MOST WEB-SAVVY TRAVELERS know how to find cheap airfares, hotel rooms, and rental cars on comparison sites such as Kayak.com and Farecast.com, or on the big booking sites (Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, and the like). But last year, dozens of Web 2.0 travel sites jumped in to fill newly emerging niches in travel planning. Here’s a selection of sites (many still in beta testing) that might help with your plans.

Where to Go

These six sites can help an undecided trip planner discover a perfect travel match.

besttripchoices_com

Based on your answers to a simple questionnaire, Best Trip Choices (besttripchoices.com) identifies which of six “travel personalities” you most closely match and suggests destinations and activities suited to your preferences. (You handle the booking.) Similarly, TravelMuse (travelmuse.com), Tripbase (tripbase.com), and Tripor ati (triporati.com) offer destinations based on interests you identify on supplied lists or tags. Travel-Muse and Tripbase factor in your budget, and TravelMuse asks you how much time you’re willing to spend en route. All three provide reviews, maps, links to booking sites, and more.

New travel sites help you decide where to go and what to do—and keep you organized, too.

If you’re considering a cruise or an organized tour, stop by Travelbeen.com, which debuted in seven countries last year with the goal of incorporating every travel Web site on the planet into its “social search engine.” One of the service’s more unusual features is its ability to search for travel suppliers by specialized criteria, including accreditations. We accrediting groups, however, aren’t explained. For example, you can call up a list of cruise lines that belong to the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators, but not an explanation of how those lines differ from lines that aren’t members.

dealbase_com

If you’re looking for a hotel deal, try DealBase (dealbase.com), which presents key criteria for each oAer—price, savings oA full room rates, and terms of booking (including the dates of your stay and the deadline for booking)—in just three lines of type. You can filter deals by category or interest (golf, beach, four-star, and soon), bookmark your favorites, and view them as a list.

What to Do

Get a Eurail passOnce you have settled on a destination, these two sites can help you plan your visit.

Visually compelling PlanetEye (planeteye.com) creates color-coded, geo-tagged Microsoft Virtual Earth maps that you can use to identify, say, restaurants and attractions within walking distance of a particular hotel. In addition, you can create virtual folders (called “travel packs”) to file photo-illustrated restaurant reviews and travel tips aggregated from many sources.

At Trazzler (trazzler.com), identify the destination or interests you want to research (if you provide only the latter, Trazzler will help you choose a destination); then Tip through a “trip stack” (think baseball cards)—photo-illustrated hotel, dining, and activity suggestions with links to Web sites that provide more detail. Compile a wish list, and the site aggregates data from your searches into a preference pie chart. This content comes from both professional writers and user reviews.

The Human Touch


Beaches 2 Nights FreeNo matter how sophisticated its algorithms are, a machine just can’t make some travel decisions. In the case of multiple-destination trips or flights to remote locations, for instance, online booking isn’t always a snap—and it may not even be possible. Compete 4 Your Seat (compete4yourseat.com) calls upon a network of travel agents to bid on your tough-to-schedule flight plans.

Similarly, Zicasso (zicasso.com) promises “handcrafted” itineraries for trips with multiple destinations. You de scribe your travel needs, and in two or three days you receive trip plans—including pricing—from up to three prescreened agents. You can refine a plan as needed; you can then choose the one you like best and pay the agent directly.

Tripology (tripology.com) likewise caters to travelers with specialized interests from nature vacations to language schools to spiritual journeys. Enter your criteria, and the site matches you with three specialists; you decide whom to contact, and you then negotiate fees and services with that specialist.

Help for Getting Organized

Finally, these two Web sites act as personal assistants to help you organize your travel plans and information.

After registering with TripIt (tripit.com), you simply forward flight, hotel, and other e-mail confirmations to the site, and it will organize them into a master itinerary that you can customize with additional maps, weather information, photos, and walking or driving directions. TripIt’s Itinerator will even check your flight status, select your seat, and send a personalized travel guide to your on line calendar or your iPhone.

Nile Guide (nileguide.com), another one-stop travel organizer, uses Google Maps technology and content from local experts to generate personalized travel recommendations; then it integrates your selections into your calendar. Nile Guide can create customized, downloadable guidebooks, too. An iPhone version is due later this year.

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