First Glance

As you first arrive on EastyToBook it will appear like many other booking sites. The “Find Hotel Deals” section is prominently displayed to give the user a quick and easy way to find what they’re looking for. Thumbs up for making that easy, its surprising how few hotel booking websites tend to ignore that “ease of use” aspect. Whenever I’m looking at a website and considering if this is something I’ll share with family, I like to know that if need be I could phone the company. That extra assurance just builds trust, and reaffirms that there are real people behind EasyToBook, so if Grandpa or Grandma get lost, they’re always able to phone for help.

Safety in Numbers

As you scroll down the homepage, you’re given a massive number showing you exactly how many people have booked through EasyToBook. That numerical aspect can be make or break for me when it comes out to handing out credit card details online. In order for a company to completely gain my trust I like to know that I’m not their first customer. Directly below the “Safety in Numbers” field, you’re given a list of six reasons why EasyToBook is awesome. All seem to be great reasons, and the social media connection below that just aids in that “trust building factor”. Hats for this section guys!

Testing out the Hotel Search

Performing a quick search for Toronto, then Halifax, then Saskatchewan, I realized that EasyToBook has the ability to book hotels across Canada. This is a huge “essential” for me, given how many km’s I tack on across the country. As I pull up a search a fancy jquery type notification pops up informing me the last booking for this particular hotel was 10 days ago. Kind of a nice feature, and good looking to boot.

As I dive deeper into my search for a hotel I’m presented with an image gallery with countless photos of my “bed to be”. With their photo gallery I’m able to see the bedrooms, dining rooms, restaurantes, view from outside, the lobby, and convention centers attached to the hotel. Great feature if you ask me. My one beef is that I find the photos rather small. I’m a sucker for giant photos, and in this day and age, those extra pixels make all the difference. Eventually you get to the customer reviews, which are always a great addition when it comes to spending money wisely.

Getting my compare on

As I noodle my way through my search I get to the prices. They’re displayed in a clean colour coded table which makes it easy to ensure that I’m looking at the right price. The savings on these hotels appear to be pretty standard, while they’re not crazy expensive, they’re not giving them away either. Although I’m sure you’ll be hard pressed to find any hotel comparison website that is. I save one of my searches, and I’m pleasantly greeted by the fancy jquery again. My selection is saved along the bottom of the website in their “Compare” section.

Once I manage to find 3 hotels I’d consider booking, I hammer my cursor on the compare button, in hopes that the power of my click will somehow take off a few extra dollars. While unfortunately that didn’t happen, I was however, presented with a nice comparison chart. With a quick glance I was able to determine which hotels got the breakfast sausage out for its customers, and which are providing free wifi. Those little additions honestly do sway my decision. Wifi trumps all, but sausage and bacon is a very close second!

Proceeding to the checkout and paying is as simple as the rest of the website. EasyToBook pulled all the stops in order to make every step of the booking process as simple as humanly possible. While there’s a few little things I would change about the website (particularly just larger photos), all in all I feel if you can’t find what you’re looking for here, you probably won’t have much luck any place else. The hotel reviews were laid out beautifully, and information was a breeze to find. EasytoBook should be dishing out high fives to one another over what they’ve created.

What are the benefits of using EasyToBook.com?

• Very simple step by step process to booking your next hotel.
• Hotel prices are discounted up to 80% off, that’s a huge savings and in Canada, any extra help is worth looking into.
• They offer immediate confirmation with no hidden fees or extra charges
• Great comparison tool to evaluate which hotel can offer you more
• Read reviews of past customers to get a detailed view of what the hotel is like

Additional Info

Visit their website Easytobook.com
Follow them on twitter at @easytobook
Book over the phone at 1-877-346-3614
Read their travel blog

This review was sponsored by EasyToBook. If you’re interested in getting your website or product reviewed you can find out more here. I do these types of reviews in order pay the bills that come with running a website.

Travel Website Review: EasyToBook.com – Compare hotels and save! [Sponsored] is a post from: I Backpack Canada

Delta Hotels can be found all across Canada, so whether you’re hanging out on the West Coast beaches, touring through the Rockies, partying in the prairies, or pretending to be Drake in downtown Toronto, you shouldn’t have a problem tracking one down.

When it comes to entering contests, I can’t be bothered with long cumbersome surveys and such. So in an effort to keep it quick and simple, here’s how to win:

Guess my favourite Canadian animal!

Step 1: Take a guess & Leave your entry in the comments below
Step 2: Tweet Out: ”Guess @ibackpackcanada’s favourite Canadian animal & win one night at any @DeltaHotelsLTD or Resort! #Contest! http://goo.gl/5WRZI”

• If you’re not on twitter, head over to my Facebook Page and leave a comment on my wall

Rules

• Must be a legal Canadian citizen (sorry internationals, next time!)
• Must be age of legal majority in your Canadian province
• Contest closes November 11, 2011 at 11:59am ADT (Atlantic Daylight Time).
• Entries that have guessed correctly will be in the finals. A winner will then be chosen at random.

Are you a contest junkie?

Let the guessing begin! 

Update: Congrats goes out to Seattle Dredge, she is the lucky winner of one night at any Delta Hotel or Resort. For those of you who are dying to know, my favourite Canadian animal is the Polar Bear. Several people guessed correctly, those that guessed right were chosen at random using Random.org. Big thanks goes out to everyone who entered, and to the kind folks at Delta Hotels for sponsoring this contest.

Contest for Canadians – Score one FREE night stay at any Delta hotel or Resort! is a post from: I Backpack Canada

For art lovers wanting to take in the west coast from morning to night, the Listel Hotel may offer what you’re looking for. Its central location leaves you open to take in the sights & sounds of downtown Vancouver, while its abundance of Canadian art leaves you feeling as if your sleeping inside a museum. A surreal yet very cozy experience.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post; however, all reviews are honest portrayals of my time spent at the establishment.

Sleeping with West Coast Art in the Listel Hotel is a post from: I Backpack Canada

Travelgrove was established for travelers who are keen on finding the cheapest price, and the best information for their journey to any of the major city centres throughout the world. Their booking engine searches through the most popular booking websites such as Kayak, Orbitz, Travelocity, and Expedia, then allows you to compare the price of cheap flights from one website to another. On top of the money you can save on your flights, the guys at Travelgrove offer travel forums, hotels, car rentals, cruises, vacation packages, along with detailed travel guides.

On top of all these great services they offer, Travelgrove aims to provide a community feel to their website. Registered users are able to socialize with other users and provide travel tips, photos, and general advice through their community section. Be sure to search for me there, my username is Nibroc. Once you’ve got me added, feel free to browse through some of my photos and share any destinations you’d like me to check out.

Photo by purplepick

The booking process with Travelgrove is simple. Type in the first few letters of the city or airport you’re departing from, along with where you’re heading to, select the dates, and tick off other websites you would like Travelgrove to search through. Within seconds you’ve got a detailed list of flights and costs to go through. This can be a lifesaver for anyone in a hurry to catch a flight but wanting to find some great deals. If you don’t have any destination in mind, take a quick browse through their Deals section to see if anything sparks your interest.

For those considering backpacking Canada, I would highly recommend you check out their cheap flights to Toronto. I recently came across a round trip flight from New York to Toronto for $308. You’re saving over 50%, as those flights are typically way over $600. Toronto’s a great city to start off in Canada. It’s by far the most culturally diverse city we have. Find out for yourself, read through their Toronto travel guide to find out everything from its history, nightlife, popular sights, and browse through some sweet photos. You’ll be on your way in no time!

Save Big Bucks with Travelgrove is a post from: I Backpack Canada

Photo courtesy of Wili

For traveling couples, the thought of spending a night together in a hostel may not be the height of their romantic lifestyle. However, hotels have a tendency to be expensive. But if you do enough digging, you can find last minute hotel rooms for the cost of a double room in a hostel. Using RatesToGo, RedTag, or CAA,  you should have no problem finding a last minute hotel for under 70 dollars in any major city in Canada, however a little luck can make all the difference.

As a backpacker, it sometimes feels like cheating when you’re comfortable and have the ability to spread out in your own space. It’s way too easy to grow accustom to being in a cramped dorm. However, if you’ve been on the road for months, sometimes decompressing in a private room is all you need. I’ve personally used RedTag along with CAA several times without any problems. These hotel deals are fairly easy to find, you just need to set aside a few minutes to search through some websites to find the best deal, along with the best location.

Remember that if none of those engines turn up with any good deals, hostels and backpackers tend to have some good doubles and ensuites. However during the peak season you may notice they are booked up. So plan a couple days in advance just to be safe.

Last minute Hotel Deals in Canada is a post from: I Backpack Canada

How to cook a meal in your hotel room is a post from: I Backpack Canada

It may sound like a fairytale, or perhaps like a very cool hideout for Ewoks, but these spheres you can actually spend several nights in, suspended in the treeline, overlooking Vancouver Islands prestine forests. The Spheres, created by Tom Chudleigh, are an eco-friendly way of providing people with a place to live without damaging the forests. The owners provide all the information and materials to even build your own and start your own “Free Spirit Sphere Communities”. It might sound very “Tree-hugger-ish” but it’s actually a very cool idea. And one I would love to hang out in.

The spheres are equipped with all modern features a regular hotel has, including bathroom, kitchen, bed, power, etc. It’s like an architect took the idea of the best treehouse your Dad could have built, and injected it with pure uncut awesomeness. These spheres have gained a lot of momentum in the media lately. Tom has recently been in discussion regarding manufacturing the sphere’s under licence with several countries, including Sweden, UK, France, Argentina, and Costa Rica.

Costs start at $125.00 per night.
For more information on spending a night in the Free Spirit Tree Spheres click here

A big “Thank You” goes out to Carrie from My Several Worlds – She did a fantastic post on the Tree Spheres which inspired me to include this unusual hotel on i Backpack Canada.

Free Spirit Tree Spheres – A Hotel in A Sphere is a post from: I Backpack Canada