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There is absolutely nothing wrong with using travel portals, but you still can't assume that any given site is offering you the best possible deal. Let's go over a few things that Priceline, Travelocity, Expedia and Orbitz would probably prefer that you don't know.

New travel website RoomKey.com launched earlier this week, offering to hunt through the available hotel rooms across several chains and find you the best deals. But with so many similar websites out there, how can it expect to compete? Well, guess who's running it.

The world's leading search engine has begun pushing its own flight search feature ahead of other organic results. Punch in "MIA to LGA" in a Google box, and the first thing you'll see after a shaded box of sponsored search results is Big G's own comparison engine. Only later do you see third-party providers, which are naturally unhappy about that.

By the end of 2012, one-third of the world's travel sales will be booked online. But the majority of bookings still happen through the traditional brick-and-mortar travel agents, which is why Expedia's new Travel Agent Affiliate Program is a smart growth move for the OTA.

Officials for some large U.S. cities are claiming that online travel agencies such as Expedia and Priceline are collecting hotel occupancy taxes from consumers, but not forwarding the full amount to governments. If the OTAs are forced to pass that tax money on, what will it do to their profits?

Priceline is adding new features to allow its customers to be alerted when certain pre-set criteria are reached, yet another move by an online travel agency to personalize itself for its customers. Read what stock analysis firm Trefis sees as the future for Priceline -- and for its stock.

Priceline recently announced a partnership with Asian low-cost carrier Jetstar Airways: Now, Priceline will provide bookings at thousands of Asian hotel properties on Jetstar's website. The potential gains from the deal should move the needle on Priceline's stock.

Online travel portal Expedia began doing business in India almost two years ago, and is now scaling up operations there. By forming partnerships with local suppliers, Expedia hopes to jump to fourth place in the market in less than a year. Here's how it plans to go about it.

Long disdained as overpriced, TravelZoo might be a promising investment for the brave at heart. Based on most indicators, the stock seems to have a bright future, and its Groupon-style business model suggests considerable growth potential.

It's time to celebrate, kids. For many of you, spring break is just around the corner. Great news, unless you were so busy with school (or partying) that you didn't make plans. But so long as you have a bit of cash saved up, you actually can get away for spring break. Expedia, Travelocity and...