New hotel booking site is all about payback

It hurts when hotel prices drop after you’ve made your reservation. But now, thanks to a new booking website, it doesn’t have to.

Tingo, a Smarter Travel Media company, is a hybrid consumer advocate-travel agent: Book a room on the site, which taps into Expedia’s worldwide inventory, and it will track price fluctuations until 24 hours before check-in. If the rate falls, it will rebook the reservation and reimburse you the difference a few days after checkout.

In a sample test by the company, the price for two nights booked Jan. 27 for a Feb. 23 stay at Wynn Las Vegas fell by $519. Other refunds included $35.13 at a Hilton Head, S.C., property and almost $23 for a Laguna Beach, Calif., hotel.

George Hobica, a company spokesman, said that about 95 percent of the hotels are eligible (look for the “Money Back!” logo beside the property listing). And you can save more money by booking farther ahead. According to a company test, on two-night stays from September through January, 40 percent of bookings made a month out yielded savings ($53 on average); the rate was 30 percent on bookings two weeks out ($36) and 15 percent a week out ($20). Info: 888-897-0887, www.tingo.com.

At last weekend’s Travel and Adventure Show in Washington, 220 vendors dangled dream vacations before almost 17,000 visitors. A day before the expo, we hit up John Golicz, chief executive of event organizer Unicomm, for travel trends. His picks:

Experiential travel, especially trips emphasizing cultural and culinary interactions.

“It” destinations: Brazil, Turkey, Argentina and Central America.