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Love the online quest for a sweet deal on airfare or hotel rooms? You may be wasting your time

A Delta Connection plane.
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Are you one of those travelers who scours the web, checking for the very best prices on all of the travel sites, big and small?

How much time does it take to find that "best" airfare or hotel room price?

Detroit Free Press travel writer Ellen Creager says if you're just looking for a hotel room or airfare, there really is no point spending hours comparing deals, because the travel sites have all turned into something she calls "inbred goldfish." 

"Let's say Expedia. They own hotels.com, Hotwire, Venere and TravelTicker. Priceline owns Kayak and booking.com. And Sabre Holdings owns Travelocity but they just firmed out their search to Expedia ... they all have ties and links to each other," says Creager.

For those of you who are hunting for travel bargains around the Web, Creager suggests keep looking, just don't spend too much time looking. 

"You can check 100 places, and you are basically going to find the exact same fare," says Creager.

* Listen to the interview with Ellen Creager above.

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