discount travel

The Secret to Getting Great Hotel Rates Anytime

Deia B — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 15:00:04 +0000

Did you know that you can shave thousands of dollars off your travel expenses just by timing your trip correctly?

Hotels all over the world discount their rates at certain times of the year, sometimes by more than 50% during the less popular vacation months. So assuming you've got a little flexibility, try booking your hotel for for these times and places.

Beginning of the Year

Travel seems to be a great way to start a new year, according to Agoda, a growing online hotel booking service. Out of the 25 cities Agoda studied, all offer lower hotel rates during the first two weeks of the year compared to the year-long averages.

Hotel rates in New York City, for example, are dramatically slashed at the beginning of the year. On top of that, prices for other activities like watching Broadway shows and ice skating are lower as well. Agoda says that you can save as much as 40% off the average hotel rate if you travel to New York City in January or February. Trivago agrees that the cheapest month to visit the Big Apple is in February, when the average hotel rate is $267 per night — a lot cheaper than the $436 average nightly rate that hotels charge in October.

You can also find great deals in Boston in January, when Trivago says hotel rates are $190 cheaper than they are in October. However, to enjoy this discount, you'll have to contend with Boston's winter, which can see temperature lows in the 20s. For the same reason, hotels in Chicago are $138 cheaper in January than they are in June.

Barcelona, Istanbul, London, and Rome are similarly cheaper during the first two months of the year. (And probably not 17 degrees Fahrenheit.)

After School Break

Theme parks are packed during school holidays. If you want to visit Orlando, do it when the kids are back in school. You'll enjoy shorter lines and may actually have enough time for all the rides. Trivago says that hotel rates in Orlando are $38 lower per night in January than they are in March during the spring break season.

For the same reason, Miami Beach hotels are cheaper in September, when families are busy with school. Worries about the hurricane season may also have something to do with these low hotel rates. In March, Miami Beach hotels charge an average of $387 per night, in contrast to the $194 average nightly rate they charge in September.

Skiing

Going skiing? You don't have to do it in the dead of winter.

The ski resorts in Colorado, for example, offer their best rates at the beginning and end of the season. Go in January or sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

If you plan to travel further north, you can go later in the year. In Whistler, British Columbia, there's often great snow even in spring, when the hotels rates are much cheaper. For example, in April the Fairmont Chateau Whistler charges $189 less per night than it does in February.

Anytime But Summer

Traveling in the summer has it's advantages: outdoor festivals, busy nightlife, and long sunny days. But you'll also have to deal with the heat and the crowds, not to mention the sky-high hotel rates. According to Agoda, hotels in Oslo and Istanbul can be 50% more expensive in May compared to the year-long averages.

In much of Europe, you can get the best hotel deals from November through March. Some hotels may be closed during this off-peak season, but those that remain open often offer great rates.

You can find the best bargains in San Francisco from November through May. In December particularly, hotel rates average $201 per night, compared to $324 per night in September.

The Holidays

Hotel rates during the end-of-year holiday season are notoriously high. However, some cities actually have their low season during the last week of December. If you want to spend Christmas away from home, choose Oslo, Stockholm, or Riyadh for the lowest hotel rates.

Stable Cities

In some places, hotel rates don't change much throughout the year. If you plan to travel during peak season, you may do well be to choose these cities.

Agoda's survey finds that popular Asian destinations don't discount their hotel rates much. In Tokyo, for example, hotel rates during the first week in January are only 17% cheaper than the average. Around the same time of the year in Seoul, hotel rates are only 10% cheaper than the average.

Taipei's hotels are at their cheapest during the first week of July, but even then they're only offering about 9% discount off the average nightly rate.

Have you taken advantage of off-season discount pricing to travel? Where did you go?

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This article is from Deia B of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

4 Secrets to Getting the Lowest Rate From Travel Websites

Deia B — Thu, 17 Apr 2014 09:24:14 +0000

Personalization is the next big thing in tech. Google customizes your search results when you're logged in to your Google account. And if you often see the same ads on multiple websites, it's because the ad network's algorithms suggest that you'd be interested in those products.

All this personalization is supposed to provide you with a better browsing experience. But in reality, its main purpose is to sell you the most relevant products and improve the bottom line for e-businesses.

This is not a big problem when it comes to ads because you're not paying for them. But when you're about to make travel bookings online, the website can use personalization tools to coax you into paying more.

Here are some tricks of the trade on how you can pay less by going incognito when you book a trip.

Hide Your Cookies

Travel booking sites often use cookies to track your activity and use the information to raise prices when they can. For example, if you've been coming back to the same website to search for a particular airfare, the reservation system knows that you're really interested in that fare and that you probably would still purchase it even if the price goes up. (See also: 10 Ways to Get Free Airline Tickets)

To prevent travel booking sites from using your browsing history against you, all you have to do is clear the cookies stored on your Internet browser. The exact steps to do this are different depending on your browser, so use the browser's Help function for directions. Or you might use the "Incognito" feature of your browser, which deletes cookies when you close the window.

Alternatively, you can use a different computer to make the booking. This is much easier and more straightforward if you have access to more than one computer.

Interrogate Your Operating System

Last year, Orbitz made the news when it became apparent that they were showing different search results for Windows users and Mac users.

According to media coverage, Orbitz pushes higher priced options to people who make their bookings on Apple devices. Apparently, Orbitz noticed that Mac users spend up to 30% more than Windows users on travel and are 40% more likely than Windows users to book rooms at four- and five-star hotels. In this particular case, personalization meant that Mac users are sometimes shown more expensive hotels on Orbitz. (See also: 10 Surprising Marketing Tricks)

Fortunately, whether you're using Mac or PC, the price for any particular hotel room on Orbitz is the same. Orbitz only plays with the order in which the hotels are displayed, showing the pricier hotels first for Mac users. In other words, you can change the search results simply by choosing the option to sort the results by price.

Dump Your Frequent Flier ID

Airline websites often allow you to input your frequent flier ID when you search for airfares. Because the reservation system may have numerous fare classes, you may end up paying different prices for the same seat, depending on whether you check the fares using your frequent flier ID. (See also: Earning Miles Without Flying)

If you belong to an airline's loyalty program, check the fares twice: once with your frequent flier ID and once without it.

Don't Give Away the Number in Your Party

If you travel as a group, you could be paying more for your airfares than you would if you were traveling alone.

Airline reservation systems have multiple airfare classes and a set number of seats in any particular class. This is not about whether you book seats in the economy class or the first class. In economy class alone, there could be 10 different price classes.

If you purchase a ticket for a lone traveler, the system would show you the airfare with the lowest price. Simple enough.

It gets complicated when you make a booking for multiple travelers. In any one reservation, the system only allows you to book all tickets at the same price point. This means that if there's only one seat left in the lowest price point, all the passengers in your party would be moved up to a higher airfare class that has enough empty seats.

For example, let's assume that you can book the last ticket in the cheapest airfare class at $150. But because you travel with a friend, the system bumps both of you up to a higher price point, at $200 per person. You would end up paying $400 for both passengers instead of $350 (one airfare at $150 and another one at $200).

To avoid paying more than you have to, perform multiple searches. For example, find out how much the airfare costs for one passenger and for two passengers. If the price per person is the same for both options, go ahead and book both passengers on the same reservation. Otherwise, split the purchase into two reservations to take advantage of the one available cheaper seat. (See also: Best Travel Reward Cards)

This technique has its drawbacks, though. You may have to pay extra fees to select your seats so everyone sits together. Also, if you run into delays and the airline has to rebook your seats, the airline may not know that your group travels together and you may end up on different flights.

Have you discovered any fare or fee quirks when booking travel? Please share in comments!

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This article is from Deia B of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Negotiate All Your Travel: The Ultimate Guide

Elizabeth Lang — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 13:36:09 +0000

Unless you’re going to Istanbul and plan on negotiating to buy a carpet at the Grand Baazar, you probably don’t think of negotiation as part your travel plans. While many of us realize we can negotiate abroad, most of us assume we’re stuck paying whatever price the Orbitz website spits back out at us.

But, there are actually some really great ways to negotiate your travel. Here are some of the best tips from around the web. (See also: Best Travel Rewards Credit Cards)

Hotels

Many travel hackers know that there are a lot of great ways to stay for free or cheap while traveling (such as by couchsurfing, volunteering, or wwoofing). But sometimes you just want to stay in a hotel. (See also: 40 Most Useful Travel Websites That Can Save You a Fortune)

Know a Baseline Price

Do a quick search on Kayak or another search aggregator for the dates you’re traveling to get a sense of a good baseline price. (Otherwise you won’t know where to start negotiating from.)

Say the Magic Words

This tip comes from a hotel reservation agent who feels guilty about lying when customers ask for the lowest rate she says to ask for the “very” lowest rate.

So what’s the magic word?

They should ask for the very lowest rate. Not just the lowest rate — the very lowest rate.

Contact Independently Owned Hotels

Tisha's post, Negotiate Your Own Hotel Deal, tells us:

Another tip is to contact hotels that are independently owned. They are more likely to give you a deal or a discount than a national chain would.

Ask for the “Walk out Rate”

Kentin's How to avoid getting fleeced at hotels mentions that hotels will sometimes tell you the “walk out rate”:

Hotels can offer a “walk-out” or “walk-away” rate if they feel like they may lose a customer on price alone. The walk-out price is the lowest price the hotel will let the room go for in order to prevent the customer from — you guessed it — walking out. I’ve even heard of some bold customers ask directly, “What’s your walk-away price?” Keep in mind, it’s harder to negotiate rates during busy nights, peak travel holidays, or early in the day before the hotel can gauge its bookings.

Check In Late for Free Upgrades

If you check in later for your hotel room, you may be more likely to get a free hotel upgrade according to Nora in How to Travel in Style for Free:

All you have to do is ask if they have any free upgrades available. At worst they will snigger and say no. Oops — nothing except possibly a little blush on your cheeks to show for it. At best: you will be relaxing in your king sized hot tub in your full suite upgrade…for free.

If you are checking in (especially later in the day), the hotel already has an idea of how many suites are booked. Larger suites are usually pre-booked in advance, so if the room is available, they may well upgrade you. It shows well for the hotel (hey — if you got a free upgrade, you'd be talking the hotel up too!), and it doesn't reflect any additional cost to them.

Car Rental

Car rental companies are notorious for fleecing consumers with unset rates — but that also makes them easier to negotiate with.

Get a Baseline Price

Just like negotiating for hotel rates, it’s best to check Kayak or a similar source to get a baseline fee of the best available rates.

Call on a Friday

Confessions from a Former Enterprise Salesman has some awesome tips like:

For the best weekend deal call up on Friday sometime before 2pm and say, "I have all my info, drivers license and credit card, can I get a rental all setup so I don't have to do anything but sign the ticket when I come in?"

Ask for Free Upgrades

Chris Elliot tells us to negotiate our upgrades for free because upgrade rates don’t exist:

If you come in with a Ford Focus reservation and were interested in a larger car, I’ll charge an upgrade for you to get into a Ford Escape. If you have a Ford Escape reservation and are looking for something more fuel-efficient, I’ll charge you an upgrade to a Ford Focus. This actually happens! The “fee” is entirely at the salesperson’s discretion, and is entirely negotiable.

Or others tell us that they have a limited number of free upgrades to give away.

The secret: car rental agencies have a certain number of free upgrades available to give to customers…who ask. They won't advertise this little secret (because everybody will ask — duh!), but trust me — it works.

Negotiate Late Fees

If you know you're returning the car late, SFgate tells us to talk to the manager to waive or lower the fee.

Talk to the Manager at the Local Branch Directly

I recently learned that you can’t negotiate a break on extending your car rental by calling the main company’s switchboard — even the supervisors there were unwilling to lower the rental rate extension. But by calling the local airport dealer, where I rented directly from, the manager there could give me a better rate.

Airfare

Unfortunately you can’t completely negotiate your airfare (with the exception of Hotwire and Priceline, which is almost-negotiation — tips below). But there are a few tips for negotiating aspects of your airfare.

Negotiate Change Fees

Delicious Baby has some really great tips about how to negotiate change fees including:

Don't phone it in. It is a lot harder to look a concerned parent in the face and say no than it is to say the same words to a phone caller. Obviously this isn't always possible, but when you can, an in person visit is more likely to pay off.

...and...

Explain the problem in terms that the airline can identify with. Instead of focusing on how worried we felt about flying with a sick child my husband focused on things that would cause the airline pain (or potential liability) too... phrases like "I'm concerned about what might happen if he becomes sicker in the air" and "Without knowing why he is throwing up, I'm worried about what germs I might be exposing other passengers to" cause more concern for the airline than "I think the best thing for him is to get some rest" or "I can't believe you don't care about a sick child."

Negotiate Upgrades

My experience has been that the only ways to get upgraded to first class is 1) when the airline has made a big mistake (e.g. overbooked your flight) or 2) you qualify through your status with the airline. But there are still plenty of tips out there for trying to negotiate an upgrade.

For instance, a Forbes article offers several tips about upgrades including the time to fly:

Beyond miles, it's best to plan your flight when and where it's likely to be less crowded to avoid the potential competition for an upgrade. An early-morning flight to and from a major city will probably be packed with business travelers who fly a lot, so they'll have lots of miles and preferred status with an airline. A better time to fly would be in the early afternoon and late evening.

Buses

In the United States, several bus city-city lines (such as DC-NYC) including Megabus and Boltbus offer tickets for just $1. While the tickets are non-negotiable, the $1 seats are cheaper than you'd likely get negotiating. How do you actually get one of these tickets? According to a poster on Yahoo Answers:

This is only one way to get a $1 ticket with Megabus. You have to book your trip on the same day that the bus is leaving, and take the chance that a ticket is left. It's not applicable for all trips. If the bus leaves at 6 AM, and you go on after midnight to get a ticket, you may get it for $1. But you're also risking the bus being sold out, which oftentimes it is on at least one branch of the trip.

An article on MSN Money says that rates go up as more people buy. My experience has also been that the farther you book in advance the more likely you are to get a cheap seat.

Taxis

Taxis can be a tourist trap in some parts of the world. Make sure you know the ground rules for traveling in taxis for the area you're visiting.

Reference a Guidebook or Ask the Locals

Guidebooks may be able to tell you local customs about negotiating for local transportation. For example, in Russia, people looking to make a few extra dollars drive around in their personal cars and act as taxis. (There are also official taxi companies but they charge outrageous prices.) When I studied abroad in St. Petersberg I would negotiate the price down by about 80% less than what I would have paid a taxi. Most guidebooks will tell you if this is the custom in the country or city you're visiting.

If you don't find something in a guidebook ask around once you arrive. If you're just arriving at the airport the local information desk will likely be able to tell you if and how to best negotiate for fares. Hostel owners will also provide this advice. Wandering Earl has a great tip about this:

Whenever I arrive in a new destination, before even stepping out of my hotel, guesthouse or hostel for the first time, or even the airport if I’m arriving by plane, I always make sure to ask a reliable local how the taxi system works. Such reliable people include the staff in the guesthouse, the official information booth at the airport or any other local who has no interest in leading me astray.

Negotiate First or At the Very End

I find that it's easiest to negotiate the fare before you even step into the vehicle. That prevents you from being trapped and then scammed — for instance trapped on top of a camel with the owner refusng to help you off the camel's back unless you pay them. (True story.) However, in this story about How to Survey a Cairo Taxi Ride the author recommends paying at the end if you know what the ride should cost:

[I]f you know roughly what the journey should cost, then it’s better to pay at the end. Be sure to err on the side of generosity, and make sure you have the correct change. The driver certainly won’t give you any of his. By the time your driver realizes that he has lost the opportunity to scam you, you’ll be long gone.

Additional Resources

Get more tips from these great resources.

For The Big Three: Hotel, Airfare, and Car Rental

If you want to try to pay less than the quoted price I recommend trying Hotwire or Priceline. If you’re interested in Priceline or Hotwire it’s worth spending five minutes reading the following articles:

A fellow Wise Bread writer wrote about Hotwire Tips
I have a popular post about Priceline Bidding Tips

For All Negotiations

The best way to negotiate travel is to learn to be a better negotiator. Here are a few resources:

Ramit Sethi, at I Will Teach You to Be Rich has a compilation of posts about how to negotiate.
Here’s a great article from the Guardian about learning to negotiate.

So, there are ways to negotiate travel. You just have to know your goals, what price-point you’re aiming for, and a few tricks of the trade. And of course, if you happen to ever be at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, I highly recommend negotiating the carpet dealers down by about 50%. You’ll get a fantastic piece at an amazing price. Just don’t make the mistake I did by being too cheap to ship it back home.

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This article is from Elizabeth Lang of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

3 Ways to Travel Free (Or At Least Really Darned Cheap!)

Kate Luther — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:52:18 +0000

How would you like to get out and "see the world"? Visit the Carthage Ruins or spend a week just hiking across Europe. Paris, Italy or maybe the Bahamas... there's really just no end to the places you can go.

Now, I know what you're saying - those places cost money and technically you'd be right. While traveling is certainly one of the more exciting ways to spend your time, airfare and hotel rooms can add up quickly and with the economy the way it is... well, it looks like Aunt Tessie's farm is about all the traveling you'll be doing anytime soon.

But there are ways to get around those big travel expenses without sacrificing your fun. In fact, with these tips you might just find that your trips become all the more adventurous!

House Swap - Seriously. Swap your house with someone else for a week, a month or how ever long the two of you agree to do so. House swapping is actually a pretty popular way to travel and it has quite a few advantages to staying in a hotel. For starters, most house swappers make their various amenities available to you so you'll have a functional kitchen which means you can save money by buying a few groceries and eating in and you won't go home with a big bag of dirty laundry because you can wash your clothes before you go. Those "amenities" also often include a car, jet skis, boats and other cool things that you'd have to rent otherwise. Another advantage is that while you're manning the ship in their house, they'll be watching over yours as well which means that your property isn't left vacant and theives are less likely to try to venture in. No more packing up your valuables when you leave and no more vacating the room so that the cleaning staff can change your sheets. And instead of those goofy connecting rooms for the kids, you can keep your family under one roof for the entire trip. To learn more about house swapping, check out InterVac or The International Home Exchange Network.
Cruise For Free. Yes, free! Those big cruise liners take pride in providing a variety of entertainment and activities for their paying guests. Provide some of that entertainment or activity and you could sail the seas for free. Traditional entertainment includes singing, dancing and of course acrobatics but don't think for a minute that the list stops there. Magicians are very popular on cruises as well as comedians and jugglers. But again, the list doesn't stop there. Don't let a lack of artistic talent keep you off that boat - cruise lines are also looking for a variety of "enrichment" instructors, meaning those who can teach something fun and/or enriching such as arts and crafts, painting, yoga or even how to trace a family tree. The idea is to come up with something that's inexpensive for you (you'll have to provide any necessary supplies) while giving the passengers a unique opportunity to learn something new. Teach them to mambo or jitterbug. Give them a crash course in Spanish or French. Show them how to write a best-selling novel or how to meditate properly to gain eternal peace. Whatever your niche, think about how you could share your knowledge and turn it into a class for others. Then market that course to the cruise lines. You can also check out Cruise Ship Jobs to help you get the most from your efforts.
Study For Free, Live Abroad. Universities tend to believe that an education obtained abroad is one of the most enlightening ways to learn and our government tends to agree. As a result, there are a number of grants and scholarships available for students that want to study in a foreign country. If you want to tap into government funding, you'll have to find a school that has a domestic branch in the States as any credits you obtain must be able to count here at home as well. That said, there are also work-study programs that don't come with those restrictions so if you don't need the government funding, you're pretty much free to go anywhere you like. Check out American Institute for Foreign Study for more information.

And there you have it. Three creative ways to seriously cut your travel expenses and tap into the vast opportunities that await you when you see the world. Granted, these ideas aren't as conventional as just booking your own hotel room but then let's be honest... life without a little adventure isn't really "life" at all, now is it?

This article is from Kate Luther of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread: