Travel Deal of the Day (Dec. 14, 2006)

Traveling to Las Vegas? If you gamble substantially, you may qualify to get a free or highly discounted room. But what if you do not gamble (or do not gamble enough)? The first rule of thumb is to avoid booking the standard rates offered by the hotel. Do not call the hotel reservation number to find rates and do not just assume that the rates that appear on the website are the best available. You can often find much better rates than those rates offered by the reservation agent over the phone or the rates listed on the websites of the major casino hotels.

The Deal:
Save money on Las Vegas hotels by taking advantage of rates offered to members of the clubs associated with the casino hotels.

How:
1) Sign up for the hotel’s marketing offers at the hotel’s website. The hotel will often send emails with very discounted rates, especially midweek and off-season. These rates are often much lower than the rates offered on the website of the hotel.

2) Check for discount codes that the hotel has created to reward returning customers. Do a google search for discount codes for Vegas hotels – there are a ton of codes out there and the hotels have amazing discounts that magically appear on the website when you have one of these codes.

3) Check out Priceline and Hotwire. You can get a five star hotel on the Strip (likely the Venetian, but possibly the Bellagio) midweek for a little over $100, which is quite a savings over standard rates.

Travel Deal of the Day (Dec. 13, 2006)

A room with the view – that is what everyone dreams about. And, for many people, that works well. But if you are on a budget but still want to vacation in style, you may want to ask for a room without a view. Certain rooms in the hotel may be harder to sell, but these rooms can be discounted heavily, especially in four and five star hotels. So, if you have been wanting to go to a premium hotel but you are dreading paying five star prices, here are some ideas to vacation on a budget but in style.

The Deal:
Stay in a four or five star hotel without paying four or five star prices by finding the rooms that the hotel must deeply discount.

How:
1) Check standard and discounted rates via the hotel’s website and aggregator websites such as:
Kayak.com

2) Call the hotel’s in house reservation department and inquire about the rates. (The in house reservations department is usually found by calling the hotel’s operator. The general rule of thumb is that if you are using an (800) number, it is probably not an in-house reservations department.) After listening to the list of rates, ask to speak to the reservations manager. Ask about any of their “less desirable” rooms and if any discounts are available for staying in this kind of room. (I recently was able to find a room at a 4.5 star hotel at 50% off by agreeing to stay in a first floor room.)

3) Check the hotel’s website. Do a google search for any recent experiences at the hotel to see if anyone has had any luck with such deeply discounted rates.

The Inside Scoop:
Most hotels have these less desirable rooms, but not all hotel will discount these rooms. Some high end hotels will not even sell these rooms and prefer to keep them only for an emergency. You may need to convince the reservations manager to sell you such a room, but if you do, you will save a ton. Some examples of such deeply discounted rooms include: (1) rooms at the ski slope that view the main entrance or rooms at the ocean that view the parking lot, (2) rooms with Murphy beds or smaller/non-standard beds as opposed to a King or Queen bed, or (3) rooms in an unrenovated section of the hotel.

Travel Deal of the Day (Dec. 12, 2006)

If you are young and renting a car, it can be very expensive due to fees tacked on by car rental companies which usually are around $20/day above the normal car rental rates. There are ways to avoid these fees, which can save you a ton of money.

The Deal:
Most car rental companies charges fees for underage drivers (usually drivers under 25). There are various ways to avoid these underage car rental fees.

How:
1) Investigate whether any associations that you are a member of have a deal with the car rental company to lower the minimum rental age from 25 to 21. Professional organizations often have negotiated contract rates with car rental companies, and sometimes those contracts apply for renters 21 or above (as opposed to 25 or above). The American Bar Association, for instance, provides discounted rates to drivers 21 and above renting with Hertz – so, by using the ABA rate, you are saving in two ways: you do not get charged the underage fee and you are get a discount off normal rates.

2) Check with your employer to see if your company has negotiated rates with the car rental company. Also, try renting a car through your corporate travel agency. Corporate travel agencies often have contracts with car rental companies that lower the minimum age for standard car rental rates to 18 or 21. Note that sometimes these lower rates are limited to situations when you are traveling on business.

3) Check with a university travel office to see if the university has negotiated special discounts with car rental companies. Often the young driver fee under such negotiated contracts is waived.

4) Check to see if the young driver fee is waived if you join the frequent driver club of your car rental company. Usually you can join the frequent driver club for free or for a low fee – even for a small fee, you will likely save money versus paying a young driver fee.

5) Check with neighborhood (off-airport) car rental companies. Sometimes the policies of local car rental companies will be more lenient than larger, nationwide car rental companies.

Travel Deal of the Day (Dec. 11, 2006)

Renting a car during the holidays? National Car Rental has a $40 off/week discount that is a great discount, especially because it applies during the December holiday season, it applies to almost any car type National offers, and the discount can be combined with other discounts.

The Deal:
Get $40 off a weekly car rental anywhere in the U.S. (certain cities excluded), on any car class, including Compact thru Luxury cars, as well as Minivans, SUVs, or Convertibles.

How:
1) Go to the following site to book you car: National Car Coupon Link
(Note that the code for the $40 off coupon is already filled in the “Coupon ID” box.)

2) When filling in the information for your rental, be sure to fill in the “Contract ID” box with any Contract ID discounts that you are eligible for – if you are unfamiliar with “Contract ID” discounts, check out the 11/22/06 post. As noted in the 11/22/06 post, you can do a Google search for any applicable Contract ID codes. (One of the great things about this offer is that you can get BOTH the $40 off coupon and a Contract ID discount.)

The Inside Scoop:
This deal applies for U.S. rentals of at least 5 days including a Saturday night. The car must be picked up by 1/13/07. The discount does not apply in metro New York City and San Jose, CA.

Travel Deal of the Day (Dec. 8, 2006)

You want to travel over the holidays but you have not bought your tickets – should you be worried? Well, despite what you might hear, you may still find a bargain, but you may have to be flexible.

The Deal:
You can find affordable deals over the holidays – the key is flexibility.

How:
1) Check available fares on an aggregator website (See Dec. 7 post). Also, check the websites of the low cost carriers directly such as www.jetblue.com, www.southwest.com, www.frontierairlines.com or www.airtran.com.

2) Try traveling times that others would try to avoid. Traveling Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or New Years Eve may allow you to find deals that others have overlooked.

3) There are often fare sales just before Christmas week that will sell seats that remain unsold. Check out the major airline websites for fare sale notices. Also, use the “flexible dates” search on www.travelocity.com to monitor fares between your home city and your destination.

4) Think about using up some of your frequent flyer miles. Airlines often release unsold seats within two weeks of the date of departure. This is a perfect opportunity to use some of your miles.

5) Check out the last minute travel packages at www.site59.com. The air/hotel and air/car rental specials on Site 59 can be very affordable, even during busy travel periods.

Travel Deal of the Day (Dec. 7, 2006)

Many people are familiar with websites such as Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity which allow you to compare prices for flights, car rentals and hotels. These sites make their profit by charging you a booking fee for each reservation. But are you aware that there is an alternative to these websites that allow you to compare prices but do not charge you a booking fee? These sites are known as aggregator websites - aggregators earn money by getting referral fees from the airlines/hotels/car rental companies, allowing them not to charge individual users any money. It is important to be aware of these aggregator websites when looking for travel on the web.

The Deal:
Use aggregator websites when booking travel on the web to avoid the booking fees that are charged by the major travel websites.

How:
Many travel aggregators exist that allow you to find out what prices are being charged by airlines, car rentals or hotels – one such example is:

Kayak.com

The Inside Scoop:
Aggregator websites do not actually allow you to book on their website – instead they simply review the fares available on individual airlines'/hotels'/car rental companies' websites and then refer you to the site you select when you want to book. It is especially important to use an aggregator when searching for travel because you not only find out the publicly available fares (that would be available on sites such as Expedia), but you also obtain the webfares that airline/hotel websites offer only on their websites.

Travel Deal of the Day (Dec. 6, 2006)

Another day, another Starwood deal. If you are booking a Starwood hotel or resort, there is a great discount available for 2 through 6 night stays.

The Deal:
Save a ton of money including a “Buy 2, Get 1 Night Free” deal and a “Buy 4 Nights, Get 2 Nights Free” deal.

How:
1) Go to one of the following websites:

Link for Booking Hotel

Link for Booking Resort

2) Click on the link for the appropriate number of nights

3) Before completing the booking using this link, compare this rate with the rate available at the www.starwood.com website and at other competing websites. One such website you can click on to book travel is:

The Inside Scoop:
1) The discount depends on the number of nights you are staying. The best rates are available for 3 nights stays (1 night free) and 6 night stays (2 nights free).

2) The rates you book with this discount are non-refundable so ensure that, before you book, your plans are final and that you have looked at competing websites to see if refundable/changeable rates are less expensive.

Travel Deal of the Day (Dec. 5, 2006)

Want to go to Hawaii? Can you go before December 25? Well, if you can get up and go to Hawaii over the next few weeks, Starwood has a great deal for you.

The Deal:
Save 50% off of Starwood hotels in Hawaii for up to 4 nights through the evening of December 25, 2006.

How:
1) Go to: http://hawaii-exclusive.destinations.starwoodhotels.com/uareward/

2) Select the Hawaii hotel that meets your needs and click the appropriate link.

3) If available, book a Hawaii hotel for 50% off.

4) Click on the “Click here to get your certificate” link to get a 50% off certificate emailed to you to bring to the hotel at check-in.

5) Present the certificate at check-in.

The Inside Scoop:
1) This deal is meant for United Mileage Plus members, so you will be asked to enter a United Mileage Plus number when you request your certificate. If you do not have a United Mileage Plus number, you can sign up for one at:

https://www.ua2go.com/ci/JoinMileagePlus.jsp?jumpLink=%2Fjoinmp

2) The rates that you get with this deal are extraordinary, especially for the days closest to Christmas. Many of the hotels in Hawaii are offering only their “rack” (highest) rates during this high demand time, but this discount gives you 50% off that rack rate.

Travel Deal of the Day (Dec. 4, 2006)

I have a deal for you – and it comes from Omni Hotels. As mentioned previously, it is almost always advantageous to join a hotel’s frequent guest program. But with Omni Hotels, it can save you a ton of money and get you great perks.

The Deal:
Join Omni’s Select Guest Program to get special perks when staying at Omni Hotels including great savings, a free upgrade and free morning beverages for joining the program.

How:
1) Join the Omni Select Guest Program at: https://ssl.omnihotels.com/sg?pagedst=SG5

2) Get great perks and discounts listed at: http://www.omnihotels.com/SelectGuestProgram.aspx

The Inside Scoop:
1) So, why is this such a big deal? Well, if you have an upcoming weekend stay at an Omni hotel, once you join the Select Guest Program, you will be mailed a 50% off coupon for up to two weekend nights. This discount is a great discount. They usually take their lowest discounted rate and discount that rate another 50% - in a big city, it is a truly incredible rate. You must request the 50% off rate when making your reservation and have the certificate in hand to be eligible for the rate

2) In addition to the discount certificate, you will also get a free upgrade certificate. So, not only will you get 50% off an already low rate, you will also get an upgraded room (maybe a suite) based on availability.

3) On top of the discount and upgrade, you also receive free coffee, juice and/or tea delivered to your room by room service each morning you stay at Omni Hotels. Room service breakfast items are available at “real world’ prices when you are a Select Guest member (unlike standard room service).

Overall, it is a great free deal – if you are contemplating a stay at an Omni, I would highly recommend signing up.

Travel Deal of the Day (Dec. 1, 2006)

Haven’t flown in a while? If so, you had better check your frequent flyer mileage account activity because many airlines are requiring you to fly once every 18 to 36 months to avoid having your miles expire.

What can you do? Here are a couple ideas.

The Deal:
There are several things you should do to ensure that your miles do not expire.

How:
1) The rules for many frequent flyer programs now require that you have some eligible activity with an 18 or 36 month time period. Check the rules of your frequent flyer program to find out what is considered a qualifying activity to extend your miles.

2) The most obvious kind of qualifying activity is to fly the airline on which you have the miles that are going to expire. But you do not have to limit your flying to that airline. Most airlines have other frequent flyer partners – usually flying on an airline partner is considered qualifying activity.

3) What if you are not flying? How about renting a car or staying in a hotel? Try staying at a partner hotel or renting a car from a partner car rental company and crediting the miles to your frequent flyer program.

4) Hungry? How about participating in your airline’s dining for miles program? If your airline has such a problem, eating one meal and earning miles will likely extend your miles.

5) Apply for a frequent flyer credit card or, if you already have one, make a charge on that credit card.

6) Use miles for magazines. Many frequent flyer programs allows you to spend your miles for magazines. For as little as 300 or 400 miles, you can get a magazine subscription and likely extend your miles.

7) Buy some flowers or something else from a mileage partner. Even with a small purchase, you may be able to extend your miles.

8) Buy some miles. If you buy miles from the airline, you will likely extend your miles.

The Inside Scoop:
The main idea here is to ensure that you do not lose your miles when it is usually very easy to extend the expiration date on the miles. Read the rules on the frequent flyer website, find out what qualifies as mileage activity, find out when you must act by to ensure that the miles do not expire, and act before your miles expire.