NEWS from AAA Oklahoma, Feb. 8 – A survey of major online travel booking Web sites has found that www.AAA.com offered AAA members the best publicly available rates on hotel rooms 69 percent of the time.

The study was conducted by PhoCusWright in December 2007 and compared rates on AAA.com to Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz and AARP. AAA.com had the lowest rates 69 percent of the time for the 93 partner hotels included in the study, followed by AARP, 14 percent; Travelocity, 13 percent; Orbitz, 10 percent and Expedia 9 percent. Percentages included same-rate results.

The online audit reviewed rates for leisure travel to top destinations for same dates of stay in a standard double room at 300 AAA Diamond-rated properties throughout the U.S. and Canada. It excluded corporate, military, government and industry discount rates.

“While no site can claim to offer the best rate every time, visitors to AAA.com are much more likely to find a better rate than visitors to Orbitz or Expedia,” said Chuck Mai, spokesman for AAA Oklahoma. 

AAA.com also allows AAA members access to searchable TourBook® travel guides, containing AAA’s Diamond ratings for hotels and restaurants
throughout North America, as well as to AAA’s TripTik® Travel Planner, an interactive mapping, routing and travel planning tool, available free at AAA.com.

By going to AAA.com/save, members can view the list of AAA’s Show Your Card & Save® program participants and locations. There are more than 150,000 shops and businesses worldwide, such as Target.com and Payless ShoeSource, that offer members discounts on merchandise and services.

As North America’s largest motoring and leisure travel organization, AAA provides its nearly 51 million members (325,000 in Oklahoma) with travel, insurance, financial and automotive-related services. Since its founding in 1902, the not-for-profit, fully tax-paying AAA has been a leader and advocate for the safety and security of all travelers.  AAA Oklahoma can be visited on the Internet at www.AAA.com.