Do Good, Save Money With BiddingForGood

My husband, already a master of Priceline bidding, has come up with another place to find travel bargains.

The website BiddingForGood hosts online auctions for nonprofit organizations. Among the items auctioned off by schools, civic organizations and other nonprofits around the country are hotel rooms and restaurant certificates.

Don’s most recent winning bid was for two nights at the Hotel Andaluz in Albuquerque (its lovely lobby is pictured here) for $75 a night. That was about half the lowest rack rate.

Want to try this site to save money and do good at the same time? A few tips:

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Megabus Restores Hartford-Boston Route

Megabus will restore service between Hartford and Boston on Aug. 17, with four trips daily, the Hartford Courant reports.

The company pulled out of Hartford altogether in 2009, abandoning it as a stop on the New York to Boston route. It returned in December 2010 with routes to New York and Amherst, Mass.

Now Boston is back, too. With the resumption of that route Megabus is giving away 1,000 free tickets. A new route between Hartford and New Haven will also start next month with four round trips daily.

The regular fares on Megabus start at $1 each way when bought well in advance, with fees bringing the total to about $2.50 round trip. It’s an incredible deal, but you have to plan ahead. Fares increase as the departure date approaches.

My sister has been a regular Megabus customer with trips between Washington and Hartford. The husband and I recently did a round trip to New York for a total of $4.50 and we just bought another at that price for Boston. The buses, by the way, are equipped with Wi-Fi.

Groupon Launches Travel Site

The new Groupon travel site has launched at groupon.com/getaways. The initial offers include a night at the Las Vegas Palms for $89 and a four-night stay at the swanky Lotus at Diamond Head in Honolulu for $500. I’m thinking the wildly successful Groupon model could become a powerful force in the travel industry.

Save On Travel Expenses With Groupon

I occasionally buy discount coupons from Groupon, mostly for eating out, but it only recently occurred to me that I could use the site for travel.

In advance of an upcoming trip to New Mexico, I started to look not only at the Hartford area deals but also those for Albuquerque, which includes some offers for Santa Fe. (Groupon says a separate site for Santa Fe is in the works.)

I found not only restaurant bargains but deeply discounted tickets for the Road Runner Express, the light rail system between the two cities.

Groupon has also announced a Groupon Getaways travel site in partnership with Expedia, but that doesn’t seem to be up and running quite yet.

Southwest Sale For Fall Travel

Southwest Airlines is promoting a sale to celebrate its 40th anniversary. One-way fares are $40, $80 and $120, plus taxes and fees, depending on the distance.

Fares must be purchased by midnight on Thursday, June 23, for travel between Aug. 23, 2011 and  Nov. 16, 2011. The fares are offered every day except Friday and Sunday. Columbus Day and the Labor Day weekend are blacked out. 

From Bradley International, the $40 fare is available to Baltimore, Buffalo, Newark, Norfolk, Pittsburgh and Washington Dulles. The round-trip fare, with taxes and fees, will total about $120, with slight variations depending on the number of stops.

The $80 fare is good for Birmingham, Charleston, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, Greenville / Spartanburg, Indianapolis, Jackson, Kansas City, Little Rock, Louisville, Milwaukee, Nashville, Omaha, Raleigh/ Durham, St. Louis and several Florida destinations. The total round-trip fare will be about $195.

The $120 fare applies to multiple destinations in the Southwest, including Texas and Las Vegas, as well as New Orleans, but does not extend to the West Coast. The round-trip fare will come out to about $280.

These are competitive fares in the current market. And remember — you can check two bags on Southwest at no charge.

Groupon For Travel?

The Club Med resort chain has vexed travel agents in Britain by offering a discount on the British Groupon site, Travel Weekly reports.

The deal, a £250 voucher toward a Club Med vacation at select resorts for £20, was available only through direct sales on the Groupon site. Club Med seemed unmoved by the travel agents’ complaints that they were cut out of the deal and described it to Travel Weekly as a test.

Groupon also recently announced a partnership with Expedia in the United States and Canada called Groupon Getaways. I just signed up for email alerts, but so far I can’t tell what is being or will be offered.

This could get interesting.

JetBlue Offers One-Day Sale

JetBlue is having a one-day “Pop-Up Sale” today, Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2010.

The fares are valid for travel Oct. 12 to Dec. 15, 2010 with Thanksgiving week blacked out. For many routes, availability is limited to certain days of the week, usually Tuesday and Wednesday. Although JetBlue will start flying Nov. 17 from Bradley International, no sale fares are offered for Bradley.

There are some decent fares from Boston and New York, however. For example, the $79 one-way fare between Boston and Fort Lauderdale comes out to $179 round trip when taxes and fees are added.

Norwegian Discounts Cruises From New York

Norwegian is dealing on its November cruises out of New York to the Bahamas. Inside cabins are available on seven-night cruises at $399 per person, double occupancy, which comes out to $507.50 when taxes and fees are added.

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Chillax For Less At Kripalu

The Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Stockbridge, Mass., is offering a third night free to guests who book two nights in its retreat and renewal program this winter, and two free nights for those who book three nights.

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Amtrak Offers 25 Percent Discount In Northeast

Amtrak is offering a 25 percent discount for advance purchase of one-way fares on its Northeast Regional service, which runs from New Haven to Washington with spurs reaching Boston and Springfield, as well as Lynchburg and Newport News, Va.
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