Posted by traveller on March 15, 2010
If you are renting a car on your travels and not taking the costly insurance you may end up having to challenge rental car damage.
You may have seen some horror stories of people getting charged for dents and scratches that were already on the car as well as “loss of use” charges where the rental company wants to charge you for the potential money they would have made renting the car while it was (supposedly) out of commission getting repaired. And those loss of use charges are never discounted. And really - who pays full price for rentals these days?
Anyways, if you do not want to pay for the hassle insurance the rental agency offers there are some steps that you can take to protect your interests in the event that you need to challenge some rental car damage.
Before you leave the rental car agency lot with your car do that thorough walk around and mark EVERYTHING on the little damage sheet they give you. Have someone video you doing this as well as video the car up close to show all the existing damage. Also take photos of the car. Do not forget about the interior!
These things are all great evidence for challenging rental car damage.
Posted by traveller on March 9, 2010
Rental car prices can be pretty outrageous - especially if you are renting from an airport location. If you are trying to save money by getting the cheapest car then you likely are having to book an economy size vehicle. What if you need a larger vehicle though?
You just might be able to get a free upgrade on that rental car!
Here are some tips on how you can get a complimentary upgrade on your rental car.
Look on the websites of all the rental car agencies to see if they have any free upgrade offers or coupon codes. If you can’t find any there try the forums at Fat Wallet and Slick Deals.
Order up an Entertainment Book ( Take an incredible 50% off all Entertainment Books plus get free shipping from 3/1/10-3/14/10!
) for the city you are visiting. Not only will you score some local coupons but also some national coupons for car rental agencies. One of those coupons just might be for a free upgrade.
Get yourself a credit card that has car rental upgrades as a perk. The American Express Platinum Card gives you free Hertz #1 Club Gold membership privileges. And that gets you complimentary rental car upgrades every time.
Posted by traveller on March 8, 2010
Whether you are traveling for pleasure or for business, hotel costs can quickly become unmanageable if you do not attempt to get a discount deal. Stretching your dollars by getting a cheap hotel can result in more money for other aspects of your trip. Getting a cheap hotel is not difficult, you just have to know how to go about doing so. It may take a little extra work to get a cheap deal on a hotel but the savings can really add up.
** Check hotel chain websites for unadvertised specials. For example, for Hilton chain hotels, which includes Hampton Inn and Doubletree hotels, go to the Hilton website at Hilton.com to see if there are any cheap deals going on. Often the best prices on hotel chain websites require prepayment so be sure to check the rate details before booking a room.
** Look for special discount offers on the Travelzoo website, which is a site that specializes in offer the best travel deals available. Usually the discounts you will see on Travelzoo are only available for a certain number of hotel rooms or you have to book by a certain date. This means that if you do not book early you could miss out on a deal. For example, hotel deals posted the last week of February 2010 include 40 percent off the nightly rates at a four-star hotel in Prague, almost 70 percent off the nightly rates at a St. Lucia resort and 50 percent off nights at the famous four-star Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
** Bid on a hotel room using Priceline.com. With Priceline’s “Name You Own Price” option you can enter in the amount that you want to pay for a room and see if any hotels accept your bid. The way that this works is that you enter in your destination and preferred area to stay in and the star-rating you want the hotel to have. You enter in your payment details and place your bid. If you bid is accepted you are charged in full for the hotel booking immediately. Only then is the name of the hotel revealed to you.
** Use Hotwire.com to get a cheap hotel room. Hotwire.com
is a little different from Priceline as you are shown results for the city that you search for a hotel room in and you can see the star rating as well as amenities at the hotel. You do not see the name of the hotel until you pay. A quick look at BetterBidding.com to see previous Hotwire.com users results can help you to decode the listing and figure out which hotels you are looking at. Once you pay for your hotel the name of it is revealed to you.
Posted by traveller on March 5, 2010
If you are doing a little last minute traveling and need a hotel you iPhone can help you out. Check out these iPhone apps geared towards last minute travelers. Each can help you with last minute hotels.
HotelPal
Lodging.mobi
Hotels near me
Hotel Deals
GasFoodLodging.mobi
Posted by traveller on March 1, 2010
If you have decided spur of the moment to take a trip or if you are currently on a trip have change of plans you may need to look for some last minute hotels. If you have never had to do this sort of thing before you may be wondering where you can find last minute hotels.
Two websites that specialize in last minute hotels and last minute travel booking in general are LastMinute.com and LateRooms.com. They may not have the best deals though.
Priceline, Expedia and Hotwire.com all allow same day booking for last minute hotels. Hotwire is likely to be where you find the best hotel deal if you don’t mind finding out the hotel after you pay. These sites are also a great way to see where there are actually rooms available.
If you know some hotels in the area where you are headed to you can look on their website or call their reservation line to see if they have any available rooms. This is probably the safest way to book a last minute hotel as you can have the room guaranteed for late arrival, which means that the bed will be waiting for you no matter what time you arrive at your last minute hotel.
