Special Report: Travel Savings

I'm on location in Boston, MA, reporting for Froogaloo on how you can save on summer travel this year. Many people think about discount web sites for flights, hotels & rental cars. These are great places to start. Here are some other considerations.

1.) Fees

Don't forget to consider various types of fees that might pop-up on your trip. For example, my cab ride today included an extra $8.75 for tolls and an extra airport pick-up fee. The hotel attempted to charge me a $17.00 per day "discount" parking fee. It took two requests to remove the daily fee. Call ahead to local cab companies and ask about rates, fees, etc. I found out the hotel provides a free shuttle; I wish I would have known!

2.) Research

Sometimes the hotel location can be slightly misleading. I'm staying in a Crowne Plaza that happens to be built over an Interstate & railroad track. Also, there is construction & renovation at the hotel. As a result, the fitness center was closed. Luckily the hotel arranged for day passes to a nearby YMCA (8 minute walk). The benefit is that this provides additional fitness offerings, but it is slightly inconvenient. My lesson learned is to call ahead and ask the hotel manager about the location, any renovations, nearby restaurants (the old hotel Apple Bee's is closed), etc. Take a moment to read comments if you book through a discount web site or you can search for comments on Google Maps.

Yep, the hotel was built OVER an interstate...

3.) Coupons

Many nearby restaurants will advertise in the hotel guest directory. However, you might be able to find local deals by searching on Google or sites such as Groupon.com. Many will provide special offers to people on vacation.

With a little research, effort and more preparation than me, you'll find ways to save on your travels!

Tags: Travel

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Comment by Beth Gentry on May 11, 2010 at 10:04am: My link didn't post, it looks like. It's biddingfortravel.com.

Comment by Beth Gentry on May 11, 2010 at 10:02am: Nice view of the interstate!

We're traveling to CA this summer. We learned that if you rent your car at the airport it's nearly twice the price as renting it off-site, like, at a local Enterprise. If you can find a hotel with an airport shuttle service you can take that to the hotel, then Enterprise will pick you up from your hotel. Their "we'll pick you up" slogan is a little misleading b/c they won't do it on certain days or from the airport. I think it has to be within 10 miles of their store too.

We always get our hotels on Priceline.com if we can. Some people are scared to do this b/c you don't know what hotel it is until after you pay, but you can pick the location in the city & the star rating level you want before you bid. Sometimes it takes a few days to get what you want b/c you can only bid a certain price once a day on a certain star level. Sometimes we'll try, say, $49 for a 3 star, then if we don't get that, we'll do a 2.5 star. We have had good luck in getting some 3 or 4 star hotels for less than half the price. We stayed in the Hyatt Place in Ft. Worth once for $50/night and the Sheraton in Arlington for $65/night. Usually we pay between $45 and $65 for 2.5-3 stars. There is a website where people post prices they have recently gotten for a particular hotel in an area, so you can check that to get a ballpark figure of what they may accept. I think this is it:

To save money on eating out we will often try to get hotels with refrigerators in the rooms. If you are in one that doesn't, they will usually bring you one for free or a small fee. Then we'll go to a local grocery store & pick up some breakfast foods or easy sandwich making stuff. If you have the hotels with the free breakfast that is a good way to save on one meal per day. If you're driving, bringing a cooler with food is good idea. You can replenish the ice from the hotel ice machines.