JEN LEO
Sun
The travel section of Bing (www.bing.com/travel) is one of the major upsides to Microsoft’s new search engine.
The level of integration within the search feature makes shopping for travel a more informed experience from the first click — reducing the number of steps between you and a fully booked trip.
So when Microsoft calls itself a “decision” engine, it makes sense.
What’s hot: Bing Travel combines Farecast flight and hotel information with Microsoft editorial content.
You don’t have to be within Bing Travel to access handy travel information.
From the main Bing search area (www.bing.com), type in the airport codes of your departure and destination airports and watch as reservation numbers pop up along with a sample price and links to a 30-day outlook or deals.
To compare with Google, when you run the same search you get links to specific Web sites or blog posts. Use the “airfare deals” tab within Bing. com/ travel to find low fares across the board. I found a $ 486 round-trip ticket between Los Angeles International Airport or Seattle and Rome in the fall (including tax).
What’s not: The hotel section has a terrific, easy-to-use user interface — with tabs to sort the search results from the top and search refinement by amenities, price or distance on the left. It even offers historical prices so you can evaluate the deal for yourself. However, in my searches for “Vegas hotels,” I discovered that the deals promoted did not match once I clicked through to the third-party site. For example, a $129 deal at the Venetian turned into $159 after I clicked through. Also, when I searched for a hotel I planned to book, no phone number was listed.