'Custom' vacation deals on Net

The Web's big three travel sites — Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity — have long offered vacation deals on prepackaged air, hotel and automobile reservations. But now they're offering "custom" packages that let you pick your airline, flight time, hotel, rental-car company and type of car, and still enjoy big savings.

Expedia, for example, recently offered a five-night getaway to the Renaissance Wailea Beach Resort in Maui, Hawaii, including two round-trip tickets from Denver for $2,487 — $770 less than booking the room and tickets separately on the site. Plus, Expedia's package was $390 cheaper than the lowest airfare and hotel rate that we could find at other sites and by contacting the hotel and airline — with reasonable layovers. To book a custom package, click on the "Vacation" or "Vacation Packages" tab on the travel site's home page.

Expect to find the best deals for domestic and Caribbean destinations — you'll do even better by including a Saturday-night stay. We also found that midweek departures are often cheaper for such popular vacation spots as Las Vegas.

Don't assume that the package price will always give you the best deal. For example, overseas travelers should book pieces separately because custom packages to international destinations do not usually offer sizable discounts.

Some features to look for: Expedia pioneered custom packages in 2001. The site lets you mix and match hotels, flights and rental cars. And Expedia has a new feature to help customers judge a package's price. After the site pairs up pieces of travel — say, a flight and a hotel room — you'll see a box labeled "Your Savings." If buying a package instead of buying the ticket and room separately will save you money, a "Details" link will appear in the box. Clicking on the link shows how much you'll save. If you don't see the "Details" link, you can nab a better deal by buying a la carte.

Orbitz introduced its custom packages in 2003. You can pair a flight with a room, or a room with a car rental. The agency says that by early spring it will let customers add rental cars to flight-and-hotel packages. Orbitz offers a one-page grid that lists airlines and hotels with the total prices placed side by side. A similar grid matches car rentals and hotels.

Travelocity launched its custom packages for flights and hotels in 2003, and added rental cars last fall. Its package features work the same as Expedia's — minus the "Details" link.