Book Hotels Cheaper

The Ultimate Honeymoon on Any Budget

It was more than 9 months in the making, but our new Honeymoon/Travel book is now available! Spanning over 160 pages, it is filled with hundreds of links to valuable resources concerning the Art of the Honeymoon plus destination ideas for ANY budget. Whether it be $1,000.00 or $50,000.00, we included something for everyone. For instance, for those who wish to avoid the hustle and bustle of Waikiki, did you know you can rent a "yurt" on Maui for only $35 per day? For those "in-the-money", you can rent a yacht for $32,000.00 per week.

We also are including several give-aways for free, which brings our already low price down even more. For instance, I am giving away my Hotel Reviews e-book or MP3 (currently selling for $12.95), a Newlyweds Guidebook, 101 Romantic Ideas e-book by acclaimed author Michael Webb, a "lovers" packing check list and a free honeymoon consultation with me (normally $24.95) for those planning to come to San Francisco.

Highlights of the e-book are the 4 spreadsheets co-author Tim Spooner prepared so you can budget your honeymoon, honeymoon pre-planning exercises, honeymoon timeline and checklist, travel tips and travel ideas for the most sought after honeymoon locales in the world. To name a few: Hawaii, the Caribbean, Canadian Rockies, New York, Africa, Japan, San Francisco, Tahiti, Yosemite, the Bahamas, Jamaica and plenty of suggestions for a European honeymoon of a lifetime. From ideas on how to get married on a glacier in Alaska, to river cruises in Europe, we covered it all.

You can read the first chapter with no obligation - not even your name or email. Just go to http://www.honeymoonsforyourbudget.com/ and click on "View the Chapter". We think even if you are married and need a suggestion for a 2nd (or 3rd) honeymoon, you will be pleasantly surprised at the depth of our research and the ideas we offer. And remember, it makes a great wedding gift as well, since it is something they will re-use over the years and the ability to learn how to book flights and hotels cheaply will be a lesson they can use for a lifetime. It may be the best honeymoon gift they receive!

Internet Marketing, Part 2

First the grim news: VERY few people make money right away. For those thinking they can throw out an e-book or two and rake in the dough within months - don't even bother to read further because you won't like what I have to say. But I speak the truth - as it has applied to me and how I see it applying to many others.

I hired a mentor for 2 basic reasons: 1) because I don't believe in re-inventing the wheel and knew that someone else who had been there and done that would keep me focused on what brings the best results. 2) I knew they would know the best products to use or avoid to put together your empire. Not all shopping carts are equal - I examined at least 15 before I realized the one that my mentor recommended was still the best for the dollars spent. Having someone to tell you how to do something is far easier than trying to go it alone. Yes, it costs money - big money to some people. But the amount I saved by not choosing the wrong products as well as shrinking the learning curve will allow me to start making money probably one year earlier than I would have otherwise. So eventually I will get that up front cost back sooner - and probably more exponentially to boot.

What you should look for in a mentor is obviously someone you get along with and while there are many on Twitter, FB and everywhere else on the net to choose from, a personal recommendation from someone is far more valuable than choosing one at random. My particular mentor, Connie Ragen Green, is no longer accepting mentees (she limits the number she will work with) but slots will open up from time to time as people drop out of the program for a variety of reasons. What is perhaps better however is that Connie offers individual classes and on-going training, which you will absolutely need when setting up sales pages, copy wrting, shopping carts, web sites, etc.

You can begin by simply listening to valuable information off her free weekly calls and perhaps graduating to a paid 6 week course. Eventually you may choose her very cost effective home course, which covers everything she teaches and has taught. Eventually you may choose to become a mentee if space allows.

How to Begin or Grow an Online Business

 Today I will deviate from the travel information I normally dispense and branch off to discuss something more relevant: your future. I write this because I have become convinced as I study the economy and world outlook today that jobs will continue to shrink in the years ahead and those who do not seek to find another source of income soon may be left behind in 5 years.

Years ago, I was laid off from Charles Schwab (twice) and the outplacement employment service they used gave us strange news: You should update your resume every 18 months, search for jobs every 2 years because you will switch jobs every 3 years (on average). Now of course they were addressing the corporate world and yet the sign of the times is upon us and those signs tell us that government jobs and seemingly secure jobs like engineering or finance are no longer safe havens, the high tech area has busted for the 2nd time in 8 years and even teachers and service workers are at risk in this economy.

Think about it - since 1987, the U.S. has endured a stock market crash and a severe market downturn, 3 recessions, 9/11, $4 gal. gas and a totally collapsing economy. Numerous severe events - "100 year" events have happened 5 times. Unemployment in California is approaching 10%, 401k's have been halved, home equity has dropped 50% in many places and the stock market is down 40%. Social security is slated to run out of money by 2016 to put the icing on the cake for those relying on the government to help you out.

It is no coincidence that many people have taken to starting an online business since 2001 but the fact that we didn't get in on this market till later is irrelevant. The money will still be there (even more as the Web grows around the world) and there is no reason why millions of people can't make money, either with active or passive income, for years to come. Think about it - if I made 100k per year, I would have about 3 times more money to buy YOUR THINGS. And people who already made millions are exactly the ones who buy OUR things right now.

So you need to position yourself for your future or I guarantee you will be trampled by the thousands applying for a simple entry level job in the years to come. Many people start online as a fling too. All you have to have is a passion for something that can help others. Even if it is just your expertise and experience, they have value to people who haven't 'been there-done that' yet. I started just that way - a passion to help others save money and enjoy travel more and in less than a year, MSNBC used one of my tips in their 2009 Travel Strategies piece and I was interviewed on live radio. How did I develop enough of a reputation in less than a year for this to happen?

I grinded. But more important - I hired a mentor to keep me out of the quicksand. Hiring a mentor for many fast tracks your success because you aren't wasting time chasing down rabbit holes and having to constantly start over.

Tomorrow I outline where I've been and where I am headed and how having a mentor has been responsible for any success I've had.

Have a Happy New Year - Get a FREE 2009 Travel Outlook

My 2009 Travel Outlook newsletter is ready one day ahead of schedule. For any of my readers wishing to download this 15 page newsletter, go to http://www.traveltipsguy.com

There is no charge - it is Free for your enjoyment. I am hoping it will help you when planning your travels in 2009.

Have great New Year and keep it safe and sane in 2009.

Trip Insurance

I have posted more than a couple of articles regarding the need for trip insurance and where to find some brokers who can provide quotes and coverage. As I get older, I begin to realize the value behind insurance more and more. So as a public service, I am forwarding this great article from another blog that explains travel insurance very well. It is an easy read but the information is very valuable. As I have written before, depending upon your itinerary, travel insurance is not always cost effective - perhaps even necessary. But sometimes it makes more sense than we would like to consider. For that reason, I offer you insurance as seen through the eyes of WiseBread. Keep my link to the right in mind in case you want to get a quote from over 30 travel insurance providers.

Hotel Booking Site

In my book concerning finding a hotel room when the area is sold out, I offered several foreign sites where you MIGHT be able to squeeze in a reservation. This is possible because many hotels do not bother to 'close off' these foreign or less trafficked sites where few bookings come from anyway and they can absorb the occasional booking that comes through. It is one of my secrets to finding a room when you hear "Sorry, We are Sold Out" over and over.

I have now placed a link on my blog (right hand margin) for Booking.com, where you can check out availability in foreign and domestic cities and may be able to push through a reservation at a tremendous discount to current rates.

This happens because hotels have a set rate with these sites and cannot change it as easily as they can with Expedia or automatically like with Orbitz. So you may try to get into an area that is hosting a motor car race and all the hotels want $200 or they say they are sold out. You look on Booking.com however and they may show you 4-5 options at half that price. In fact, this site often has rooms at better discounts than Expedia or Travelocity and should be considered whether the area is sold out or not.

There is one caveat I should offer. If you are using this site as a last minute booking (meaning you will arrive within minutes or hours) I would CALL the hotel after getting a confirmation number from Booking,com and make sure they haven't made a mistake and really do have a room. You wouldn't want to arrive there at 10pm and find out they have no rooms and start hassling with the clerks and Booking.com to actually find a room. Booking.com (like any Third Party site) cannot guarantee the hotel representing a room actually HAS a room, so even they advise you should contact the hotel directly and confirm your room and rate. If there is a discrepancy, at least you can hash it out BEFORE you arrive.

Check Out Discount AirFares

Some of you may have noticed I added a link recently. I am now offering a direct link to cheapOair as one of the sources you should use to locate the best airfares for your travels. I want you to know that while you can go through my affiliate link or not, you will not pay any more than if you called CheapOair on the phone and bought a ticket. So you do not pay extra to book plane fares.

The other important item to be mentioned is that I do not recommend or promote anything I do not believe in myself. I have researched airfares using a variety of sources and find cheapOair to be among the very best at finding the lowest fares available. Be aware of one huge caveat - Southwest does NOT participate so you should always check SW first to see if they fly to your location and book directly with them if the answer is affirmative.

I suggest however that you use CheapOair in addition to any other search engine protocols you normally use and see for yourself if they don't find a rock bottom price. My research included this: They recently advertised a Pittsburgh to Ft. Lauderdale fare of $173. I checked and Continental only wanted $168 BUT Continental's flight was not non-stop! To save $5 and have to stop over each way is simply not worth it to me. They advertised Philadelphia to Orlando for $118 plus tax and I found that equaled the lowest direct fare I could get as well. I also searched for SFO-Honolulu and found CheapOair's United flights to be almost $100 cheaper than United offered them for directly. Keep in mind one major item - the price (plus taxes and fees) may not include the "up to $25 service charge" CheapOair includes.

And like all internet sites, you must use CheapOair at your own risk. I confess I have researched them and found complaints about double credit card billings, tickets not delivered, fares increased between booking and confirmation, etc. But I am also the one who wrote a book about understanding hotel reviews and in my opinion, none of the complaints seemed out of line for an internet business that handles so many transactions. Most people also complained about being sent off to "India" to their call center and I also do not like off shore call centers. But I have uncovered a dispute resolution phone number and email address in New York that I will pass along if anyone who booked through my link has any problems. I should also mention I found many testimonies about how cheap the tickets were and how easy it was to use CheapOair. You must understand they often buy bulk tickets as wholesalers and that when these wholesale seats can run out, their advertised low fare can suddenly disappear at the press of an enter button.Some people say that is bait and switch but the same thing happens booking directly as well.

Discount on Golf Club Rentals

Remember that golf post a few weeks back? The one mentioning the new company with the fantastic new concept - high quality golf clubs delivered to your hotel or course? Well I've got great news - I contacted the company and they have agreed to grant MY READERS a discount on their first order!