| PSSST GUESS WHAT...At Style of
Lodi we love to travel and we love to save money so we're always on the look out for the best deals.
We've come across a few companies that offer some terrific
travel discounts. It nice to use companies like Expedia,
Hotels.com and Travelocity... there are many others to
choose from. We've done price comparisons with big
national hotels and airlines. In the process of our staff
booking vacations to such places as Lake Tahoe, Hawaii and
Las Vegas we discovered some interesting things. Did
you know?? Most of the time if you book your hotel
directly the prices are the same as if you use a travel
website like Expedia and often only a few hotels were
available. Also you are not usually required to pay of
front and sometimes have 2-3 days to cancel your stay with
out insurance. It take a little more work to book your air
and hotel separately but it might be worth your while. So
why in the world would we want to give our non-refundable
money months in advance to one of these travel services?
Recently we
used the Outrigger
Resorts and discovered 11 resorts just in Oahu,
Hawaii but only a couple listed on the Expedia site. Our
flight options on Expedia were at undesirable times and in
San Francisco in which we would have to make the drive the
evening prior and stay in a hotel. The nice part about
that was that the hotel offered to store our car and
shuttle us to the airport. If we chose to park our car at
SFO the cost was $20 per day. Other expenses to consider
are kenneling a pet for an extra day at a cost of $24.
Weighing out all of these options we decided to travel out
of Sacramento obtaining a ride and which saved $10 per day
of parking, was much closer and avoided the hassle of
staying in a hotel the prior night. Our plane departed at
9:00am vs 6:00 am at SFO and returned at 8:30pm vs and all
night flight into SFO at 5:00 am then waiting in the cold
for a shuttle and retrieving vehicle keys from the hotel
and then the 1 1/2 drive home. The cost was $100 more to
do it this way but well worth it.
In Lake Tahoe
we were able to book a room at the Timber Lodge for the
same price as Hotels.com and Expedia but paid as we
checked out. I
a hotel stay in San Francisco, we named our price on a
Marriott hotel overlooking the bay and the main drag. We
were able to name our price of $89 per night.
Our editor
was taking a vacation to Oahu, Hawaii. She was looking to
stay at f a condo on Waikiki beach with a pool and a
restaurant and within walking distance of the beach Walk.
After searching on Expedia with no luck she was able to find the exact room she
wanted by booking direct though Outrigger Resorts website. And... she was
able to book and reserve online, but did not have to pay
her hotel bill until the day she left. In
praise of Priceline, naming your price is great thing! We
used Priceline to book a 4 star room in Anaheim, CA two
blocks from Disneyland at a cost of $60 per night. It was
top notch and within walking distance of everything. The
City walk, outside of the theme parks is free and offered
terrific shopping, restaurants and music. It's a fun place
to spend your evenings. Another Priceline deal we used,
was in San Antonio Texas. Named our price and stayed in a
beautiful Marriott Hotel just blocks from the beautiful
River Walk, again for about $60 per night. The key to
Priceline and naming your price is mapping your hotel
radius, check out the price of the hotel and use a higher
star rating and the offer about 1/2 the regular price.
This has worked out well with us in every occasion, but
you do have to be willing to take whatever they offer you
so the higher the star rating usually means an upscale
hotel in great location. We
have provided some links below to help you out with your
trip planning and please email us and let us know how your
trip was and we would be glad to post your review in the
magazine. Happy Traveling to You! |
