Sidestep is not a booking agent, just a very helpful searching sites that will include options to also search Hotwire and others. Honestly I usually uncheck all those, at least on initial searches, as when I have tried them - haven't found anything better than the main search will. This is from their Hotel search page...
Even after skipping all those, Sidestep will often offer a number of choices for booking at a hotel or other selection...
Orbitz seems to be a very common choice with them and being the cynic I am I have to suspect some connection but maybe not; maybe they are solely funded by advertising. I have used Sidestep at times to help me find the best deals on flights that I booked directly with the airline
* and cars that I booked directly with the rental firm, but my experience has been that Orbitz and other linked booking firms often offer much better hotel deals as well as packages that may include air & hotel, etc.
Again the cynic here, I suspect all packages of being overpriced marketing gimmicks until they prove to offer more than I can book separately and/or direct. Using an Orbitz discount code of
200entertain on a minimum 7 nights in Mexico tho, one can often book a hotel good enough for me
for a private room with flight for less than $100 more than the planet ticket: $70/week hotel with taxes & breakfasts! :cool3: For me and my bud to have separate rooms is super, no snoring competition; for a couple not wanting two rooms, one can apply the $200 discount to a shared room for less dramatic results that may still be good, or book the second person as air only, or air & car with the same $200 discount. That Orbitiz code also applies to the Caribbean and Hawaii, but choices may be limited - still worth checking if one wants to stay in one room for a week.
I am really getting off topic further here,
fftopic: but I used that discount to book our week on Coz even tho we are leaving the rooms occupied only by drying gear and clothes one night while we make an overnight run on the mainland. In another case today, a friend asking me about visiting some ruins south of Veracruz Mexico and along with many other suggestions from my experiences and what I have learned here on SB, I pointed out that...
If you wanted to spend a week in the Veracruz area, with maybe one or two nights at the ruins, and you know because of flight times you need to stay close to the airport the night of arrival and maybe the night before leaving....
(1) Book a 7 night air and Veracrus hotel Vacation package thru Sidestep @ $895 including taxes and fees;
(2) connecting to Orbitz where you use 200entertain special discount code to take off $200 a room;
(3) That's air, private room and taxes for only $74 more than air ticket only, depending on days of flights and other choices...!!
(4) Leave the hotel booked and occupied with some of your stuff while you're away for one or two nights, then come back to same room when you get back - also giving her some great suggestions on nice hotels at the ruins.
Heck, she'd pay more than that booking arrival and departure nights only at a decent hotel near the airport. It often pays to open Sidestep and other sites on several tabs for comparison shopping: air & hotel, air & car, all parts separately, hotel and diving together, etc. and sometimes I have to open an additional Window of multiple tabs, then - when I can't make it all fit just right, call the booking site on their 800 number.
* Airlines are the worst risk in booking direct! It hasn't been that long since I posted a really revealing thread about clearing cookies as you repeatedly shop the same airline for choices to prevent them from raising the fares offered to your IP address for a trip, but that is out of date now! :shocked2: At least some of them are using what really amounts to spyware to see what OS your computer uses, what ISP, what browser, what extensions, etc and and with high probability identify you even without cookies. Sidestep and others are really worth checking for air fares! Even after finding the flights and lowest fares on Sidestep to book directly with the airline, I can clear cookies for that airline and still not duplicate the ticket and price on their site - but can link from Sidestep to that same site for that ticket and price. :silly:
Back to the original topic!
The more we utilize these searching and booking sites, the more we can get tricked into additional fees. You really have to watch them as they add the numbers, trying to add an overpriced option or just a previously unmentioned booking fee - but at least most of them are stated. A surprise fee like the original topic would really set me off and I appreciate the info from others above in case it ever happens.