Rapid Travel Chai

Local airlines and local hotels throughout the world often escape the reach of global or US booking engines. Seemingly every region and country is represented by local travel booking sites of varying quality. Southeast Asia has some solid choices that The Rapid Traveler has used with success. There no doubt are others, but these are a good start:

Zuji: now owned by Travelocity, with local sites in Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia, and Travelocity partners in New Zealand and India. The broad selection one expects from Travelocity, with good local focus and lots of deals.

Asia Rooms: exhaustive hotel listings and information. Good prices.

utiket: courtesy of The Wandering Aramean, his go-to Southeast Asia flight tool is utiket for including the often stellar budget airlines of Southeast Asia, including The Rapid Traveler’s favorite, Air Asia.

Air Asia planes at Kuala Lumpur, ready for dawn

With local promotions still typical in Southeast Asia, even when booking global airlines and hotel chains it is worth cross-checking these local sources for the best deal.

Readers, what Southeast Asia booking tools do you recommend or avoid?

Brunei Air's pre-flight blessing