Comments on: Nothing To Do On A Saturday Night? Try This. It Will Probably Save You And Your Company Money!

By: Karen Dawson

Karen Dawson — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 18:10:57 +0000

I know prices are crazy these days, but my suggestion Merrill would be to go back to your corporate travel agency and advise them what’s happening. If they’re not willing to call the hotels direct, I’d be glad to. On a similar vein, My recommendation would be to NOT book a cruise online right now, prices are too volatile…and the online booking sources like Travelocity or the cruise line themselves are not going to call you if their prices drop; that’s my job and one of the services I offer. It’s a great time to travel for the consumer, because the deals are surely out there. My other piece of advice would be to buy travel insurance for any personal travel. I just saved a honeymoon couple $ 500 on their hotel stay at the Atlantis because the prices had dropped; had they not bought the insurance they wouldn’t have been eligible for the refund.

By: Bob Graham

Bob Graham — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:44:29 +0000

We have a corporate website that we are required to use for travel. The website has our corporately negotiated prices as well as any memberships that we choose to enter. Among all of my frequent flyer and hotel rewards number is my AAA number. It never fails, when I enter the information for a hotel stay, the cheapest rate that the website comes up with (it lists a number of rate options) is not the corporate negotiated rate, but the AAA rate. Maybe the corporation should just buy AAA memberships for all of its traveling employees.

By: Bill Priest

Bill Priest — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:50:04 +0000

In checking several rental car company websites for a weekend rental I was surprised in getting the best rate from Hertz (usually one of the most expensive). The catch – full payment in advance. I haven’t noticed this offering before for rental cars, perhaps it’s a new trend (or I’m behind the times), but if your trip is a sure thing this is a good way to save some dollars on a car rental.

By: Erin Weinland

Erin Weinland — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 20:13:28 +0000

I have found great deals by being persistent and not being afraid to ask for a lower rate. For a cruise that I booked several months ago, I made a reminder to myself to check the rates every 2-3 weeks. Each time I saw the rates fall, I re-contacted the travel agency and asked for a better deal. And every time, they complied! Sometimes they were able to give me a lower rate, sometimes they threw in extra perks for the trip. I ended up saving over $1000!

By: janet

janet — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 20:03:46 +0000

Just today I saved almost $100 when I rebooked my reservation at the Courtyard New York Manhattan/Times Square South. It works.

By: Merrill Dubrow

Merrill Dubrow — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:11:47 +0000

Connie,

That is a GREAT idea – I never have tried that but will for sure. Car rental prices keep going up and up and sometimes are more expensive than the flight.

Appreciate your contribution.

Merrill

By: Connie Ruben

Connie Ruben — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:10:24 +0000

Another thing which I know is not often convenient is to just walk in and get a price. The price will almost always be lower than anything you could get on line or even over the phone. Once you are in their hotel they are not going to let you go. Every hotel has a break even number which is usually around the $60 range. It really comes down to what is cost the hotel to change the room (house cleaning and laundry). The cost of the room (rent/overhead) is there whether they rent it out or not. The advantage to having them give you the room at their break even is they can usually count on you spending money in other areas – room service and restaurant as well as Internet.

This is also true of renting a car. I always rent a car in advance – but when I get to the airport, I ask for the rate and it is almost always lower than the one quoted -even with my “preferred customer status”. Thank fully they let me cancel the one i booked in advance and take the new rate.

Connie

By: Matt Gershner

Matt Gershner — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:46:26 +0000

I do this all the time lately and usually save a fortune. For PMRG at the Wynn in Vegas recently, the conference rate (negotiated a year in advance) was $265/night. I had gotten $199/night from the Wynn’s website. I then saw a promotion for $129/night so I changed my reservation.

Not long after that, I received an e-mail giving me one night free (but it upped my nightly rate to $169). I stayed at the Wynn for $340 + tax for 3 nights. My savings were over $450 alone. My co-workers each booked the $129/night. Among the 5 of us we saved over $2k on the conference rate.

By: Merrill Dubrow

Merrill Dubrow — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 20:00:14 +0000

Krista,

Good advice for all of us to use.

Thanks for the tips.

Merrill

By: Merrill Dubrow

Merrill Dubrow — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 19:58:52 +0000

Steve,

That is really cool. I play softball with a pilot from American Airlines and always look to see if he is on my flight – no luck so far.

Thanks for sharing.

Merrill