Online deals: Scams or steals?

Posted February 15th, 2012 by libertees and filed in Hotels

Tourism industry checks in with fewer discounts
A year ago, when San Diego was in the depths of the recession, hotelier John Gates was feeling desperate enough to try a daring promotion to entice visitors to his upscale Rancho Bernardo Inn. He offered rooms for as little as $19 a night — minus the lighting, the bed and the honor bar.

Read more on San Diego Union-Tribune

Online Deals: Scams or Steals?
TRAVEL writers often suggest that readers sign up for e-mail alerts from airlines, hotels and car rental companies advertising tempting discounts and deals.

Read more on Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Online deals: Scams or steals?
SUSAN STELLIN NY Times A look at how to increase the odds of landing a sale price, or at least avoid wasting time with dubious come-ons.

Read more on The Hendersonville Times-News

Tricks of the Trade to Book Discount Hotels by Online Hotel Booking Sites

How to get the best deals with online hotel booking. You will read the tricks of the trade of getting deeply discounted deals in hotel booking.

Internet has changed the way hotels do business and the way we travel. Online hotel booking is the de facto standard today, which was unthinkable just a decade or so ago. Now, if the hotel doesn’t have an online booking facility, that hotel is not good enough. In addition, you can also learn in detail about the various hotels at your destination, even if you haven’t ever visited the place. You can go fully prepared and knowledgeable about the destination, the hotel, the kind of services you can expect, and everything.

Now, how to use online hotel booking to get cheap stays? It is easier than you expect. If you have zeroed in on a holiday plan, all you have to do is search for hotels in your destination. Advance booking will usually give you some good discounts. Just like in the case of airlines, you can book your holidays early. However, most hotels will have different rates – high-season and off-season rates. Off-season rates are usually much lower than high-season rates. Some hotels even hike the prices for Christmas and New Year eve, making them the costliest nights to stay at a hotel.

Travelling for holidays, business, or for visiting your relatives, there is always something great about knowing for sure about the accommodation facilities you get. You can view pictures of the hotel interiors, surroundings, etc. You can also read reviews by people who have been there, stayed there, and used the services. This will take a load off your head. You can just book the hotels that you find are comfortable, reasonably priced, and at a good location.

If you don’t plan your holidays or trips months in advance, you can get some good discounts in the form of last-minute hotel deals. Such deals usually become available because of vacancy created by cancellations. Many passengers, due to various reasons including health conditions, family problems, etc make changes to their travel schedules. This leads to cancellation of their hotel bookings too. This provides an opportunity for the alert traveller, who has already bagged a last-minute flight deal. However, it may sometimes be difficult to get last-minute hotel deals and last-minute flight deals to coincide. If you are lucky enough, you can really pull it through.

Book your discount hotels online at cheap discounts hotels

Getting Attractive Travel Incentives for your Air Travel Plans

The next item to consider is how are we arriving and leaving our holiday destination. For quite a lot of us air travel is the best way to get to the place that we want quickly.

There are various air travel plans that we can make and different airlines that will be able to give us attractive travel incentives. While we are looking at all of these travel packages we may want to consider other factors like the price of our tickets and if we will be able to book our airline tickets for the days that we want.

In addition to seeing the travel prices and the available dates for air travel we also need to see if the airline that we are looking to reserve our flights with is a direct flight or if we need to catch a connecting flight. This is an important issue that you will need to see about before you book your flight. The main point to remember with connecting flights is that sometimes your first flight may not arrive at the connecting airport on time.

This type of problem has been known to happen to many people. For those of you who would like spend some of your holiday time in another country besides your main holiday destination then you should try and book your air travel tickets so that you have a few extra days to explore the sights and cultural tours of that other country before you have to leave for your main holiday destination.

While this can sometimes mean fewer days spent relaxing on the beach or exploring the various cultural sights, planning your air travel in this manner will let you catch the correct flight that you need without having to worry about missing any connecting flights. Since this is just one of the options that are available you may want to find out what other benefits you can get from this type of air travel planning.

As there are many different airlines that you can choose from, you may want to see the many incentives that will allow you choose the best deal for your air travel. When you have received all the information about air travel that you want, you can start planning your air travel plans and enjoy a great holiday or business trip.

Muna wa Wanjiru is a web administrator and has been researching and reporting on internet marketing for years. For more information on air flights cheap, visit his site at air travel

Getting the Most Out of Your Travel Deals – By Best Hotel Deals

The lowest and the cheapest travel deals are not always the best deal.

Today, travelers could be overwhelmed by the numerous travel deals being offered. Therefore you should weigh all options before choosing the right one in order to get the most out of it.

Hector Milla Editor of the “Best Hotel Deals” website — http://www.BestHotelDeals.biz — pointed out;

 

“…The greatest secret to getting an affordable airfare or best travel discounts is to know your budget and what do you really want. Additionally, you should shop and compare deals until you run out of options and choose the best among them…”

And importantly, always plan ahead. Nothing is too early when it comes to vacation planning. This will give you ample time to search and choose.

Whether you’re a business traveler or planning a family vacation, here are some travel tips to save you money and choose the best deal:

1. Buy your ticket directly. Travel agents usually charge between $15 and $35 per ticket.

2. Buy your ticket all at the same time instead of buying one at a time. Booking fee may be discounted.

3. Booking for a package tour could be a wise choice for some destinations.

4. When planning a more complex trip, a travel agent can save you more time and money.

5. Compare prices online for the best deal. There are websites that help travelers to shop and compare. Some also provide travel tips and guidelines.

6.  Play the seasons. Some travel destinations are cheapest at certain times or season of the year. Booking for an off-peak season also would give you the best deal.
7. Be flexible with travel dates and times. Some airlines and hotels offer substantial discounts if you book one or two days earlier.

8. Smaller airlines often have lesser fees. Additionally, small airlines don’t necessarily mean smaller airplanes.

9. Alternative airport also could provide you with substantial discounts. Ask your travel agent about it.

10. Plan ahead. The earlier you book, the better deal you will have.

11. Buy trip insurance. Insurance will not only save your life but also could save you money.  If you end up being sick in foreign country, your insurance back home might not cover it. Thus you might end up using your vacation budget on hospitalization.

12. Sign up for hotel and airline awards programs. Chain hotels usually have award programs; take advantage of it especially if you are a frequent business traveler.

“…Finally, never stop bargaining, always explore the possibility of lower airfare, lower hotel rates.  However, it is important to weigh and compare all options since not all cheap travel deals will give you the travel value you deserved. Travel will be more enjoyable if you get the most of your hard earn vacation budget…” added H. Milla.

Further information about the cheapest rates on hotels all around the world by visiting; http://www.BestHotelRates.me

Hector Milla runs his corporate website at http://www.OpsRegs.com where you can see all his articles and press releases.

Cheap and Discount Hotels is Perfect Place for Stay

Cheap and discount are perfect words when it comes to traveling or hotel bookings. There are so many options available that it is quite confusing which one to choose. However, one needs to understand how to get the best bargains on cheap and discount hotels.

Finding cheap hotels on the Internet can be quite easy only if you know what you are looking for. It is important to shortlist your requirements and then look for ideal cheap and discount hotels in the city you are planning to visit. First is to decide upon the cities where you will be visiting. You should have a budget in mind before starting your search. Both the criteria will easy narrow down the options available for you.

If you are visiting Asia, then you can be sure of finding hoards of cheap and discount hotels. There are hotels, hostels and even houses available on rent. Finding cheap accommodation is quite easy especially in South Asian countries. Moreover, if you plan ahead then you will get good bargains for booking in advance.

If you are looking for great bargains, then try to choose off-peak season. Check out which are the festive seasons in city or country, which you are visiting. For example, if you are traveling to China, Chinese New Year may not be the best time to get the best rates. Similarly, if you are visiting Singapore then choosing summer time or during Grand Prix event is the best time to find the cheapest and the best discount rates. There are tourists flocking from all over the world to these places and this is the peak tourist season when the rates or usually at their peak.

Another of getting the best bargains on hotel accommodation is to book package tours via airlines. Most of the international airlines always have hotel plus airfare deals especially during peak season. If you want to spend some wonderful time during your vacation, you can choose travel packaged offered by airlines or travel agents. Inquire about “free and easy” option with your travel agent. This means that you get the airfare and hotel deal offered by the tour operator but you are still free to choose your itinerary. You need not be a part of the group while visiting the place and plan you own schedule.

You can also get cheap and discount hotel bookings if you book family accommodation or travel in a group. This is usually helpful for middle class income people who prefer to travel with friends and family and yet cannot spend much on accommodation. Most of the tour operators and even airlines have good package deals for large groups.

The key idea to get the best deals on cheap and discount hotels is to book ahead of time. It is also wise to choose off-peak period to get the best options. You may also get best discounts if you book online because the hotel passes on the agent commission to the customers. Remember; never book a hotel just because it is cheap. Always consider associated amenities offered with it. After all, you have to spend on entertainment, traveling and food as well during your stay. If you get a package deal but is a little more expensive than simple hotel accommodation, you may get a good bargain

Go4hotels provides detailed information and online booking in Discount Hotels, Last Minute Hotels and Discount Hotels In Rome , Call at – +44 (0) 207 099 2652 to book discount hotels in worldwide.

Best Discount Travel Deals In One Guide

True Discount Travel deals are difficult to come by if you don’t know where to look or what you are doing. So you can’t simply type \”discount travel\” into a search engine and find out everything you need to know. Why? Because Discount Travel is a sort of secret – and the Airline Companies want to keep it that way…

If travelers found out that they were paying 80% more than they have to for flights and vacation packages, the Airlines would end up losing billions and many would without a doubt go bankrupt in the process.

But as secret as this information might be, you are about to discover all the different ways discount travelers all over the world save huge chunks of money every time they travel, and you’ll easily be able to do the same…

The Globe Cheap Discount Travel Guide is well over 100 pages of everything you need to know about making huge savings on your next vacation! It covers everything from working with travel agents, becoming a Currier, using flight consolidators, flying 100% free of charge to flying with low cost airliners, getting paid to take vacations and even becoming a travel agent yourself to get special deals on flights!

Top 15 ways to find discount travel deals at a glance…

15 powerful Discount Travel tips that can easily save you anywhere from 50% to over 80% off your flights! (These tips are extremely easy to apply, and are guaranteed to save you money). So this is what you can learn to get the very best discount travel deals…

A little known website that sends you email updates on hot travel deals as they happen: For example, \”fly anywhere in the US on Jet Blue for $39 each way when you book within two days!\”

How to save BIG money on flights using \”no-frills airlines\”: If you just want to get \”there\” for as cheap as possible, and you don’t need all the fancy options, simply fly on one of these no-frills airlines and save hundreds of dollars on each flight (we give you a break down of all the airlines, plus links to their websites and all the contact info you need to get started ASAP)

How to work with travel agents to save money and time: Sometimes going trough a travel agent (middle man) instead of going direct through an airline will actually save you money. You just have to know how to deal with them and what to say. For example, there is a magic question you MUST ask your travel agent right off the bat to make sure you save the most money!

How to become a travel agent yourself and save BIG: Like we mentioned earlier, being a travel agent comes with outrageous perks like 50% to 100% off airfare, hotels, car rentals, theme park admissions tickets, travel insurance, boat cruises and more (the best part is: it\’s easy to become a travel agent and you don\’t even need to work as one to get all the perks!). .

16 Great website you must know about if you’re serious about saving money on travel (these online resources are easy to use and contain some incredible deals on flights, hotels and vacation packages!)

Find out all about the airlines biggest kept secret, Airline Ticket Consolidation: These consolidation deals can get pretty ridiculous (in a good way), but they\’re not freely available on the Internet…don’t worry, we’ll tell you exactly where to find them and even give you the contact info you need (phone numbers, websites, emails).

How to save 80% on your flights or even fly for free as a courier: It\’s really easy to get started and we\’ll teach you everything you need to know.

How to exploit loopholes in online ticket pricing systems to knock off huge chunks of money off your next flight (its not unheard of to use this method and knock off as much as $1000 off your Airline ticket!)

Everything you need to know about frequent flier programs: This is a great way to get free airfare, if you do it right. You can literally get a free flight or vacation every few months. There are 4 trillion frequent flyer miles currently issued that are worth over 500 billion dollars. (Yes, with a \”B\”!) In fact, frequent flyer miles are now considered the second largest currency in the world. Follow our advice and join the frequent flier game the right way.

How to get \”bumped\” and get reimbursed for it with free flights, first class upgrades, and hundreds of dollars in cash: There is a whole strategy to this that you can follow to get bumped on purpose, and do it over and over again to get tons of different reimbursements (this is a popular technique used by Discount Travelers in order to get free flights!)

Save on cruises: Unlike airlines, cruise companies consistently have a more difficult time filling their cruises to capacity. So you can find some truly amazing deals, if you know where to look.

How to stay in luxury hotels at hostel prices: Just like airlines want to fill up all of their seats, hotels want to fill up all of their rooms. It’s a better deal for them to have someone in the room for a discount price than to have the room empty for the night. If you know what you’re doing, you can literally stay in a 5 star hotel for the same price as a cheap motel or hostel

How to stay at other peoples luxury homes for FREE: Our methods for getting hotel discounts are great for short-term travel (1-2 weeks), but even those discounted prices will start to add up after a while. If you want to travel long-term (1 month – several months), home exchanges are a great way to do it. Imagine staying in someone else’s fully furnished beach-side villa for several months, free of charge!

Bed and Breakfast, hostels, camping, and more super-cheap ways to stay \”there\”: With prices starting at $5 and some places being free, this can save you some major cash. And don’t think that these places are a complete dump. If you know what you’re doing you’ll stay in comfort.

How to get paid for your travels: This doesn’t have to be your full time job. You just have to do a few easy and enjoyable tasks while you’re there, and you’ll make most if not all of your money back. Simple, fun, and easy to get started.

How to write off all of your trips: After you’ve saved hundreds of dollars on your vacation, why not go even further and save even more?

In short the Globe Cheap Discount Travel Guide will arm you with the knowledge you need to save hundreds, or even thousands of dollars on all your future vacations and never, EVER have to pay full price for your flights, hotels and vacation packages again…

Discover Major Discount Travel Deals and discount travel strategies PLUS important last minute Discounted Travel Deals As Well As Receiving A FREE TRAVEL report…

Getting Airline Tickets and Hotel Rooms Cheaply

Posted January 11th, 2012 by libertees and filed in Rooms

For many people, vacation time presents a mix of joy and pain. While everyone is willing to point out the wonderful feelings experienced when travelers go on vacation, most travelers continue to dread the price shock experienced. A select few have truly mastered the art of maximizing the enjoyment and minimizing the pain of vacation time. So, here are 4 tips for compounding the good of a vacation and suppressing the bad.

Tip 1 is Plan Your Trip Early Pretty much everything is cheaper when you buy it early. Using a popular travel site, we found that a trip from Houston to San Diego scheduled 3 days before flight time costs 560 dollars. While, the same trip purchased 6 months early would cost 369 dollars. Thats a savings of almost 200 dollars.

This leads many to ask a question. Why dont hotels and airlines just set their price and be done with it? Hotels and airlines recognize that your money can only get to them if they can lure you into making the purchase. The longer you wait to purchase from them, the more likely you are to change your mind or use their competitors. So, the lower price incentive lures you to act as soon as possible to lock you in with them. They understand that travel plans change rapidly and you are less likely to postpone a trip once you have already purchased the ticket. Though annoying, always use this to your advantage. Plan and pay for your trip as early as possible. I recommend 3-6 months ahead, if possible.

Tip 2 is Travel During Non Peak Seasons This is so simple to understand. Hotels and airlines are businesses. They would rather get a portion of the money they would like to charge for their services rather than getting no money at all. Thats why non peak season deals abound. For instance, if you dont ski, go to the areas that cater to the ski crowd during the non-ski months. Why you ask? Well, the beauty of nature is still there, the other entertainment options that ride the ski sport to the top are still there and the hotels and airlines are screaming to fill the spaces that would otherwise sit idle. You can often find rates at less than 30 cents on the dollar.

Tip 3 is Use Vacation or Travelers Account Tools For many travelers, vacations are a yearly thing. The need to travel is not a surprise when the time comes. Create an online vacation or travel account. If you like saving money, you cant afford not to. With the new tools that have come along in the last year, you dont even have to go to the bank to do so.

Use free tools like the Cheap Airline Tickets Toolbar to build your vacation budget. The Cheap Airline Tickets Toolbar at www.cheapairlineticketstoolbar.com allows users to earn money for vacation travel, hotels and entertainment by pointing out errors that they see online. The money can be applied directly to a debit card for use. Using such tools opens up a variety of travel options by allowing for more and increased quality of your vacations. At an average payout of two dollars for every valid error report, a vacation budget can quickly be built using such tools.

Tip 4 is Shop Around Everyone understands the concept of shopping around, but there are a couple of special considerations and tactics when doing it for travel purposes. In the age of the Internet, it is easy to compare pricing for flights and hotels without leaving home. Many travel websites actually search multiple airline carriers and hotels simultaneously and then list their rates and amenities side by side for comparison. Use them. They can help you save a lot of money. Also, when you travel to tourist towns, bargain for the hotel rooms cost. In tourist towns, there are usually many mom and pop type hotels that are clamoring for business. It often helps to contact several and play the bid game. Tell them you are coming to the town and need a room. Then tell them the price that their competitor has offered. You will be surprised at the number of times that the person on the phone (which is usually the manager) will lower his/her prices to get you to choose them rather than their competitors. This is highly compounded during off-peak seasons.

John Reed, Algoodi Travel aims to make the travel experience more pleasurable and less expensive for the masses.

Choice Hotels Welcomes topbonus, airberlin’s Worldwide Frequent Flyer Program, as Newest Airline Rewards Partner

Posted November 19th, 2010 by libertees and filed in Travel

Choice Hotels Welcomes topbonus, airberlin’s Worldwide Frequent Flyer Program, as Newest Airline Rewards Partner
Choice Hotels International, Inc. is delighted to denote airberlin as the newest addition to its maturing list of airline partners for its award-winning Choice Privileges rewards program.
Read more on PR Newswire via Yahoo! Finance


New Hotels.ca welcomerewards Loyalty Program Gives Travellers One Free Night for Every 10 Nights Spent
According to Hotels.ca® research, travellers can be necessitated to book 25 hotel night stays in order to gain one loose night through characteristic hotel loyalty programs.  But now Canadians can get a free night faster thanks to Hotels.ca, a leading provider of hotel rooms intercontinental.  Hotels.ca will now proffer Canadians the welcomerewards® loyalty program which rewards members a free hotel night faster …
Read more on PR Newswire via Yahoo! Finance


Hotels, restaurants show off attractions in Lapu-Lapu event
ABOUT 19 hotels and restaurants showcased their best cuisines and cultural entertainment in the Tourism Nite in Lapu-Lapu City last Monday. Waterfront Airport Hotel and Casino (WAHC) manager Hembler Mendoza said the event was organized to showcase Lapu-Lapu’s best resorts to further draw in more international and domestic tourists. Mendoza, organizer of the event, stated each taking part resort …
Read more on Sun Star

Former Airline Employee Reveals Airline Secrets to upgrades + savings

Posted July 19th, 2010 by libertees and filed in Hotels

An outspoken online bestseller that tells air travelers worldwide how to Upgrade to Business or First Class and how to Save big on air travel. This eBook sold Thousands Of Copies already: Proven Stellar Conversion Rates. Your Commission: 17.47$ per sale
Former Airline Employee Reveals Airline Secrets to upgrades + savings

Tips to get Travel Airline Tickets Cheaper – By Best Hotel Deals

Posted July 1st, 2010 by libertees and filed in Hotels

Buy tickets 3-5 months before your departure date

Some airlines offer discounts for early buyers. It’s also best to buy your tickets at least 20 days in advance to ensure the best seating possible, most discounted tickets sell out fast. You should also know that Airline Tickets are subject to price increase, especially during Christmas season, buying early avoids further ticket increase.

Never fly on weekends

If you’re planning a trip, plan to leave on weekdays, preferable Monday to Wednesday. Weekends are high traffic times, for travelers and would probably cost you an additional $25-$40 increase.

Aurora Lillo Editor of the “Best Hotel Deals” website — http://www.BestHotelDeals.biz — pointed out;

 

Don’t travel During Peak season

“…Airlines tend to increase ticket prices during Peak travel season due to the increase in demand. Traveling during low season is also advantageous if you want to avoid airport and tourist spot crowds. If you really have to travel during peak season, consider leaving home early and going home late to avoid the rush…”

How long to Stay

Yes your travel stay also affects airline ticket prices. Airlines give discounts if you stay at least a week at your destination and return within 90 days.

Consider a Connecting Flight

Contrary to popular belief, direct flights aren’t always the cheapest. Some people have saved up to $1000 dollars on booking connecting instead of Direct flights. If you don’t have a lot of luggage, and aren’t very particular with time, it is best, and a lot cheaper to book a connecting flight instead of direct.

Use the senior citizen discount

Some Airlines offer the same senior Citizen discount for the companions of the Senior Citizen. Ask if it’s available.

The Early Bird gets the Airline Ticket

Call Airlines at 12:01 am on Wednesday mornings. This is when airlines release all the new fares and seat plans. You can be first and choose the best and cheapest tickets at this time.

Shop in the Internet

The best feature of the internet is that you see all available Prices at a very convenient place, your home. You won’t have to canvass travel agencies. Some internet sites even offer internet only discounts that you can benefit from if you avail of their services.

When you do shop on the internet

“…Check first with travel agents regarding prices, Internet prices aren’t always cheap, it’s best to ask a good old travel agent. It won’t hurt to look at news papers too, as some airlines publish discounts on print. If you’re planning to buy more than 6 months in advance, it’s probably best to ask a travel guide as internet sites don’t usually have schedules for longer than six months…” added A. Lillo.

Further information about the cheapest rates on hotels all around the world by visiting; http://www.BestHotelRates.me

Aurora Lillo runs his corporate website at http://www.OpsRegs.com where you can see all his articles and press releases.