I can’t eat ice cream without whipped cream or chocolate sauce and I can’t book an airline ticket without booking a flight or hotel. Often, you can obtain extra discounts if you book a hotel room and/or car rental along with your flight. Car rental rates are roughly the same throughout most package sites, some sites may offer meager savings compared to other sites, but overall rental rates don’t drastically change the package price.

But, different sites offer varying deals with certain hotel chains. If you know what hotel you want this becomes quite easy, just visit the sites and compare prices. But if not, then you need to figure out what kind of hotel you want before you search, otherwise you will be inundated with prices for hotels you don’t want, and it can make your search more difficult. Sites such as TripAdvisor offer reviews of hotels to help, but this does take a bit of sleuthing to find the right hotel.

Sometimes, the best location to book is through the airline. If you’re looking for last-minute packages (booked less than two weeks out), try the Last-Minute Travel section. Most airlines have dedicated package Web sites separate from their primary airline ticket-booking site such as http://www.unitedvacations.com. Don’t let the name throw you; packages bought through airlines can save you money on trips to all sorts of cities beyond vacation hotspots like Las Vegas and Orlando. Airline package sites typically don’t charge a fee for its services, though airline package sites don’t always offer the best deal.

Other sites such as Expedia, Orbitz, and Travelocity also sell packages. These sites do charge a fee, but sell packages at competitive prices since all three have deals with certain hotel chains, allowing you to save if you book certain packages. These three sell more packages than any other third-party site, but other sites also sell packages, so don’t be shy to check other sites. Expedia, Orbitz, and Travelocity offer customizable vacation packages, where you can pick any dates, any flight, and any hotel, and you may be able to save a few bucks. But, these sites aren’t created equal, so read the descriptions below for more info.

Sites such as 11th Hour Vacations or Apple Vacations offer less-flexible packages that can be cheaper, but offer few customizable options. Most of these packages are to resorts in Hawaii, Mexico, Florida, or the Caribbean, there isn't much variety and if you're looking for a cheap airfare, vacation resellers typically aren't the best places to find it. Many vacation resellers only sell packages to certain destinations that depart on certain days of the week, most often Saturday for week-long vacations. While this type of restriction decreases the appeal of packages for some consumers, it lowers cost for resorts and the package providers. One way it does this is that Saturdays are one of the less-traveled days of the week, so package providers are able to purchase airfare for less on Saturdays than on Fridays or Sundays. For some vacationers, these sites can provide great value, but for most vacationers, they don't provide enough options.

Expedia: Expedia.com offers very few unique or interesting features that will help you get a great price or great value from your vacation. The site offers many of the same deals as Orbitz and Travelocity and doesn’t offer great values often enough. While the site can offer good deals, all too often it fails to do so. Perhaps the only good thing about Expedia is that its parent company partially owns Hotwire.com, which does offer good values on tickets and packages alike.

Orbitz: Orbitz.com was founded by a group of airlines that wanted to harness the power of the internet by offering their lowest fares through Orbitz. As the airlines began selling tickets through their own sites, they eventually undercut Orbitz’s prices, and Orbitz soon became the expensive place to buy tickets. But today, Orbitz offers good values on vacation packages. Like Expedia, though, Orbitz doesn’t offer enough discounts and deals to make it a must-search Web site. But, Orbitz offers a number of features that enhance the value of your trip, such as automatic text or voice alerts to friends or clients if your flight is late as part of its TLC program.

Travelocity: I find Travelocity.com to be the best package site for a few reasons. First, the interface is really easy to use for those who are confused by booking your flight and hotel together. Travelocity pre-selects your flight and displays a long list of hotels immediately, removing a step from the process. Second, I’ve found that Travelocity has the best selection of hotels in key vacation and business markets out of any third-party travel site. Third, Travelocity offers great last minute travel deals on its Web site or through its Site59 or lastminute.com brands. Travelocity is by no means the cheapest place to search for packages all the time, but you will be more likely to find what you’re looking for and at the right price at Travelocity than at Expedia or Orbitz.

Apple Vacations: Apple Vacations is a good example of a vacation package reseller. Apple offers deals on packages to sunny destinations across North America. Apple sells packages, and as part of some packages, the company even charters its own aircraft to destinations like Cancun, which is cheaper for the company and consequently cheaper for you. Even though Apple's vacation search mechanism doesn't appear restricted to certain days of the week, the best value for Apple packages can only be found on certain day of the week at certain resorts that Apple partners with. Like with any vacation package search, search multiple sites before you book your package, otherwise you'll likely pay too much.

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