Stretching the Travel Dollar

Being able to treat ourselves to a trip has always been a relaxing reward for my wife and me. During the last three years, we have been traveling often for business, family visits, and volunteer work, and we have learned to optimize various offers available to the frequent traveler.

Credit Cards and Frequent Customer Plans

One of the most popular strategies to earn travel benefits is to use a credit card that accumulates points toward hotel stays or transportation. However, among the benefit plans, there can be great differences in how quickly you can earn points.

In offers I’ve reviewed for travel, I’ve found that using a credit card aligned with a specific hotel network or airline is a better deal than using a card that accumulates points that can be used for a wide range of services and merchandise. The key is to do the math.

For instance, if your priority is to earn hotel points, pick a location to which you often travel. Then, when reviewing offers, zero in on how many points are needed to stay in a certain class of hotels at that location and how much you would have to purchase with the credit card to accumulate those points.

Over the past two years, by merely using a credit card to make many of my usual purchases, I was able to stay for a total of five free nights in Manhattan, two in a suburb of Chicago, and one in upstate New York. Because my spouse travels for business more often than I do, she accumulated many more free nights with the plan she uses.

Of course, we pay off the balances right away, or the value of the benefits would quickly be diminished by the interest charges. The credit card companies still make a fine profit from the fees they charge the vendors for their services.

There are websites that compare the benefits of different cards, such as www.creditcards.com. What you can also do, and what I found to be most helpful, is simply to go to the websites of hotels, airlines, and other transportation providers that you prefer, find out what credit card plans are offered, and then compare the plans.

In addition to earning points through credit card use, you can earn bonus stays or free fares through the standard plans that hotels and transportation carriers offer. These plans have been available for many years and are well known so my advice, that you can benefit by, is simply to sign up for as many plans as possible, at least until you have decided which providers to stick with.

There have been a few times that I regretted not availing myself of these frequent customer benefit packages, not foreseeing that I would stay in the same hotel or use the same airline again. For instance, I took several flights on a certain airline to visit relatives; I did not join the plan, and later, for business trips, my employer booked me on the same airline.

Another reason for joining these traditional plans is that they now usually include many different hotels chains, and there are many alliances being made between the hotels, airlines, and rail companies, which enable you to accumulate benefits faster.

Other Helpful Strategies

•Even for short trips, I’ve found it economical and enjoyable to book extended-stay hotels that have kitchenettes. The rates are reasonable, breakfast is often free, and having a refrigerator available for leftovers or groceries when I want to take a break from restaurant dining can be a welcome relief.

•Websites such as Expedia.com or Orbitz.com can compare prices for flights, ground transportation, and accommodations. An outstanding website for finding deep discounts and comparing the results of other travel websites is Travelzoo.com. If you register with the sites, you will receive emails with their most discounted deals. However, not all providers are listed. For instance, for Southwest Airlines or Jet Blue, you will need to go directly to the websites of those airlines.

•Have a membership to an old stalwart, such as the Automobile Club of America (AAA), can be beneficial. I’ve found AAA’s travel service agents to be very helpful and the prices of their offerings to be competitive. In most hotels or airport parking facilities, a 10 percent or more AAA discount is standard.

Issues To Be Aware Of

•To compete with online services that offer deep discounts, in which you must prepay, some hotels are now offering prepaid rates. However, these discounted, prepaid prices, direct or through third parties, are usually not refundable unless trip cancellation insurance is available and purchased.

•Don’t assume the weekday rates are less expensive in the locations to which you are traveling. If the destination is a center for commerce or government business, the rates may drop on the weekend. A prime example is Washington D.C.

•When you purchase accommodations or travel through one of the third-party websites, you often will lose the direct customer service relationship with the hotel or transportation service. If you encounter a difficulty with your purchase, the hotel desk clerk, car rental agent, or airline ticketing person may be powerless to help you.

•Make sure you read the fine print on all discounted offers before purchasing, and be sure you know what is guaranteed and what is not. For instance, for the bidding option on Priceline.com, the service cannot guarantee whether or not you will receive a smoking or nonsmoking room. This means that a nonsmoker can be placed in a smoking room, and a smoker can be placed in a non-smoking room.

In short, price is only one factor that must be balanced with risk and the quality of customer service.

Phil Randell is a contributor to The Epoch Times.

Where will you travel in 2012? Write us at: submissions@epochtimes.com, Attn: Travel Editor