Travel Deal of the Day (March 28, 2008)

If you are renting a car, you probably already know to inquire whether any membership clubs offer discounts on your car rental. But, I have recently noticed that car rental companies are offering vastly different discounts for each membership club.

The Deal:
When checking rates for a car rental, be sure to check rates using the discounts available from all possible membership clubs (AAA, American Bar Association, Costco, Sam’s Club, BJ’s Wholesale, Airline Frequent Flyer Club, Hotel Chain Frequent Guest Club, AARP, Union Membership, American Medical Association…). The discounts vary dramatically. Quite often, the amount of the discount and the base (pre-discount) rate vary based on the club. For instance, a recent quotation I received involved a rate quoted with a AAA discount – the rate itself and the discount (33% off) were far superior than another other discount.

Travel Deal of the Day (March 25, 2008)

Starwood is offering a third night free promotion at many of its Washington, DC area hotels.

The Deal:
Starwood is offering a third night free for hotels in Washington, DC as well as nearby hotels in Maryland and Virginia. Rates are valid until the end of May 2008.

How:
Go the Starwood Washington Third Night Free Deal.

The Inside Scoop:
Be sure to check standard rates for all three nights to ensure that the third night free rate is actually saving you money for your chosen hotel.

Travel Deal of the Day (March 24, 2008)

Today’s “Deal” is not so much a deal – rather it is a tip that will save you latter hassles and hopefully save you money.

The Deal:
If your passport is expiring soon or has recently expired, apply for a new passport right now. As the summer travel season arrives, more people will apply for passports. We are still early enough in the year that you can minimize your hassles by applying for a passport right now. If you wait until June, you will likely face much longer waits as there will be far more passports in the "queue" (mostly people with summer travel plans).

Travel Deal of the Day (March 21, 2008)

If you are flying into Newark Airport for a trip to New York City, National Car Rental has been running a special to transport cars from Newark into New York City that will allow you to obtain a one-way rental at a low price.

The Deal:
Get a one-way car rental from Newark Airport to New York City for $25/day for up to a full-size car. Rates are also valid for one-way rentals from New York City to Newark.

How:
Go to the National Newark One-Way Deal.

Travel Deal of the Day (March 19, 2008)

With the economy slowing, be on the lookout for deals on hotels.

The Deal:
During the boom of the last few years, hotels had been experiencing extremely high demand, causing hotel prices to increase at a rate that was greater than inflation. Many hotels in leisure destinations are now either reducing the rate of increase in hotel rates or actually decreasing rates. One prime example are luxury-level hotels in Hawaii. Hawaiian hotels had been increasing rates at a breakneck pace over the past few years. I have noticed that many luxury hotels this year have either frozen rates or dramatically reduced the increase in rates. If you are in a position to travel on a vacation this year, be aware that deals should be more commonplace. Negotiate with the hotel more and look for more AAA, ABA. Entertainment and other discounts. In addition, Priceline and Hotwire should have access to more rooms at very competitive rates.

Travel Deal of the Day (March 14, 2008)

Do you want to use miles for an airline trip - watch for new service announcements, especially regarding new overseas flights.

The Deal:
As has been discussed previously in this blog, it is often challenging to find airline seats available using frequent flyer mileage. One tip that cannot be emphasized enough is to watch for new service announcements by airlines and book your travel on those routes using your frequent flyer mileage. When an airline offers new service, it suddenly has to fill all of its seats, often will very little lead time. In such cases, the airlines frequently make a higher than average number of “free seats” (seats that can be booked using frequent flyer mileage) available. Keep an eye out for press releases regarding new service introductions, and use this as your cue to book a free ticket on those routes.

Travel Deal of the Day (March 11, 2008)

When you are checking out of a hotel room, many people do not look over each charge on the final bill and assume the accuracy of the charges. Even if you do review the charges, you can often miss small surcharges that are added to your hotel bill. Because small surcharges are becoming increasingly commonplace, it is more important than ever to check your hotel bill very closely before checking out of your room.

The Deal:
When you check out of a hotel room, review each charge on your hotel bill. Many hotels will now try to add surcharges to your hotel bill – from resort fees to energy surcharges to activity fees. While the hotel may state that some charges are “mandatory,” you should at least question each charge at check-out to obtain more information about the charge. Better yet, question when such charges exist at check-in and decline the amenities associated with the “resort fee” (or other similar fee) in exchange for not being charged that fee.

Travel Deal of the Day (March 10, 2008)

If you are using frequent flyer miles and you only need to fly one-way, think twice before cashing in your miles.

The Deal:
On most airlines, a one-way trip booked with miles will cost the same number of miles as a round-trip ticket. If you are planning on using miles for a one-way ticket, think about other places you might travel in the next year and possibly book your “return” segment for that potential trip. For instance, if I know I will need to fly one-way from New York to Los Angeles in a month and I want to use miles for that trip, it will likely cost me the same number of miles to book that one-way trip or to book a round-trip or an open-jaw itinerary (where you fly out of one city but return into a different city). In this scenario, if I know that I may fly from Los Angeles to New York sometime in the next year or even from Los Angeles to Miami, then I can book a New York-Los Angeles-New York or even a New York-Los Angeles-Miami trip (or possibly a New York-Los Angeles/San Francisco-New York) for the same number of miles. By doing this, you are maximizing your frequent flyer mileage usage.

Travel Deal of the Day (March 6, 2008)

Carriers are frequently running mileage specials for routes that are less full. Keep on the lookout for such promotions.

The Deal:
As noted previously in this blog, there are often specials allowing customers to use reduced frequent flyer mileage amounts for free travel. A recent example is the deal American Airlines is still running for 15,000 miles each way from New York to Tahiti. Such specials are commonly available on airline websites. Be sure to check each airline website under the “Specials” section to find such deals.

The Inside Scoop:
The fact that there are often deals allowing you to use frequent flyer mileage for discounted amounts is yet another reason why the standard 25,000 mileage award for a simple (less than $300) domestic roundtrip is likely a bad use of your mileage.

Travel Deal of the Day (March 4, 2008)

The next few entries will relate to usage of frequent flyer points. Today, I will discuss an added option available when redeeming miles for an airline ticket – stopovers.

The Deal:
When redeeming your airline frequent flyer points for a free ticket, many people forget and/or ignore the fact that they are allowed a free stopover on most award itineraries. Some carriers require that the stopover occur in a natural connection point (i.e. the city where you would be forced to connect on that carrier to get from your origin to your destination), but other carriers have extremely generous rules for stopovers, allowing you to stop in a highly circuitous location. For instance, some carriers on domestic awards allow you to stop in any city in the Continental US on the way to your destination or coming home from your destination. Adding a stopover to your award itinerary can really add value to the miles you have redeemed – for instance, if you are flying from the East Coast to Hawaii, you may be able to enjoy a long weekend in the Bay Area of California and then proceed onto Hawaii. Or, you may be able to fly from Texas to Maine but have a stopover in Las Vegas for a few days. Check with your airline's frequent flyer award customer service department to verify the exact stopover rules that apply.

How:
One thing to note about adding a stopover to your award itinerary, you usually must call the airline (rather than using the airline’s website) to book an itinerary with a stopover. Nonetheless, if you like to get the most out of your miles, adding a stopover can really provide extra value

Travel Deal of the Day (March 3, 2008)

LastMinute.com (formerly Site59.com) is offering $50 off of air and hotel packages.

The Deal:
LastMinute.com allows you to purchase travel packages at highly reduced rates, normally within 2-3 weeks of your intended travel date. You should compare the prices found on the site with other travel providers – often the airfare and car packages are cheaper than just the price of the airfare alone if booked on other websites. LastMinute.com is now offering $50 off of air and hotel packages booked by April 30, 2008.

How:
Go to LastMinute.com and use the promotion code “LSTSECDL30” when booking an air and hotel package.