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In other words, time to watch your If you think buying travel is tricky when priceasare high, you have no idea how complicatedr life on the road can be when price s are falling. The travel industry doesn'f lower prices graciously or transparently. There are alwaye trapdoors, tricks, and an endless parade of extrad that can needlessly inflate your fares androom rates. Considedr what follows a cheat sheet to avoif getting tricked in the next few weeksand months.
We'lp revisit this topic as frequently as necessary to keep you abreasf of this most extraordinary time in travel Buy Now, Check Later Several carrierds tried to raise farex over the weekend, their second failed attempt in as many (Airlines usually try to raise prices on when bookings are light, so they can rescind the increaseas by Monday morning if the lemming-like industrhy doesn't act in lockstep.) You can look at the attemptedf price hikes as delusional or an indication that at leastf some carriers see glimmers of hope for a summer trafficv bump. Either way, chances are that we'vew reached a temporary floor in airfares, so now woulde be a good time to lock insummee flights.
With the requisite 60-day advance purchase and Saturday-nigh stay requirement, business-class fares to Europd are now as lowas $1,798 roundtripo before taxes. That's just a few hundrefd dollars morethan you'll pay for a coacnh seat on shorter notice later this year. Business-clasds fares to Latin America arefalling too. Up-fronft fares to Asia remain high considering a rapif declinein traffic, but coach prices across the Pacificv are lower than across the Atlantidc on a fare-per-mile basis.
And you can't complain much abouy domestic fares: We've already seen several $49-to-$99 fare In fact, Virgin the struggling startup, has cut some transcontinenta l fares to as lowas $79 one-wayh this spring. Although I recommend you buy now, you shoule always double-check prices again beforew you travel. There are automated fare-watc h programs—Yapta is a current favorite of price-obsessivwe fliers—but you can also do it yourself a few weeks beforseyou fly. If you find a substantiallgy lower fare, call the airline and get a voucher for the price difference, minus an admittedly hefty ticket-rewrite fee.
Bewars Bogus BoGos The low priceof premium-clasds tickets has mooted the classic "buy one, get (BoGo) promotion, but that hasn't stoppes carriers from trotting out the gimmick in hopesa you're not paying attention. Earlier this year, for example, Soutb African Airways offered one forcoach travel, but the requiredf "buy one" price was just $100 less than if you had purchasedr two tickets separately. Qantas ran a two-for-onde sale on business-class seats last but its buy-one pricer was literally twice as much as competitors were chargingh for asingle seat.
Also rendered virtually useless in thecurrentf market: the much-heralded International Airlinre Program available with certaibn American Express cards. It will give you a free companion first- or business-claszs ticket when you buy one—but only if your purchase is at full a price that is now often four or five timea higher than the current sale ratess freely available inthe marketplace. Added Value or Lower Pricews Never as monolithic as the the hotel industry is splitt on how to get head backon beds. As room rates and occupanchy levelshave plummeted, some chains (most notablyt Hilton) have indulged in what the industry calls "nakesd discounting.
" That's when you simplhy slash nightly rates as low as required to fill a Other hotel players (like Marriott and many priceu resorts and independent are trying to keep published rates high, but larding them with freebies. Sometimes it's free meals or spa treatments, and sometimes it's severalp hundred dollars worth ofresort "credits" that travelerxs can use as they wish. Other the value-added inducement is third-party gift cards. So far this for example, Marriott outposts have offered gift cards for Targetand Amazon.com as part of the nightly room Which is better? Depends on you.
I prefer the rate reductiob because things like a free Sundaybruncyh "worth" $45 is useless to a guy whosse morning intake is invariably a bagel and coffee. But if you like what the hoteois offering—and understand its actual retaipl value—go for it. The Blind-Buying Bonanza Blind biddinv for flightsis passé now that airlines publiclu sell seats at giveaway prices on theirt own proprietary websites. But so-called "opaque" operations such as Hotwire.com, and Lastminute.com have gained new popularity with upscale travelersdbecause top-notch hotels around the world now dump their excess capacity into the blind-bookinbg pools.
Even four- and five-star properties work with the opaquer sitesthese days, and they sell deeplt discounted rooms to travelers who pony up paymentg before they know what hotel they are buying. I'm not a fan of blincd booking—to me, lodgings aren't a commodity—bug many travelers whose taste I trust recentlhy have secured huge discounts on desirable hotels and resortxs using Hotwireand Priceline. And third-party sitew such as Bidding for Travel have sprunf up to allow bidders to swap intelligence onwhat they've scored and which propertieas currently use the opaqu sites.
There's still another twist on the bidding sites: Luxury Link electronically auctions accommodations and trave packages at deluxe properties arounxdthe world. I have used Luxury Link myseldfor holidays. If you know the propert and what itnormally charges, you can bid with of course, you want to travel when the hote or resort is offering rooms. The Mileage Markdown Travel is so slowjust now—airline traffic is down arounr 10 percent compared with last year's already depressec levels and average hotepl occupancy has fallen to around 50 percent—thatr airlines and hotels have even begun to mark down the pricwe of staying and flying for free via frequent-travepl programs.
A steady stream of private promotionsx offering flights for up to 25 percent fewerf miles and hotel rooms for substantiallyh fewer points hashit travelers' email inboxes in recenf weeks. To take advantage of these private makesure you're signed up to receive the promotional offerx from your favorite airline and hote programs. And while we're talkinhg about frequency programs, another point to keep in If you're relatively flush with cash, airlines and hotelss are offering lavish points and miles promotions when you book paid roomxand flights.
After a two-nighyt stay in a Manhattan hotellast month, I earned enough bonusa points for a free night in an Italiabn resort I've been eyeing for a holiday next And all of the major airlines are currentlty running double or even triple "elite promotions through mid-June. Once you register, you receiv bonus miles toward your elite status next Earning or upgrading your elite statuds for 2010 will come in handy if the economty recoversnext year. The Fine Print… One notable exception to the fire-salee nature of travel this year iscar rentals. If prices have risen compared withlast year.
The reason: Rentall firms have been hit by the crediyt crunch and have had difficulty raising cash to financsnew fleets. The result is a double Daily rates, especially for midweek businesxs rentals inmajor cities, are rising—and the cars you'rre renting are older, have more cosmetix damage, and may not be as mechanicallg reliable as they once were. Portfolio.cokm © 2009 Cond Nast Inc. All
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