Need Frugal Travel Tips

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I may be falling into a situation where I have to travel from Philly/Newark/Baltimore to Salt Lake UT about 10 times over 20 months. Each stay would 3 days. Travel costs are being negotiated but some of it may fall on me.

I have never been a frequent traveler (about 1x/year) so I never looked into frequent flyer miles. I know nothing about this.

Should I try to stick with one airline?

Hotel tips? (besides staying at the Blinking Neon Light Motel? )

Shop priceline, expedia?

Use a certain credit card?

I may or may not need a car - I'm looking into that.

Thanks in advance.

[jIM_Ohio]

You looking to save money or maximize rewards?

I used to travel 50-75%.

Always used one airline. Delta has a hub in Salt Lake.
Always used one car rental. I like Avis, their prefferred member service was free 10 years ago.
I like Marriot, Courtyard in particular.

For car and airline, I received frequent flier miles
For hotel, I used Marriot rewards points. The points at a hotel are worth more than anything an airline or car rental place gives you.

For Marriot, it was 10 points per dollar at a Courtyard.
5 points per dollar at Residence Inn. A 5 night stay usually got me one free hotel night.

Residence Inn's have a free breakfast and free happy hour. I could usually get a salad/soup type thing at happy hour, have a beer at the happy hour, then go out later for something small.

In addition Residence Inn's have a kitchen/stove/frig/plates. If you wanted to buy groceries to save money, you could.

I had a travel agent at work make most of my reservations. I liked choosing the hotel myself. Call them directly to find rates. AAA might save you some money in this regard.

Frequent flier miles are tough to accumulate. Need 20,000 real miles on Delta to get one ticket. That's a lot of flying.

You could transfer credit card points, hotel points and car points to frequent flier account, but it will still take you some time to get 20,000.

My travel paid to two plane tickets for our honeymoon, a 3 night stay at a five star Marriot Resort in Ft Lauderdale, plus 4 other plane flights at various points. This was from ~7 years of travel. A few other Marriot stays on cross country trips, and I still have lots of free hotel stays I can use right now.

[pearlieq]

I would echo the recommendation to try to concentrate your business as much as possible. One airline, one car rental company, one hotel chain.

If possible, maximize your rewards by using a loyalty credit card to pay expenses. With my Hilton Hhonors AMEX I can get close to 25 points per dollar spent between elite membership bonuses and paying with the cc. It adds up fast.

Southwest has a really good frequent flyer program. Rewards accumulate quickly (8 round trips to get a free ticket, plus bonus credits available from hotel chains and car rental places) and they are very easy to use.

[nanamom]

I agree with the one company loyalty. We travel alot but by car. I would pick an airline wiht points and see how many you get. If it isn't enough to use for yourself you can donate them to charity. As to hotel, I admit to being very very loyal to Motel 6. They have a clean bed, bathroom and a wake up service which is really all I ever need. They are around 50 dollars a night. If I had to use a shuttle service I suppose I would go to another hotel but we stayed in Utah for a wedding once and it was really expensive. I am sure a city that size has cabs and would hope th eprice of a cheap room and a cab was still less than a big name hotel. If you do decide to go to a big name, use one with rewards. Check with your local travel agent to see if they have any deals on all three services, usually they don't but sometimes one can be had.

[Scanner]

So, you all seem to favor a live travel agent vs. expedia.com or travelocity or something?

Yeah, while Residence Inn and Hampton are all nice, all I need is a desk, shower, and bed.

Is taking a cab a couple times per day more cost efficient than a bottom end car rental?

BTW, I stated I could fly out of Philly (closest), Newark or Baltimore because it seems the hubs make a difference on the price of a ticket.

[nanamom]

The car thing depends on how good a deal you can find. Personally I like being mobile so would rent a car even if it was less cost effective. However, it also depends on how you feel about driving in a strange city. SLC, Utah is set up differently than any city I have ever been in. It make perfect sense once you get used to the numbering system but if you don't like city driving and lots of rush hour (I think the time between 3:30 and 4:00 AM is the only time it isn't rush hour) you might want to consider someone else driving.
My DH used to use the online ticket places when he traveled before we were married then I watched my travel agent do the same thing and realized for the same money I could have someone else do all the comparison stuff and we went with them. Make sure they are looking for the best deal and not charging extra.

[jIM_Ohio]

I have heard good things about southwest... they did not fly out of cities I was usually going to (including hometown)... and this may limit some of what you do with airlines. Delta is Salt Lake, you might be able to fly there direct. If lower cost is important, southwest and other airlines are available I'd think.

If you are trying to maximize rewards... remember a vacation is not just travel. Meaning getting hotel and air points, to me, was more important than just getting airline rewards.

For example, I have an amex. Got rewards points on that-one point per dollar. One time got a steam cleaner, one time converted to frequent flier miles to get enough points for a plane ticket (one dollar per point), and prior to our honeymoon converted more rewards to Marriot so we could stay at resort (10 points marriot for every 1 point amex).

But it depends on how you vacation (maybe flying free saves a family more money than staying at a hotel for free). Some people drive to vacations... so in that case frequent flier miles mean little.

Marriot or Hilton are preferred hotels for points- they each have many "brands". Marriot is obvious (Marriot, Courtyard, Residence Inn, Fairfield Inn and a couple of others). I know Hilton has other brands... but ask a rewards member what they are.

I like Courtyards because everyone I have ever been to is laid out the same, minor exceptions. I can tell you the check in desk is to the right, breakfast area to left, lounge straight ahead. May sound little/petty, but when you travel to different places, it's a great feeling to be somewhere where you can navigate around.

For extended stays, I like Residence Inn's. I saved lots of money on the free breakfast and ability to buy groceries. Any place which gives me FREE BEER loses money, so good deal with happy hour too.

Depending what kind of work you do, I like having a rental car. I don't like being in a hotel room except to sleep, so I need a way to spend time after a hard days work... car allows me to do that.

If you have to travel often, I'd emphasize that burnout comes quickly and do the little things to make sure trip is pleasent (direct flights, familiar hotels).

best of success to you

[jIM_Ohio]

So, you all seem to favor a live travel agent vs. expedia.com or travelocity or something?

Yeah, while Residence Inn and Hampton are all nice, all I need is a desk, shower, and bed.

Is taking a cab a couple times per day more cost efficient than a bottom end car rental?

BTW, I stated I could fly out of Philly (closest), Newark or Baltimore because it seems the hubs make a difference on the price of a ticket.

Enterprise is probably the cheapest (overall). But they don't always have access to the airport. Avis, National and Hertz all would have cars at the airport or real close.

The times I have used Enterprise, my cousin got me the car- she works for Enterprise and gave me a fair price.

National and Avis are cheaper than Hertz. National's Emerald Aisle is convenient (walk up to any car on aisle and drive it for same price).

Last I checked, I'd budget $35/day for rentals. 4 days allows a cheaper weekly rate in some cases.

Hubs make a HUGE difference in prices. Cincinnati (Delta) is most expensive ticket in country. I can drive to Dayton (50 miles) or Lexington (80 miles) and connect thru Cincinnati, and save $200 than if I flew out of Cincy directly (on same flight).

I like BWI- easy in, easy out (as far aas driving in or out). I've had to work in Philly and people looked at me wierd when I said I flew into Baltimore. BWI rocks.

I have also found smaller airports get me in and out in less than 2 hours. For example, White Plains or Islip to New York city vs LGA or JFK or Newark. BWI to DC area over RR or the other one... Might sound small, but if my last thing is at 4:00 and there is a 5:30 flight at a small airport, the extra $30 airline ticket could save you the $50 hotel bill for a night+ meals.

See if Salt Lake has an equivelent airport 80-100 miles away.

Travelocity, expedia etc work well for vacations and packages. I COULD NOT use them for work. We have requirements to log "cheap fares" and our travel agent knew how to enforce our polices.

I am not speaking "against" the web services, just telling you what I had to do. Travel agents pay dividends when you have a missed flight/cancelled flight etc.

My wife travels now. She was in Buffalo 2-3 weeks ago when that snow came. Her flight was cancelled. Her travel agent left her a message at 2:30 that her flight at 6:30 was cancelled. At 4:00 that travel agent had her on a 6am flight the next morning.

Expedia or other services would not be "working" for you in a time of crisis. between 2:30 and 4:00 my wife was dealing with client issues, did nothing for travel, and had her flights rerouted.

The travel agents my company used would do the same thing. If something is cancelled, they are paid to get me home. If you are not at home, peace of mind has a price.

I might suggest using a travel agent the first few times, then going cheaper once you learn the lay of the land.

[annalaurab]

I am from Salt Lake although I currently live in Indiana, so I fly there at least a couple of times a year and I think usually Southwest or United are going to be the cheapest. I would definately get a frequent flyer miles card.

[Scanner]

Well, I just did travelocity for the heck of it - $483 for a hotel (Days Inn) for 3 days and a roundtrip plane ticket in August 2007.

That didn't include a car though - my business is actually in Odgen, UT, which seems to be pretty close to Salt Lake City - the hotel was 10 miles away so I imagine that renting a bottom end car would be more cost efficient than taking a cab 2x/day.

I'll call my car ins. co. about car rentals.

Can't beat that - but they did put me on a "red-eye" flight back to Philly (departs 8:40 p.m. and arrives at 5 a.m.).

Come to think of it - my sister flies "red-eye" flights a lot to save money. I'll just bring my Ipod and maybe I'll open up a Frequent Flyer Card - Mastercard? Visa?

What do you do? Charge all of your flights on that one card to get credit?

The airline was called "Frontier" - never heard of them.

JIMOhio,

No offense but a Residence Inn is hardly "frugal." I'm sure they are nice though and don't judge you for the needs you had when you traveled.

Does anyone know if you can negotiate with hotels "upfront?" That is, if I stay at Days Inn like travelocity pointed me to and then I approach the manager and say, "Gee, I liked it here. . .I'd like to buy 5 nights upfront for the next year and work them off?"

Can you do that and maybe get a 30% discount or something?

[jIM_Ohio]

Frequent flier miles require one thing- a frequent flier "number". Use this number whenever you make reservations with a given airline.

Some airlines combine numbers/ give credit for other carriers. For example Aeromexico gave me delta miles when I flew into Mexico.

You can increase the "rewards" by opening a credit card for traveling. The most common card I see is an Amex. But that is Delta and where I live Delta is king. US Airways has a visa, I think... each airline is different. Smaller carriers may not have a credit card rewards system.

This is where Amex comes in... American Express has "membership rewards". Costs $75 each year to join. You get 1 point per dollar. They send you a catalog and give you choices:

buy stuff. I bought a steam cleaner once
convert to FF miles. I did this with Delta.
convert to Hotel points. I did this with Marriot
buy gift certificates, golf clubs, vacation packages, cruise tickets... the list goes on (the catalog of rewards is quite thick).

Every airline, every hotel and every car rental place had a way to give amex points or receive amex points when I looked (10 years ago).

Does anyone know if you can negotiate with hotels "upfront?" That is, if I stay at Days Inn like travelocity pointed me to and then I approach the manager and say, "Gee, I liked it here. . .I'd like to buy 5 nights upfront for the next year and work them off?"

Can you do that and maybe get a 30% discount or something?

I have never negotiated like this, please let me know if it works.

I traveled for my company and was reimbursed, so I went where benefits were the best (cost was not my issue, as long as I was within policy).

[pearlieq]

So, you all seem to favor a live travel agent vs. expedia.com or travelocity or something?

Not sure exactly what you mean, but I strongly favor booking direct with vendors rather than going through a 3rd party like expedia or travelocity.

First off, you can almost always get the same price or better going directly through the vendor. Many even offer a price match bonus if you can find a lower price elsewhere--they'll beat it plus 10%

Expedia and Travelocity can tack on fees which aren't necessary if you book direct. Also 3rd party companies often require more up front payment and have much more restrictive cancellation policies.

Finally, if something goes wrong it's easier to work directly with a vendor than to try to go through another "layer" to get a problem resolved.

I use Orbitz, Expedia, etc. to get ideas and see who's got deal, but I never book through them!

[Scanner]

Hey, you guys are the experts - I have never traveled extensively so when you say reserve directly through vendors you mean:

1. Book airline ticket through airline
2. Book hotel through hotel
3. Book car through car rental co. (Enterprise. . .Rent-A-Wreck)

????

Would my BJ's membership (corporate) be worth looking into?

I have to say the couple times I went to Disney we used Liberty Travel (a medium to big travel agency here on the East Coast) and the deal was pretty good. I could have maybe saved a hundred dollars doing it myself. . .but really. . .maybe not.

I think I did do steps 1 through 3 last time I traveled and couldn't beat expedia/travelocity. . .maybe it was just a coincidence.

[jIM_Ohio]

Different sites and agents may have different deals to create the packages.

For example, if a hotel has rooms available, they may "contract" them out with one of the services to get booked. That rate may be exclusive to that vendor/agent.

Delta did this with my old company. We HAD to use Delta, and at end of year, Delta cut my company a check. The mroe we used Delta, the bigger the check.

The flight from LAX to CVG (Cincinnati) might be 1500 on Delta, but from Orange County to Dayton on another airline might be 500. We HAD to use Delta so the check at the end of the year was maximized.

The people within "the travel industry" have a way of working together to keep each other paid, but those savings are not always accessible by you or me. And we wonder why the airlines are all going bankrupt, LOL.