Where Rental Cars Are Cheapest

With the price of rental cars eating up an increasing share of our vacation budgets, Hotwire has released a handy list of the 10 cities in the United States where rental rates are lowest:

1. Orlando, FL
2. San Diego, CA
3. Honolulu, HI
4. Las Vegas, NV
5. Seattle, WA
6. San Francisco, CA
7. Tampa, FL
8. Los Angeles, CA
9. Phoenix, AZ
10. Miami/Fort Lauderdale, FL

The ranking is derived from the rates available via Hotwire for the month of January.

Choosing Your Airline

Have you ever noticed that when you look up an airfare on a particular route, all or most of the airlines will have exactly the same fare? It’s no accident — they routinely try to match fares to stay competitive.

So, in a case like that, how do you choose which airline to travel on? There are some factors you might not have thought of:

Read the rest of this entry »

How To Cancel An Airline Ticket: Quickly

Jaunted, one of my favorite travel blogs, just had an entry explaining that many airlines will refund your money if you cancel the purchase of an airline ticket within 24 hours. Some will hold a reservation for 24 hours without requiring any money down and others will issue a credit for a later purchase. Check it out.

All Aboard For Higher Bag Fees

All five remaining legacy airlines — Delta, United, US Airways, Continental and American — have jumped on board with higher fees for checked luggage.

The going rate is now $25 for the first checked bag and $35 for the second. Some airlines (not American) knock a few dollars off the fee if you pay in advance on the Internet, the Wall Street Journal notes.

Please note this: Southwest Airline still charges no fee for up to two checked bags per customer. That’s worth $120 round trip, at the going rates. JetBlue allows one bag at no extra charge.

Keep it in mind when you compare fares.

Coast to Coast From $238

All the major airlines are selling fares from Bradley to Seattle for $238, round trip, all taxes and fees included.

Other Northeast airports have similar fares. Other West Coast destinations, including San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego, are running around $240 to $270.

The fares look to be good from Jan. 26 to March 10. Each route and airline is a little different, but availability looks best on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

These fares are not advertised, so they may go away at any minute. If you’re looking for a late winter trip to the West Coast, get to your favorite booking engine soon.

Frugal Traveler Finds Free Entertainment, Cheap Drinks

I was amused last night to see a couple at our hotel who seemed to share my sense of frugality.

They were sitting in the chairs provided in an alcove of the open-air lobby, a floor above the bar where a guitarist was playing Hawaiian music. They had pulled their chairs up to the edge of the alcove, so they could see down into the bar, and were applauding vigorously.

The man had a glass — it looked like one of the water glasses from the guest rooms — with an amber liquid in it. No inflated bar prices for him!

Beware The Resort Fee

I got an email yesterday promoting rates as low as $47at New York, New York on the Las Vegas Strip. But the the real cost would be $55.99.

That’s because the hotel is charging a resort fee of $8.99. (Add $1.08 tax on the resort fee and $5.64 tax on the room rate and it all adds up to $62.71.)

Hotels, like airlines, are looking for revenue where they can get it. And resort fees, once charged only at high-end beach and vacation hotels, are just another source of revenue.

Read the rest of this entry »

On The Cheap At An Expensive Hotel

Winning a bid for a great rate at a fancy hotel is always rewarding, but the real challenge can keeping costs down when you get there.

My husband and I are at the Hapuna Beach Prince on the Big Island of Hawaii, where the quality of the rooms and service are exceptional (especially at Priceline prices) and the opportunites abound to spend more on fancy meals and extras.  (Get thee behind me, $27 room service breakfast.)

Here are some things we do to keep that temptation at bay:

Read the rest of this entry »

Don’t Forget About Bag Fees

Delta has raised its checked bag fees, quickly followed by Continental, CNN reports. It’s a reminder to calculate those costs when you travel.

Both airlines are charging $23 for the first checked bag and $32 for the second –  in each direction, if you pay the fee in advance on the Web. It’s $25 and $35 if you wait until you’re at the airport.

So when you compare fares among airlines, remember that others charge less. And remember, particularly, that Southwest still allows each passenger to check two bags at no extra charge and JetBlue allows one.

Pricelining Under The Gun

My husband and I use Priceline all the time, and I always preach the need for a careful bidding strategy. But today there wasn’t much time for that.

We spent Sunday night at the Newark Airport Hilton for $46. (From the airport van, we saw the Days Inn sign for $76 a night.) But wary of the winter weather and cancellation fees, we hadn’t booked a hotel for our first night in Honolulu.

The Ohana Honolulu Airport Hotel looked like it would be $89 a night when we researched a couple of weeks ago. But when we phoned from O’Hare — when the weather looked good in Chicago — Ohana quoted $109 plus tax. Ugh.

Priceline to the rescue. Speed typing into the netbook at O’Hare we snagged the Aqua Palms & Spa for $60 — $75.60 with taxes and fees. Good deal.

(More on Priceline coming soon.)