Visalia Direct: Virtual Valley August 2007 Issue July 12, 2007 Virtually Stranded: Booking Trips Online Not Perfect Half of all long-distance trips and vacations in the United States are planned online, according to Forrester Research analyst Henry Harteveldt. I’m among the Americans who has booked flights, reserved hotel rooms, and arranged car rental online. I’ve even made dinner reservations online. Harteveldt recently told the New York Times that 77 million Americans taking trips in 2007 will buy their airline tickets and book hotel rooms online this year, up from 62.4 million in 2005. By 2009, online travel spending in the U.S. alone is projected to reach $110.5 billion — making it the leading form of e-commerce. Travelocity, Priceline, Expedia, Orbitz, and HotWire dominate the online business. I’ve used Priceline and HotWire, but I have found that booking directly with airlines was often cheaper. In the last few years, I have flown with American, Frontier, Alaska/Horizo
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