Microsoft Bing” launched as a brand new travel search engine on June 1st. My initial reaction was that we need another travel search site like we need a hole in the head. Providers like Orbitz, Travelocity, and Expedia are already battling for market share by lowering or eliminating booking fees altogether, driving down their profitability and making it difficult to succeed in an already saturated industry. At least that’s what I thought until I actually tried the site.
Bing is different. Like other search engines, it “scrapes” data from hundreds of travel web sites worldwide to aggregate information about airfares and hotels. But it also offers some interesting services that others do not. Their Price Predictor shows if airfares are rising or dropping over the next seven days and provides a recommendation to buy now or buy later. Bing’s Rate Indicator compares each individual hotel’s current rate to its observed historical rates and indicates whether or not today’s rate for a specific hotel is a deal.This service is available from most major U.S. and Canadian cities for destinations worldwide.
It also provides a flexible search tool that compares fares for flights departing within a 30-day range. You can even set up a fare alert – Bing will notify you of the latest low fares for your selected trip. Perhaps most importantly, once you find the airfare or hotel that’s right for you and select it, Bing steps aside and lets you book it directly on the provider’s web site.
Additionally, Bing has a destination area where you can research potential vacation spots, as well as a Travel Blog, with content povided by some of the best travel writers in the industry. Check it out; I’m sure you’ll agree it’s head and shoulders above the rest.
I use Bing and Google whenever i want to find something on the internet. I think that both search engines are very good. ‘
I use both Bing and Google search engine and i don’t see much difference in their search results. I use google for searching hard to find academic topics and Bing for general search.
i am using both Bing and Google and i think both search engines give relevant search results. i would still prefer Google though, because it gives a little bit more relevant search results than Bing.
Thanks for info, bookmarked..
Bing does give search results much like Google but i would have to say that Google still gives more relevant search results.
I like their Price Predictor that shows if airfares are rising or dropping.
i have been evaluating the search results of Microsoft Bing compared to Google and they are comparable. Bing gives almost the same relevant search results just like Google.
Microsoft Bing would be the closet competitor of Google. but i still use Google because it shows more relevant results on the serp.
Bing doesnt look that much better than msns engine when you see the results are just a clone.I hope they sort it out longterm.
Interesting article on Bing the newly launched.
Great tip, Barb! I just bookmarked it!