencers: To say that online influencers aren’t some of the most influential people in the travel industry would be silly. I love various travel bloggers and Instagramers and they 100% influence my awareness of destinations I want to visit and where I want to stay. So many lifestyle brands now also have a travel section that the lines are blurred. There are too many for me to name, but just searching by travel related hashtags on sites like Instagram or Pinterest I stumble on incredible images and travel guides.