I think in today’s society, it’s a fair call to say that the seasoned nomadic traveller has nailed the opportunities and hacks available for the unsuspecting pleasures and immersive treats that really define the holiday and help you master the art of schedule, to a fine degree.

It’s about getting the flow of the holiday to synch with your inner emotions and craft a ‘special schedule’ that allows you to experience unknown opportunities and pleasurable experiences. Generally the direction of travel leads the nomad into affordable living destinations and most importantly provides them with awesome “bang for the buck”.

The reason I am writing this blurb is to highlight the intricate work, nomadic travellers process and analyse before giving away their hard earned cash or miles to just any tourism operator or agent. There are a few excellent ways to plan your journey with the help of a few websites and a few that I would say are not so good. I’ll help you understand the differences and basic services that these websites have on offer.

Generally, we all like to get a base airfare price in our minds to contemplate the season to travel or whether that is an important factor? Nomads are traveling pretty much all the time and tend to play it by ear, and chase the sun, surf and like to explore the possibilities that aren’t on everyone’s itinerary. So this scenario tends to fall into a flash sale or heavily discounted way to travel in general and is the ultimate way of finding base price specials. You wont find these spot/flash sales during the high and peak seasons though, and that in my mind is not so bad afterall.

Try and base the trip around a not so busy period (like July school holidays or Christmas and NYE) . If you absolutely have to go in these times, generally there is a way to find affordable luxury if you book 3 months in advance and pay an initial deposit – with conditions.

First, I am always on Google flights google.com/flights, as I find it easy to search for direct or connecting flights, compare pricing on a graph for particular aircraft and departing times etc. It also displays the best fare it can find online, including the airline directly. It’s a good opportunity to see if the airline can price match another competitor who has a better fare, to ensure you are sitting on the best online available deal.

Next, I’m thinking of where I can base myself for a short stay, somewhere that is in a great location. Somewhere that has a great product and shows amazing value, or bang for your buck. Easy to find somewhere throwing in brekky or a massage these days. If you look hard enough, you will stumble across some amazing bundled deals. I will let you know which websites cannot be beaten and are generally a safe option for booking.

I would like to point out, that 90% of the time, I find that the hotel or properties website is always the most competitive and, we here at TSLB like to spread the word, that you should book through their own official websites, as this helps the local operator and sales agent who recommended the product both earn better commissions. It’s simple math really. It’s the easiest and most reliable way to ensure your sitting on the best price.. and.. you are supporting local business and your intuitive and you are also supporting your hard working travel advisor who will change your rate if the hotel has a flash sale before you depart, bringing you more savings and value. And remember, by booking direct or with myself, your conditions are far better and have less limitations and cancellation fees for any voluntary or involuntary surprises that may occur in the lead up to, and whilst traveling away on your overseas holiday. Booking through the big sites comes with conditions almost all the time, and you need to factor these into your final decision when paying your deposit or full fare.

Without a doubt, these huge accommodation mega sites will be very attractive and competitive, sometimes even lower than the hotels website. Hotels don’t like this one bit. In February this year they were ordered by law in the UK to cease displaying rates lower than the properties direct website. They were also told to cease advertising misleading room categories at the top of search results and stop the hard sell and pushy tactics that are prominent in the US online mega agent’s marketing strategies.

To this day, they have slowly and surely, crept back to what they do best, and that is to undercut everyone in their paths with deals that they are making only a few pennies on. How do they make billions of dollars you ask? When you factor in how many bookings are being placed with these mega consortiums, it’s really all factored down to that. Volume of sales. The volume of bookings that they make and are capable of funneling through to the properties is very lucrative and highly attractive. They have turned the tables and they are now at the better end of the commission scale, leaving little or barely nothing for the tourism operator supplier, or leaving them with no other alternative, but to smile and bare the ‘fund cut’ and ‘duopoly’ that has been created from these mega mega bed sites.

One must remember that all these major online travel agencies are owned (or majority of sharehold) by one company (who own both Expedia Group and Booking Holdings) which is the umbrella listed company who own, booking® priceline®, Agoda®, Rentalcars® Kayak® and Opentable®. Expedia® Group owns, Hotels.com®, Expedia® Partner Solutions, Vrbo®, Trivago®, Orbitz®, Travelocity®, Hotwire®, Wotif®, ebookers®, CheapTickets®, Expedia Group™ Media Solutions, Expedia Local Expert®, CarRentals.com™, Expedia Cruises™ and Tripadvisor®and this is an American company, Blackstone Holdings.

Not one of these companies inspect their listed hotels, tours, cars etc. and are all undercutting the hotels best available rate, so the hotels are actually losing money, in particular Bali, where they take approximately 30% commission and all proceeds fund the US economy, leaving the balinese in a particularly vulnerable and dismantling situation. They do not support anyone who they sell.