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| The Basics | Save big with last-minute travel deals
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Here are five ways to save on airfare, top-notch hotels and luxury cruises, including a little-known strategy for scoring deals online.
By Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine
Talk about a killer commute. San Franciscan Cindy Teasdale has been in a long-distance relationship with Bill McGowan of St. Louis since February, and the two get together twice a month. Cindy, who has become the couples travel planner, has learned how to game the system so that making last-minute travel plans actually saves them hundreds of dollars versus booking well in advance. Her latest coup: a luxury-hotel-and-dinner package for one-third off the regular price.
Now is a good time to brush up your own vacation-booking skills. Late autumn is prime time for 11th-hour bargains because, at most locales, its between the peak and low seasons. Last-minute discounts are plentiful, so its worth your while to do a little searching online. For this story, we define "last minute" as within two weeks of departure for most destinations or up to a month before a cruise sets sail. (The typical weekend vacation is booked seven weeks in advance.)
In July, Cindy, 29, invited Bill, 34, to join her at her parents cottage in Charlevoix, Mich., for a minireunion with her siblings and their families. She also wanted to spend one night of the trip at the Grand Hotel, on nearby Mackinac Island. But she didnt want to pay full price. Since February, Cindy had kept an eye out for special rates posted on the hotels Web site. But as the date approached, rates remained stubbornly high.
Undeterred, Cindy called the hotel the morning of the day she was scheduled to arrive. Because of late cancellations, the rate had dropped by a third. She and Bill stayed in a corner room with a view of Lake Huron through the bay window -- and enjoyed a five-course meal for two (including steak, escargot and tuna tartare) -- for $297. The best rate available before their arrival day was an Internet special for $440.
That evening, the couple sat on the hotels front porch -- billed as the worlds longest -- and sipped kir royale (champagne and creme de cassis). Says Cindy, "It was well worth waiting for, and we felt we got so much more bang for our buck."
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You, too, can find a great bargain if you use the following strategies for booking spur-of-the-moment trips for business and leisure.
Package deals
Airlines hike fares a week or two before most weekday flights depart. They figure that many business travelers will pay through the nose to fly on short notice.
But there is a way around the high prices: Buy a vacation package that includes a hotel and rental car along with your flights. Airlines discount unbooked seats at the last minute by bundling them into packages, which dont list the fare reduction separately.
For example, in early August, American Airlines was offering a Friday-evening flight between St. Louis and San Francisco. The fare on three days notice was $880, and that was typical of the best offered by other airlines. Cindy bought a round-trip ticket on the same American flight -- also on three days notice -- as part of a vacation package that included a compact-size rental car, all for $456. She found the deal at Site59.com, a Web site that tracks last-minute weekend packages.
To get the price, Cindy didnt actually have to use the rental car -- although she didnt save any money by skipping it. Site59 and many other companies that sell packages let you keep the plane ticket and ignore the rental car or any other part of the package without penalty. (If you need lodging anyway, check for a package that will offer a better deal than buying a flight and hotel room a la carte.)
Site59 advertises that it offers packages starting 14 days before departure (and as late as three hours before departure). If you want to book a package for a holiday weekend, you will often find deals up to 17 days ahead of your departure.
Premium lodging
A hotel may lower its rate at the last minute if it is not fully booked. Capitalize on the hotels bad luck with a two-step plan: First, reserve a room at an inexpensive chain hotel that permits cancellation up to the day you arrive. For example, Marriott hotels allow you to cancel standard bookings (as opposed to rooms reserved at special clearance rates, which have tighter rules) without penalty until 6 p.m. on the day of arrival.
Next, a day or two before you arrive, call the hotel you would prefer to stay at and ask for the lowest rate. If you score a great rate at your preferred hotel, cancel the first reservation.
An alternate strategy is to check the hotels Web site for special deals, such as a free third night. Hotels are offering free nights more often because theyre under pressure to keep guests for longer stays without starting a price war by lowering daily rates, according to Nancy Dunnan, editor of the TravelSmart newsletter. The reason: Americans are not staying as many nights per trip as they once did. Keeping guests longer increases the chances that they will buy profitable add-ons, such as room service and those $20 macadamia nuts in the minibar.
If the hotel is run independently or is part of a regional chain, call the front desk and ask the clerk for an extra nights stay free -- even if the hotel isnt currently advertising one. Independent and regional-chain hotels, which lack the marketing power of national chains such as Hyatt, may be more willing to bend to fill an unexpected vacancy. When you call, say something like, "I already have a reservation at another hotel at a cheaper rate, but Ill book with you if I can get a third night free." This strategy wont work with national chains, because they discourage their hotels from negotiating directly with guests.
Another last-minute strategy may be the most fun of all: Try an inn or a bed-and-breakfast instead of a hotel. These mom-and-pop operations are often more flexible about discounting to fill vacancies than national hotel chains, says Dunnan.
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