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Is the Travelarrow google extension any good for finding cheaper flights?
Main Post:
I came across the travel arrow google extension Has anybody tried it? Is it any good? Is it worth it? Want to use it around Europe
Top Comment: There's a post about TravelArrow from February, mostly about avoiding 3rd party travel sites and apps.
Is Travelio trustworhty or a scam?
Main Post:
I might move to Jakarta soon, so I was wondering which are the best websites to find studios for rent in the city. During my search, I stumbled upon a website/app called Travelio, which looked quite nice until I read many negative reviews on the internet about it being a scam. Is it true that Travelio is not trustworhty? If so, which websites would you recommend me to find rental appartments in Jakarta? Please keep in mind that I don't speak the local language. I've also been searching for flats through another website called Flokq.com, so if you know wether if it's legit or not I would appreciate you telling me.
Top Comment: oh boy, travelio is soo baaad. My experience with their customer service was just really bad, it felt like I was talking to a bunch of grade schoolers. I was having problems accessing my apartment because my lift card got deactivated by building management, and I had to literally threaten to thrash the apartment to get them do something about it. A lot of other things as well but I’m on mobile phone now.
Do NOT use TravelArrow, PlanMoreTrips, or any third party chrome extension that promises lower rates on flights/hotels. There is a reason why the rates are cheaper.
Main Post:
When you book a flight or a hotel through a third party like Kayak, Priceline, or Booking.com, there will be many restrictions on your flight or hotel stay:
- You do not receive loyalty points or miles that you can use to redeem additional flights or hotel nights. Using points to book flights/hotels can give you extremely good value (i.e. you can stay almost a whole month at Hilton Bali with just 90k Hilton points)
- You do not receive status qualifying miles/nights to earn elite status on airlines or hotel chains (such as Marriott Platinum or Delta Gold). This can give you numerous benefits such as room and seat class upgrades.
- If something goes wrong (i.e. airline or hotel loses your reservation), which happens OFTEN when booking though third parties, you will need to negotiate with the third party to fix the issue, instead of directly with the hotel or airline. This is a pain in the ass, and something like this could badly screw up your entire trip. Hotels and airlines always give priority to reservations made directly with them, since they didn't have to pay a commission fee to the third parties.
When accounting for the points/miles not earned, the rates on these third party sites are RARELY CHEAPER than booking directly, especially if you already have status with the hotel or airline you’re booking with.
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So what’s wrong with chrome extensions like TravelArrow? They promise to save the customer money by redirecting them to these third party sites. The creators/owners of these extensions are paid by Kayak, Skyscanner, Priceline, etc. whenever you use the extension to redirect to their sites, because it gets their websites more clicks, which means there will be more people booking with them. They are essentially a platform for advertising these third party sites TO YOU.
I singled out TravelArrow specifically because they create extremely cringe and misleading TikToks to promote their extension. In this one, they show that their extension found a flight on Skyscanner for $800 cheaper (lmao), but what they don’t mention is that the flight they found had TWO extra layovers and was 7+ hours longer.
Top Comment: I always book directly with the airlines. I have booked hotels through third party services but found that they don't necessarily give you the room you want and they try to add on extra charges. Plus, they won't honor AAA or senior discounts. Much better to go directly to the hotel website.