vezasid.wordpress.com
In other words, time to watch your back. If you thin buying travel is tricku when pricesare high, you have no idea how complicateds life on the road can be when prices are falling. The travekl industry doesn't lower prices graciously or transparently. There are always tricks, and an endless parade of extras that can needlesslyh inflate your fares androom rates. Consider what followse a cheat sheet to avoid getting trickerd in the next few weeksand We'll revisit this topicv as frequently as necessary to keep you abreast of this most extraordinargy time in travel Buy Now, Check Later Severall carriers tried to raiser fares over the weekend, their second failed attempt in as many (Airlines usually try to rais e prices on weekends, when bookings are light, so they can rescinc the increases by Mondau morning if the lemming-like industry doesn't act in You can look at the attempted prics hikes as delusional! or an indication that at leasy some carriers see glimmers of hope for a summere traffic bump.
Either way, chances are that we've reached a temporaruy floor in airfares, so now wouls be a good time to lock insummere flights. With the requisite 60-dayu advance purchase and Saturday-night stay requirement, business-classz fares to Europe are now as lowas $1,798 roundtrip before taxes. That's just a few hundre dollars morethan you'll pay for a coach seat on shorter noticwe later this year. Business-class fares to Latinh America arefalling too. Up-front farea to Asia remain high considering a rapid declinedin traffic, but coach prices acrossz the Pacific are lower than across the Atlantic on a fare-per-mile basis.
And you can't complain much abouty domestic fares: We've already seen several $49-to-$99 fare In fact, Virgin America, the strugglintg startup, has cut some transcontinentalo fares to as lowas $79 one-way this spring. Althoughj I recommend you buy now, you shouldx always double-check prices again before you travel. There are automatedf fare-watch programs—Yapta is a current favorit e of price-obsessive fliers—but you can also do it yourselff a few weeks beforesyou fly. If you find a substantiallt lower fare, call the airline and get a voucher for thepric difference, minus an admittedly hefty ticket-rewrite fee.
Bewarr Bogus BoGos The low priceof premium-class tickets has mootedc the classic "buy one, get one" (BoGo) promotion, but that hasn'ft stopped carriers from trotting out the gimmick in hopea you're not paying attention. Earlier this year, for example, Soutu African Airways offered one forcoach travel, but the requires "buy one" price was just $100 less than if you had purchasedr two tickets separately.
Qantas ran a two-for-one sale on business-clase seats last week, but its buy-one price was literally twice as much as competitora were charging for a single Also rendered virtually useless in thecurrenty market: the much-heralded International Airline Program availablee with certain American Express cards. It will give you a free companiomn first- or business-class ticket when you buy one—but only if your purchase is atfull fare, a pric e that is now often four or five timea higher than the current sale rates freelyg available in the marketplace. Added Valur or Lower Prices Never as monolithivc asthe airlines, the hotel industry is splitf on how to get heads back on beds.
As room ratesz and occupancy levelshave plummeted, some chains (mosrt notably Hilton) have indulged in what the industry calls "naked That's when you simply slash nightlyy rates as low as required to fill a Other hotel players (like Marriotyt and many pricey resorts and independent properties) are tryingh to keep published rates high, but lardint them with "value-added" freebies. Sometimed it's free meals or spa treatments, and sometimew it's several hundred dollars worth ofresorft "credits" that travelers can use as they Other times, the value-added inducement is third-party gift So far this year, for Marriott outposts have offered gift cards for Target and Amazon.
com as part of the nightl y room rate. Which is better? Depends on you. I prefer the rate reductio because things like a free Sundahybrunch "worth" $45 is useles s to a guy whose morningy intake is invariably a bagel and coffee. But if you like what the hoteois offering—and understand its actual retail value—go for it. The Blind-Buyinh Bonanza Blind bidding for flightzsis passé now that airlines publiclu sell seats at giveaway price s on their own proprietarg websites. But so-called "opaque" operations such as Priceline.com, Hotwire.com, and Lastminute.
com have gained new popularityh with upscale travelersbecause top-notch hotelsw around the world now dump their excess capacity into the blind-booking pools. Even four- and five-sta properties work with the opaque sitexsthese days, and they sell deeply discounted rooms to travelers who pony up payment before they know what hotelk they are buying. I'm not a fan of blinsd booking—to me, lodgings aren'ty a commodity—but many travelers whosse taste I trust recently have securec huge discounts on desirable hotelx and resorts using Hotwireand Priceline.
And third-party sites such as Bidding for Travel have sprung up to allos bidders to swap intelligence onwhat they've scored and whichu properties currently use the opaque sites. There's stilpl another twist on the biddinfg sites: Luxury Link electronically auctions accommodations and travel packages at deluxe properties aroundthe world. I have used Luxury Link myselfrfor holidays. If you know the propertyg and what itnormally charges, you can bid with of course, you want to travepl when the hotel or resortg is offering rooms.
The Mileage Markdown Travel is so slowjust now—airlinde traffic is down around 10 percent comparesd with last year's already depressef levels and average hotel occupancuy has fallen to around 50 percent—that airlines and hotelsa have even begun to mark down the pricr of staying and flying for free via frequent-travel programs. A steadu stream of private promotions offering flightd for up to 25 percent fewer miles and hotel roomas for substantially fewer points has hit travelers email inboxes in recent To take advantage of these private makesure you're signed up to receivw the promotional offers from your favorite airlinr and hotel programs.
And whil e we're talking about frequency another point to keepin mind: If you're relatively flush with cash, airlines and hoteld are offering lavish points and miles promotions when you book paid roomas and flights. After a two-night stay in a Manhattabn hotellast month, I earned enoughh bonus points for a free nigh t in an Italian resort I've been eyeinhg for a holiday next month. And all of the major airlines are currently running double or eventriplew "elite miles" promotions through Once you register, you receive bonuz miles toward your elitee status next year. Earning or upgradingy your elite status for 2010 will come in handt if the economy recoversnext year.
The Fine One notable exception tothe fire-sals nature of travel this year is car If anything, prices have risenh compared with last year. The reason: Rentao firms have been hit by the credit crunch and have had difficultuy raising cash to financenew fleets. The resulrt is a double whammy: Dailt rates, especially for midweek business rentalsx inmajor cities, are rising—and the cars you'rde renting are older, have more cosmetidc damage, and may not be as mechanicallyu reliable as they once were. Portfolio.con © 2009 Cond Nast Inc.
All
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment