Travel Deal of the Day (February 29, 2008)

Mandalay Bay and Bellagio are offering spring deals on rooms in Las Vegas.

The Deal:
Get a room at Mandalay Bay starting at $109/night and a suite starting at $139/night, or get a room at Bellagio starting at $179/night. Both these deals appear to be valid for March and April 2008.

How:
Go to the Mandalay Bay Deal or the Bellagio Deal.

Travel Deal of the Day (February 27, 2008)

If you are a fan of spas, you likely know they can be very expensive. There is one great way to cut down on the cost of some spas.

The Deal:
Costco is selling (to Costco members) prepaid gift cards for spas participating in the “SpaFinder” network. Costco sells the cards (valued at $100) for $80. If you anticipate using a spa in your hometown or on your next vacation, it will save you money if you verify whether your favorite spa participates in the program and, if so, purchase the prepaid cards.

How:
To find the spas that participate, go to SpaFinder. To find the Costco deal, go to Costco.

Travel Deal of the Day (February 22, 2008)

Various Fairmont Hotels and Resorts are offering bonus United Mileage Plus miles for stays of at least two nights.

The Deal:
Earn 500 base United Mileage Plus miles plus 1,000 Mileage Plus miles for each night of your stay at a Fairmont Hotel or Resort (minimum two nights).

How:
Go to the Fairmont/United Mileage Plus Deal.

Travel Deal of the Day (February 21, 2008)

If you are free the first weekend of March and would be interested in going to Hawaii that weekend, American Airlines has quite a deal.

The Deal:
American Airlines is offering fares between Los Angeles and Honolulu for $83/way plus tax. The fares are valid for travel February 29 through March 4. Outbound travel is valid 7PM February 29 through midnight March 1. Return travel must occur on March 3 or 4.

How:
Go to www.aa.com.

Travel Deal of the Day (February 20, 2008)

Mandalay Bay is offering a sale on rooms valid through April 2008.

The Deal:
Mandalay Bay is offering rooms starting at $109/night and suites starting at $139/night through the peak spring break season. Rates vary based on hotel availability.

How:
Go to the Mandalay Bay Deal.

Travel Deal of the Day (February 19, 2008)

In November 2006, I discussed the Hyatt Stay Certificate program. The program allows you to purchase certificates that are accepted at Hyatt Hotels worldwide. The cost of the certificates is often lower than the room rate of many Hyatt hotels. The rates of the certificates depend upon the average prices of hotel rooms at the hotels. Hyatt has now changed from four categories of hotels to five categories of hotels. The most expensive certificate is now $319/night. Despite the price increase, the Stay Certificates can still be a deal. Even at $319/night, the most expensive certificates are still a good deal in the most expensive cities, especially during high occupancy time periods. The lower priced certificates are often a deal, especially the lowest price level hotels (certificates still only $99/night). For more information, see my prior post at this link (see bottom of page) to find out about these certificates. Be sure to note that the list of hotels now includes an “Inspire” level of hotels (certificates at this level cost $319/night).

Travel Deal of the Day (February 14, 2008)

The recent bad weather in the Northeast and Midwest forced many airline cancellations. As has been mentioned in the past in this blog, bad weather brings very lenient airline and hotel cancellation policies, even on the most restrictive fares.

When bad weather occurs, most airlines and some hotels offer to waive cancellation fees even on the most restrictive fares/rates. Most airlines will allow you to change the date of your ticket (within a limited range of dates) or use the value of your ticket towards a completely new ticket even if your flight is not cancelled. If your flight is cancelled, most airlines will refund your fare, even if the ticket was a non-refundable ticket. Hotels will often waive the cancellation fee or allow you to change your dates when especially extreme weather occurs at the location of your hotel (or even, in some situations, at your home location when you are traveling from your home to that hotel).

Travel Deal of the Day (February 13, 2008)

If you are traveling abroad without an international cell phone and you anticipate making calls back to the US, consider buying a phone card in your international destination instead of bringing a phone card from the US.

The Deal:
Phone cards in international destinations are now available on almost every street corner. Ten years ago, the best suggestion for making calls from an international destination to the US was to obtain a low-cost calling card from a store such as CostCo or Sam’s Club to use at your international destination. Now, you may find much cheaper cards abroad. It still does not hurt to have a single phone card from a US discount store so that you have such a card if the need arises. But you will often save money using a phone card from a corner store in an international destination. One thing to note – you should only buy a reasonably low dollar value card in case the card (for whatever reason) does not work.

Travel Deal of the Day (February 12, 2008)

If you have used your credit card abroad recently, you may have noticed that you will have a “foreign currency conversion” fee on your card when you make purchases in a foreign currency. Most cards charge you a 3% fee for converting the amount of your purchase (designated in a foreign currency) back into US Dollars. Did you know that this fee varies from card to card? If you are anticipating traveling abroad, you should check into the fee charged by your current card. If you anticipate traveling extensively and making a large amount of charges abroad, you may also want to look into the cards that charge no foreign currency conversion fee. Use websites such as BankRate.com to find out about your options.

Travel Deal of the Day (February 11, 2008)

National is offering $30 off of a weekly car rental through June 2008.

The Deal:
Receive $30 off of a weekly rental when renting a compact through luxury-level car (also includes minivans or SUVs) from National Car Rental. The discount is valid until June 2008 and require a Saturday night stay and a rental of at least five nights.

How:
Go to the National Car Rental Deal.

Travel Deal of the Day (February 7, 2008)

If you are looking to take a trip during the days before President's Day Weekend, consider going to Las Vegas.

The Deal:
Mandalay Bay is offering suites for $109/night during weekdays next week (2/10 through 2/14) and $159/night during weekend nights this weekend and next weekend (2/8, 2/9, 2/15, 2/16). Technically, the rate entitles you to a basic room, but the rate includes a free suite upgrade (based on availability).

How:
Go to the Mandalay Bay Deal.

Travel Deal of the Day (February 6, 2008)

Many travel-related companies have begun offering "honeymoon registries" to engaged couples looking to plan a honeymoon. Usually, these registries are offered either by hotel chains (such as Starwood or Marriott) for stays at that hotel chain during your honeymoon or by a travel agency. While this idea may sound good in theory, I would encourage an engaged couple to weigh the following factors before setting one of these registries up:

(1) Flexibility: How flexible is the registry? Can the registry be used for more than just room and meals? How about activities? Can an unused balance be used for stays by a relative or friend? Can it only be used at certain hotels? (If you choose a certain hotel chain, you are tied into only that hotel chain's hotels. What if it turns out you do not like the hotels offered by that hotel chain in the location you end up selecting for your honeymoon? Worse yet, what if that hotel chain has no hotels where you are traveling?)

(2) Time Period/Expiration: When does the money in your honeymoon registry expire? Are there fees after a time period that reduce the value of a remaining balance?

(3) Financial Stability: How financially stable is the company that is setting up the registry? (If the company goes out of business or has some other major financial difficulty, you likely lose all of the money put in your registry.)

Overall, I think formal "honeymoon registries" have the potential to reduce your overall flexibility and require you to stay with a certain chain of hotels or with hotels offered by a single travel agency. Registries offered by a hotel chain require you to stay only with that hotel chain. Registries by a single travel agency require you to book only with that travel agency - while the agency may have access to a wide variety of hotels, you may receive far higher prices when booking with that particular travel agency (versus purchasing your travel via some other method).

The best idea is to set up an account that would allow your guests to give you cash that is not tied into one company. See if your bank or credit union has a program that would allow guests to fund a "honeymoon" account. If you decide you must have a traditional "honeymoon registry," be sure to investigate all the restrictions.

Travel Deal of the Day (February 4, 2008)

Manhattan hotels are very expensive. I believe that Priceline and Hotwire offer the best deals (when available) for four star hotels in Manhattan. With Priceline and Hotwire, you must accept the fact that you may end up at one of a number of hotels within a zone. If that kind of uncertainty does not work for you, here is a deal for quite a few nights in 2008 at the Westin Times Square.

The Deal:
Obtain a room at the Westin Times Square for various dates throughout 2008 for as low as $199/night. The rate is non-refundable and must be booked by February 12, 2008.

How:
Go to the Westin Times Square Deal.