Book Hotels Cheaper

Travel Info for One and All

I write about travel and various destinations myself but I am not above passing along a good resource when I come across one. I am doing just that now, as I came across a Travel Guide from the L A Times that I think many people may enjoy.

Titled Travel Guide 2010, it is not only a site with information about places like San Francisco, Hollywood, Brazil, Thailand and Europe but there are numerous articles about cruising, contact information for hotel,s airline, car rentals, etc AND guide books for Mexico, Las Vegas, Hawaii and California to persue through.

You can find the site above and I would bookmark it for future use, since you never know if you will need a weekend getaway idea down the road.

When Hotels Switch Brands

I used to enjoy a scrumptious champagne Sunday brunch at an airport Crown Plaza many years ago. (Like when I could afford champagne). Then I dropped out of the Sunday Brunch racket for many years but when I found myself near the hotel one day, I was startled to see it was now a Sheraton. I had no idea where my hotel or brunch had gone.

Similar things happen all the time in the hotel business as a Holiday Inn will re-brand to a Sheraton or a Days Inn to a Howard Johnson and often the guest will be left wondering if it is the same wonderful staff and accommodations that have known from years before.

Along comes this article "When Sheraton and other chain hotels switch brands" and since it involves another consumer advocate position, I thought it might strike a chord in my readers as well.

First and foremost, the logical issue up front is you might wonder where your hotel went if you were looking for a Holiday inn and it was no loner there. Actually, it is still there, it may just be a Starwood hotel instead. The article asks "How would you know?" and I think the logical answer would be that it was no longer reservable as a Sheraton. That would be an obvious clue.

But what if you were using vouchers, such as the example they gave about someone using Best Western vouchers only to find it had ended its affiliation with Best Wetern just days prior to arrival. Needless to say, their Best Western vouchers were seemingly worthless. In this case, all ended well but it brings up a great point. What do you do if the chain re-branded and they never advised you?

The article is short on real answers so I'll offer my opinion. If you booked at an Econo Lodge and arrived there to find it was now the Cesspool Inn, you should be able to refuse the reservation and be able to cancel and stay elsewhere. Naturally, the hotel will probably cry foul and say you cannot cancel but I suspect your right to refuse the charge with your credit card company would be upheld in your favor if you proved you booked at one chain only to find they were now another. For whatever reasons, people may have a special hatred for a Hilton or Days Inn and not want to stay at one even if everything seemed the same. So I would first ask to get out of the room reservation charge because of the re-branding issue that you weren't aware of and then I would dispute the charge if they in fact charged you as a no-show.

No 2 hotels or their policies are alike but to me this is common sense and any manager of a hotel/chain would realize that if in fact a hotel re-brands, they should make every attempt to notify you and allow you to cancel the reservation before arriving and being stuck.

Hotels Fees You May NOT Be Aware Of

Consumer advocate Chris Elliott is not shy about reporting accounting shenanigans that go on in the travel business. In one especially egregious instance, I even wrote him and told him he should reconsider what he was writing because he apparently didn't understand the implications of what he wrote. Naturally, he ignored me. Yet I continue to quote him often because he and I are really onbaord the same boat - trying to make travel better for all.

The fact that I WORK in a hotel makes me susceptible to being considered a robber baron myself, since I am aware of fees and extras that hotels tack on to a bill. I can say that MY hotel only has one such fee, a 'safe' charge for the safe we put in the room but we will gladly refund the $1.50 charge before, during or after a stay if it is noted by the guest they either aren't, won't or didn't use the safe. I myself would be upset over some of the other fees I have heard being levied on guests though, especially resort fees for use of towls or pool side chairs when in fact you may have never gone near a beach or pool.

Well, here come Chris with another report and I think you should read it, even if you infrequently travel. I found it on his syndicated column that came from MSNBC and it is titled: "Hotel Fees that Must Die and How to Kill Them". They may not ever appear on your bill but it seems once there, many hotels and motels have a hard time removing them. Therefore being aware BEFORE booking is key. Read the report and see if you don't agree.

Hotel Sale from Ramada

It is not often that I post information about hotel sales. The obvious reason being most 'sales' I hear of are either too 'time restrictive' (book within 3 days) or they aren't truly sales. But it appears that this hotel recession we are in has finally produced some good sales.

The one I write about here is for all Ramada's. They are offering up to 50% off on certain stays. According to this article from Gadling, some Ramada's are offering rooms as low as $28 per night. Read the article for disclaimers and restrictions to see if there is any chance you could use a good 50% off for a future stay allowed by Ramada according to their parameters.

Also, however, keep in mind the following. Getting a 50% discount may be fine - staying in a dump where no price you might pay would be satisfactory is not fine. My experience tells me that often it is the $40 per night hotels and motels offering these discounts and sometimes the discounts are not much less than they would offer you the room for anyway. Keep in mind that as far as the food chain goes with hotels, Ramada is not exactly near the top. Along with Days Inn, Howard Johnson's and Travelodge's, these brands are in the lower tier of hotels/motels and are already considered budget hotels.

My advice would be to see what kind of discount they would allow (under the 50% off promotion) not only to see if you qualify but if it is available and then go to Expedia or their corporate website to see what the regular rate is. Or simply call the hotel some night and ask what the best rate is that they will give you. If they are offering rooms for $69 and you can get it for $41, that is a good deal. If you call them and they say they can give you a rate of $48 anyway, it is NOT such a great deal.

Keep in mind as well that most likely these reservations are non cancelable and non changeable, so if weather strands you somewhere, you will not be able to cancel or switch check in dates. So check to see what the cancel policy is for this promotion. And as always, remember that $28 per night motels are very likely to be a sad sack motel. Perhaps in bad areas or with tremendously bad reviews. (It pays to read reviews for such hotels on Tripadvisor, Travelocity, Expedia.) So "let the buyer beware" whenever you see a sale almost too good to be true. Make sure it is the recession forcing rates down and not a normally $38 per night hotel offering $10 off (unless you LIKE $38 motels!)

Q & A on Mexico (Baja and Cabo)

I haven't written about Mexico in quite some time - perhaps I take it for granted too much. (My brother just returned from a 2nd trip in the last 6 months to Mexico so maybe it seems like EVERYONE goes there already?)

Budget Travel has published a Q & A about destinations in Mexico from Baja California to the Mexican Riviera and I thought it would make for interesting reading even if you have been to Mexico. I myself have been all over Mexico but still I never made it to Baja or Cabo, so this article/post had interest for me as well. It is titled "Q & A on Baja and Cabo San Lucas" and though not a detailed article, it does ask a few common and relevant questions. and may be a good start for anyone just thinking about Mexico who has never been there before.

Super Bowl Hotel Info

All Right! You just were handed a pair of tickets to the 2010 Super Bowl in Miami. That's the good news. The bad news is how much it will cost you to use these tickets, especially given that the game is only days away.

It may be too late to find a great airfare ()my advice would be to fly into Jacksonville or Orlando and rent a car if Miami airfares are through the roof) but you CAN still find affordable hotels. An article I located on Peter Greenberg's blog/web site mentions hotels under $100 still available. Of course they are out of the immediate area and some hotels are 25 miles away (that's the beauty of flying into another city - you have a rental car!) but if you want luxury, you also have your pick of $300 plus per night resorts and hotels.

Check out the article here.

Hotel Tipping

Most veteran travelers are well aware of whether a tip (and how much) is due to any given party. After that, it is simply a matter of how much they tip or whether they even want to. Some people think tipping is ridiculous (even for service employees) and others think tipping brings better service and are generous with their amounts.

There are always cases however that don't fir the norm and people (especially those who travel infrequently) are not sure when or if a tip is 'owed' and/or how much it should be. For them, I pass along this article from USA Today titled " How Much to Tip at Hotels and When: A Primer for Guests".

I even mention for front desk employees at hotels tipping in my book because there is apparently very little understanding of what a tip (even $1) can do for you when staying for several days. I was somewhat surprised in the article that the so-called hotel experts didn't seem to grasp the basics either, so while I suggest you read the article, I will add my 2 cents worth as well.

Here's the scenario. Hotel desk clerks do not expect tips, nor do any solicit them as far as I have ever seen. They are more than happy (as a rule) to provide good service in hopes you will return in the future. But I myself am often mystified at how far some guests will go in expecting service that ranges FAR beyond normal. For instance, to bring extra towels or a wine opener or a toothbrush to your room is NOT an expected action from a sole desk clerk. Their job is to check in guests and answer phones - not run all over the hotel delivering toothpaste because you forgot it. It should be enough that the hotel (like ours) provides these things without charge but it is expected that the guest come down to the desk to get them.

And think about bags left in storage. If you have 3 bags and would normally tip a shuttle driver $2-$3 to load them on a shuttle, is it beyond reason that a clerk who has to retrieve them from a back storage area and bring them out to the lobby deserves a $1, if not more? Yet rarely does anyone give our staff a tip but a cab driver unloading bags gets $5 usually. Makes no sense. And as always, you can 'requests' rooms with a view when in Las Vegas or near the ocean but isn't it worth $5-$10 as a preemptive tip to guarantee you see the lights of the Strip instead of the darkness of the desert for the next 3-4 nights?

If you read the above article, I suggest you read some of the comments. This article generated a ton of them and some are downright humorous. And when talking about tipping, it is always good to laugh because no one wants to see an unhappy tipper.

How Travel and Technology Have Affected Travel

I came across a great article from USA Today about how travel in this last decade had changed. Why? Because of technology and terrorism. The article will speak for itself but I wanted to add my 2 cents worth of experience as well.

Remember (for you older folks) when you could wait at a gate for a departing flight and if there were any seats available, get on as a 'Stand-By' for a great fare? I recall flying several times to L.A. in the early 70's (on PSA - Pacific Southwest Air which is now just Southwest) for $25. Those days are gone because now you can't get past security without a ticket and airlines don't issue standby seats anymore.

I used to take my skis and bags to the airport the night before a flight and leaving them in a locker for $1 so I didn't have to schlep them with me on the shuttle the following days. That too is now gone because you can't leave luggage in lockers anymore and the rare baggage storage services are only in the international terminal in San Francisco and cost about $25 per bag now.

You could enter and exit the boarding areas at will also as well as wait for friends or loved ones at the gates. Those days too are gone as without a ticket or special pass, you can't get through security without a boarding pass.

In the end, we are far safer and glad of it but it is fun to "remember when" once in a while.

Wacky Travel Tales from 2009

From my very own hometown paper comes this lighthearted review of some weird events that happened in the last year to travelers. I found it amusing and assume you will too.

You can comment as you go from tale to tale. I know I questioned at least one item (RyanAir requiring 'brides' dressed in wedding dresses to book an extra seat and list it as "Miss Extra Seat." Apparently, they do not match ID's with reservations because here in the USA, you would need ID that said "Miss Extra Seat".)

Titled Travel's Weird and Wild 2009, you will no doubt chuckle at the Swiss Air pilot who dropped trou at the security checkpoint, tsk tsk the Newcastle pub drinking competition and be annoyed at the surcharge one airline assessed for a child's teddy bear as carry on. The other high (or actually LOW points) you'll have to read for yourself. 

Exotic Accommodations

Recently, I wrote about out of the ordinary locations people might stay who have been everywhere and seen everything. Now, I found an article about exotic and off-beat accommodations available to those who have an entrepeneurial spirit about them.

For instance, how about cubicles in the middle of a field in Spain? Or a single red 'cube' in France? There are houses and cabins over water, even a Boeing 727 fuselage sticking out of a house in Costa Rica. (And at only a bargain $400 per day!)

Yes, you would have to perhaps be tired of being pampered in luxury suites and penthouses and most likely to want to splurge on somewhat rudimentary accommodations, but I suspect half of the fun is just getting there and then having a memory never to be forgotten. And one few others share.

Check out this article from the UK and enjoy.