TRAVEL TO COSTA RICA

Comparison Shopping For Planes & Hotels

Until just a few years ago, comparison shopping for airline prices was so difficult, time consuming, and tedious that the impracticality bordered on the impossible.

And, if you wanted to comparison shop for hotels in a particular city or country. . . well. . .you were wasting your time. It simply couldn't be done.

But that was then and this is now. Today, in just minutes, you can compare prices for airfare and hotel accommodations to just about anywhere and see for yourself where the best deals are.

However, most travelers are not yet aware of the technological breakthroughs that make this possible. If you're one of those, read on see how easy it is to save really big money.

Cheap Tickets?

I regularly fly between Costa Rica and Florida. The airline I use departs within minutes of a major competing carrier, arrives hours earlier (because of the layover time of the other carrier) and typically costs me about $400 less!

Sometimes I even get a better deal. Once I found a $2 ticket between Florida and San Jose. $2!

Costa Rica has become a major tourist destination. With two international airports and about a million tourists a year, there are lots of flight choices.

Consequently, it pays—in both time and money—to compare air carriers.

You might be amazed at what you find.

Spend a little time, don’t be a sloth (and save your money to see one in Costa Rica).

Comparison Shopping For Cheap Tickets

Their goal, quite simply, is to fill their airplanes.

Remember my story about the $2 fare I once had for a flight from Florida to Costa Rica? That was pure dumb-luck for me but a decision by the airline to get what it could for a seat (and probably assuming I'd get a round trip ticket, paying more for the return).

How do airlines know what their competitors are charging?

They know because every airline files its rates and rate changes with the Airline Tariff Publishing Company and now, thanks to the wonders of modern day computerized systems, they are instantaneously uploaded to a Computerized Reservations System which is made accessible to consumers through certain internet gateways, like Orbitz (and others).

This system benefits both the airlines and the consumers, saving both substantial amounts of money (and helping to fill planes).

Now, in the old (actually not very long ago) days, people either called a travel agent or went onto the net to make airline reservations through a particular carrier's website..

Truth is, most folks still do----and they're making a very costly mistake when they travel to Costa Rica.

Why?

First, to visit all the airlines' websites of companies servicing Costa Rica, they'd need to spend hours and hours. See for yourself. Here's a list of some of the carriers that travel to Costa Rica: Spirit Air, American, United, KLM, Delta, Taca, British Airways, Continental, Cubana, Mexicana, Iberia, American West, Continental, Northwest, USAir, Copa.

Second, long before getting through the list, most people will give up and buy a ticket---perhaps spending hundreds more per ticket than they need to because they'll never see the lowest price. For families, multiply that extra unnecessary cost by the number of family members and you'll get the idea.

Third, this one airline at-a-time approach makes comparison shopping very cumbersome.

Sophisticated, experienced travelers save a boatload of time and a lot of money by comparison shopping through the internet airline portals.

But, of course, you have a choice. You can go to an airline's website and simply reserve a flight at the price quoted or. . . go to an airline internet portal, compare prices, and pick the cheapest. Either way will take the same amount of time but only one of these choices will get you cheap tickets.

Of course, it's nigh impossible to find these deals from the States, Canada, Europe, or elsewhere. After all, it's not even possible to know the names of hotels in foreign cities much less comparison shop.

Not anymore!

Taking a page from the airlines, hotels across the planet are advertising their prices and services on hotel internet portals like Expedia and Hotels Combined.

Owners of vacation homes and Costa Rica timeshares are also advertising their rental properties on vacation sites like SellMyTimeshareNOW.com and HomeAway.com making it easier than ever for travelers to compare units and get a great deal on rental accommodations.

These portals make finding hotels in foreign cities quick and easy and the better ones, like Hotels Combined, provide price comparisons as well.

Now, instead of flying blind when you travel to Costa Rica and hope to find a good hotel at a decent price, use the power of hotel internet portals to make life easier and much less expensive.

All right! Now you know all there is about finding cheap (cheaper, actually, everything is relative) tickets and cheap hotels when you travel to Costa Rica.

Hurray for the Net!

We'll keep the light on for you.

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