Part of planning a holiday is finding the best deals, whether that be for flights or the accommodation, and there are plenty of comparison websites around to help keen travellers.
They can be handy for pinpointing direct routes to locations, or for showing the range of places to stay in an area.
New research by Which? delves into 12 comparison sites to identify the best for planning your flights and hotels, and the ones that might not be as useful.
The study considered several factors including site functionality, the range of booking options, cheap rates and transparency and accuracy to formulate a total overall score.
For flights specifically, Skyscanner came out top with 81 per cent, rating five out of five for both site functionality and transparency and accuracy.
Which? declared it as the ‘easiest to use’ out of all the sites tested.
Skyscanner also displays ratings for the booking sites it lists to help customers pick the best.
Which? did note the website doesn’t show as many options as Google Flights, which came second with 79 per cent, but noted ‘the fares were almost as cheap’.
New research by Which? delves into 12 comparison sites to identify the best for planning your flights and hotels, and the ones that might not be as useful (stock)
Overall, the consumer champion’s described Skyscanner as ‘a really user-friendly site that will help you easily find the best flight for you’.
However, not all the comparison sites came out so strong, and Jetcost ranked the worst – in sixth place – for flights scoring just 49 per cent.
Jetcost produced the cheapest fares most frequently for 30 different journeys but they were often provided by booking sites Which? was not familiar with.
What’s more, some of the sites had negative reviews from users who claimed they had to pay more for the ticket than what was advertised through Jetcost.
Although it scored four out of five for cheap rates, it was consistently low on site functionality, booking options and transparency and accuracy.
Which?’s final verdict on Jetcost reads, ‘We wouldn’t use some sites it links to, and we don’t recommend you do either.’
A spokesperson for Jetcost told Which?: ‘Our priority is to make travel comparisons as clear and trustworthy as possible.’
They added that it has a ‘strong ongoing commitment to setting a high bar for clarity, usability, and fairness in travel comparison’.
For flights specifically, Skyscanner came out top with 81 per cent, rating five out of five for both site functionality and transparency and accuracy
Meanwhile, in the hotel comparison site rankings Cozycozy came last, in sixth place.
It scored 54 per cent and ranked particularly low for site functionality and booking options.
Though it did score three stars for cheap rates and four for transparency and accuracy.
Cozycozy also didn’t offer the Which? researchers the option to book directly with the hotels very often, and the consumer champion’s verdict overall was ‘don’t bother’.
The Daily Mail approached CozyCozy for comment.
Kayak placed fifth for both flights and hotels, scoring 73 per cent for its plane journey comparisons and 55 per cent for its accommodation options.
The Daily Mail approached Kayak for comment.
Google Hotels ranked first for the hotel comparisons, scoring 79 per cent, and was praised by Which? for being ‘excellent on price’.
Which? did note the website doesn’t show as many options as Google Flights, which came second with 79 per cent, but noted ‘the fares were almost as cheap’
But it did note that the price advertised wasn’t always the same as when the testers went to book.
Google Hotels was followed by Skyscanner in second place with 65 per cent.
Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said: ‘Some of these comparison sites will make it harder, not easier to find the cheapest price for a hotel or flight, so it’s worth thinking carefully about which one you use to make sure you really are getting a bargain.
‘The best comparison sites let you book your flights and hotels directly. We always recommend holidaymakers do this as it offers greater protection should something go wrong, and is often better value too.’
