Mystery Hotels – How to Cheat and Maybe Get a Bargain

Mystery Hotels – How to Cheat and Maybe Get a Bargain

Mystery Hotels – How to Cheat and Maybe Get a Bargain


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Home Page > Internet > Internet Marketing > Mystery Hotels – How to Cheat and Maybe Get a Bargain

Mystery Hotels – How to Cheat and Maybe Get a Bargain

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Posted: Dec 14, 2010 |Comments: 0
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We have spent some time looking at lastminute.com’s ‘Mystery Hotel’ range and the new mystery offers from wotif.com. In some cases, LastMinute’s descriptions of its mystery hotels make it pretty easy to pinpoint the actual hotel. Wotif’s mystery hotels are a little harder to fathom but there are some clues, for instance they might be selling ‘Comfort’ and ‘Grand Comfort’ rooms at a mystery hotel so you just go through the list of other Wotif hotels in the same city and see which hotel uses that description for its rooms. The US company Priceline was the originator of the mystery hotel deal and we have always had serious misgivings about using them.

The main objection is that instead of seeing a discounted price (20% off the usual agent’s price is fairly normal for both LastMinute and Wotif) at a specific hotel, Priceline gives you no clue as to the actual hotel and you have to bid the price you are prepared to pay. Priceline does give a little help – it breaks cities down into areas and shows the normal retail price of hotels in different star categories and suggests a likely discount you should apply when bidding. Nonetheless, there is a huge danger that you will end up paying more than you need to. Priceline might have set a secret minimum bid of a night but if someone bids the company will happily accept the bid. Also, in recent years, business has been very good for the hotel industry and we suspect that Priceline was selling rooms at some hotels that would otherwise have difficulty in attracting guests. In other words, you could end up paying over the odds for an inferior hotel.

However, now the game has changed a little. Quite a few hotels have empty rooms and are willing to sell them at low rates through Priceline, on condition of anonymity to avoid destroying their normal rating. And, we have found a rather handy guide that should help you avoid some of the Priceline pitfalls.

One community forum for users of Priceline (and HotWire, a division of Expedia, which is designed more for US customers) is http://www.betterbidding.com. The front page is a bit messy, but all you need do is scroll down to find the forum dedicated to the area you want to visit. Pick Boston and the first post will be a list of hotels that forum members have purchased through Priceline. There is no guarantee that this list is completely accurate – hotels will come and go, depending on season and occupancy – but at least you have an idea of the sort of hotel you will get in each star category. Then you go through the most recent posts where members have listed deals they have actually obtained from Priceline. You may see that someone was able to bid for a room at the Omni Parker two days ago and a bid of got a room at the Hyatt Regency a week earlier. You need to take careful note of when the reservations were for (weekdays or weekends) and how far in advance the reservations were made because this is bound to have an effect on the price.

This site works best with Priceline’s US hotels. Postings for international reservations are far sparser. If you want to stay in Venice in May, it is of little use to know that someone was able to bid for a room at the Hilton Molino in February.

All prices on Priceline are before the dreaded ‘taxes and charges’, which can add a sizeable sum to the total and clearly include a generous service charge. We could not see how they came up with charges of £28 on a basic hotel cost of £92. At least you see this figure before your bid is submitted.

Once you are ready to go ahead, you have to submit your payment details. If the bid is accepted, your money is taken immediately and there is no possibility of cancellation or alteration. If the bid is not accepted, no money is taken and you are only allowed to rebid if you alter some of the terms of the original bid. Betterbidding suggests a way around this. Let’s say you want to stay in a five-star hotel in one area of Paris. Your initial bid is turned down so you alter your bid to include another area of Paris but an area which you can see from Betterbidding does not have a Priceline five-star hotel. Assuming Priceline has not suddenly added a new hotel (which is a very real possibility) then your increased bid on the hotel you want should be accepted.

Betterbidding also gives the same range of information for HotWire. This is part of the same group that owns Expedia and Hotels.com but it is designed principally for US customers and payment is taken in dollars – effectively adding to the cost for UK customers.

HotWire’s system is similar to Priceline with the bidding aspect removed. You know the star rating in advance, the area of the city involved and the full cost (plus taxes and charges). A quick look at Betterbidding should give you an idea of which hotels it is selling in the various categories and cities. The site is not as strong on hotels outside North America as Priceline.

With both these sites, we recommend you attempt to cross-check prices with the hotels direct or hotels of a similar category. Neither Booking.com, nor Expedia/Hotels.com (the companies behind these mystery sites) is noted for selling hotels cheaply. In some cases, a 20% discount off their rates will only equate to a 10% discount off rates available elsewhere. If you think you can get a room at the Luxor in Las Vegas for , you might find it better to take away the guesswork and book direct with the hotel for .

We certainly cannot recommend Priceline and the Betterbidding site to everyone. It can be very time-consuming and dangerous. There is a huge potential for error: you can easily pay quite a lot of money for a hotel you do not want. Another significant danger is that you can get carried away with the whole game and concentrate too much on trying to ‘win’ rather than on finding a hotel that is suitable for you! However, there are some genuine bargains around, particularly in the US, where Priceline is stronger, and there is plenty of information on Betterbidding. If you are looking for a couple of nights in a hotel in New York, and you have the time and patience, you might just get a good deal.

Will I get the worst room in the hotel if I have booked a mystery deal at a special price?

There is a possibility that a few hotels will use these mystery deals to sell a handful of less desirable rooms they would not normally sell unless the hotel was full. Most hotels will give you a standard room but, as is common for rooms booked at special rates through agents, it is likely to be the lowest-category room available. The better rooms may be on higher floors, have more modern furnishings or better views and these are likely to be allocated to clients who have booked direct with the hotel.

But…

If you have booked a standard room through an agent (whether it be Priceline or not), there is no reason why you cannot upgrade the room when you arrive. Many hotels are more than happy to upgrade agency customers to executive-floor rooms (maybe for an extra £30 a night) or give them a larger room or one with a better view. Hotels are looking for extra revenue at every opportunity and if someone offers them money, and they have a better room available, they are unlikely to turn them down. Interestingly, this method can quite often lead to a free u

 

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With over 2 Billion dollars being spend on e-commerce this year alone, online sales are a massive opportunity to make a great living online. But to take advantage of this amazing opportunity, it is always a good idea to get a head start on your competition with the help of a company that has been doing it for years. Visit http://www.takeforeveroff.com and learn how you can make a great living in e-commerce.

Discount Travel Ideas – Learning How to Bargain

Discount Travel Ideas – Learning How to Bargain

This discount travel idea came into being because traveling can be quite expensive relative to most people’s incomes. Unless you’re fairly well-off, you won’t be able to travel as much as you would like until you master some discount travel techniques. The art of discount travel is more then simply a few tricks. It is an overall strategy that you can, and should, apply to every element of your trip.

For example, you should explore charter flights and last minute deals, etc. to get the cheapest possible airfare. Once you arrive in a foreign country, you should meet some locals and establish where the cheap places to eat and stay are. Discount travel involves a lot of small things that when applied together result in big savings, and allow even those on moderate budgets to travel more and more enjoyably.

An important discount travel idea to use if you want your money to last while you are in a foreign country is that of bargaining. In most foreign countries, and especially those of the third world, bargaining plays a big part in everyday life and you will find yourself continually overspending if you don’t participate in it.

Most North Americans are terrible at bargaining, which is not at all their fault. Bargaining simply does not play much of a role in our everyday transactions except for large purchases like buying a car, and maybe to a lesser extent a house. Most of us aren’t used to it and we certainly aren’t used to haggling over small everyday items.

The first thing to understand – and a great discount travel idea – is that in the third world, everything is negotiable, and usually very heavily negotiable. When you start to bargain, you’ll soon see that the type of bargaining that goes on in other parts of the world is very different from the North American style. People often start with figures that are double or more their desired amount.

The first step in bargaining is to not be in any kind of rush to get in a taxi, or in a hotel room, or to purchase your item. Take the time to ask around, and if you can, find some locals who will (hopefully) give you an idea of a good price. The second thing to keep in mind is you have to be willing to walk away, or at least good at pretending that you’re willing to walk away. Oftentimes you’ll find that by simply showing a lack of interest and willingness to avoid the transaction the price will be lowered, without any need for specific bargaining on your part.

Once you get the hang of bargaining you’ll find it rather easy, and in some cases fun. The main thing to keep in mind when you’re in a foreign land is that your status as a North American will usually label you as rich to locals, even if it doesn’t seem that way to you. If you don’t want to get charged double – or more – for every single thing you do while traveling you’ll have to get used to the idea of bargaining. This is a key idea in the overall strategy of discount travel.

Be sure to sign up for our free mini-course on more discount travel ideas at http://www.discount-travel-ideas.com while the offer lasts. Please visit our website where you will find a treasure trove of resources for budget travel.

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Bargain Discount Travel Deals To Lisbon

Bargain Discount Travel Deals To Lisbon

Everybody seems to be complaining about the cold at the moment, so if you are one of those people, this could be your chance to do something about it. Finding discount travel deals to Portugal is not a difficult task at the moment, and they seem to be blessed with regular winter sunshine too. The best deals though are to Lisbon; due to it having an International airport, which always helps when cheap travel is concerned.

Lisbon is an overlooked European capital. Tourists tend to flock to Paris, Rome, London, but that little country on the edge of Europe? Portugal is not always on major tourist routes, but there is plenty to see there.

If you\’re looking for a trip to Europe, but you\’re hoping to stick to a tight travel budget, you might want to give Lisbon a look. Portugal has always cost less than other destinations in Europe.

So what is there to see in Portugal\’s capital city? Well, to start with, the city itself. It is compact and teems with everyday life. Its pleasures are its street life and setting…. Lisbon was built on seven hills, on the Tagus River where it spills into the Atlantic. It doesn\’t seem overrun with tourists.

The Portuguese shop in the Chiado and Bairro Alto districts on one of the hillsides above downtown. They party and listen to fado in the alleys of the Alfama on the opposite hillside. The Bairro Alto also has a vibrant nightlife.

The Baixa, the downtown district, runs between the two hills from Rossio Square inland to Comericio Square, the large, much loved plaza on the river. It is the main shopping and banking district that stretches from the riverfront to the Avenida da Liberdade. There are elegant squares and pedestrianized streets… and lots of cafes and shops.

Lisbon has history too. It bills itself as the City of Explorers. Prince Henry the Navigator set the course for exploration in the 15th century. Vasco da Gama sailed from the the city\’s Belem neighborhood. Her Glory days were the 15th and 16th centuries when she sent da Gama and other explorers out to \”discover the world\”.

Much of the city was rebuilt after it was flattened by an earthquake in the 18th century. The Chiado area suffered a devastating fire in the 1980s, but it has been reborn. Actually, many areas of the city have been rebuilt through the years after being flattened by earthquakes or burned by fires. Find pockets of the old grandeur in the Belem district, the Alfama, and the Bairro Alto.

Lisbon is a great city for tourists because of its compact size. Walk the downtown. Take the Santa Justa Elevator (also called the Elevator of Carmo or Carmo Lift) up to the Bairro Alto. This elevator was designed by a student of Eiffel and built in the early 1900s.

Climb back into history through the medieval alleys of the Alfama on the opposite hill. This is possibly the city\’s most emblematic quarter.

Get lost winding up narrow streets with laundry hanging over them. You will find stone staircases that open suddenly onto terraces with spectacular views over the red tile rooftops to the Tagus River. Stop in little local restaurants for a bite to eat.

At night listen to real, not-for-tourists Fado here. Admire the Azulejos de Lisboa, the blue tiles that decorate nooks and crannies at every turn…. There are strategically placed miradouros (or viewpoints) that offer breathtaking panoramas over the city. At the top of the hill is the Castle of St. George (the Castelo de Sao Jorge). All that is really left is the walls, but it has a great view out over the city.

Ride the colorful old yellow trams around the city. We haven\’t even had time to mention the museums like the Ancient Art Museum (which is Portugal\’s National Gallery) or the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum which are two of Lisbon\’s best. And since we\’ve only mentioned historic Belem in passing, we\’ll have to leave that for later.

Let\’s just say, if you\’re want a great travel experience but you\’re counting your pennies, you could be pleasantly surprised to find that there are currently many discount travel deals to Lisbon this year.

Take a look at the Globe Cheap Travel Guide and find out just how you could be bathing in that warm winter sunshine next week…

Discover Major Discount Travel Deals and discount travel strategies PLUS important last minute Discounted Travel Deals As Well As Receiving A FREE TRAVEL report…

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Bargain Travel Deals At Its Best

Bargain Travel Deals At Its Best

What started as an experiment between two brothers has now become something as common as breathing. Back then, nobody thought that traveling through air is something that is possible, let along cheap. Today, however, cheap travel deals have become a way of life, what with the financial crisis still baring its teeth to so many countries. In fact, there are a great number of ways by which you can save costs on your trips.

If you are someone who tends to use your credit card a lot, you might want to check with your credit card provider if you can earn points for use in traveling. A number of credit card providers are already into this frequent user program which rewards clients with points that they can use with various airlines so this should be easy for you.

You are also sure to get cheap airline tickets if you book during weekdays or during off-peak seasons. Flights that are very early or are late at night can also cost less than during midday. You might also try a few last-minute deals as seats booked just a few days before the actual flight can cost less especially f the airline is trying to fill empty seats.

Find yourself with some discount travel vouchers by volunteering for the bumped-off list should there be an overbooking of passengers for one flight. This would also mean meal vouchers and free hotel accommodations if you need to wait for your flight. Some people also find themselves with travel vouchers after they have made a complaint about an airline’s service. Keep in mind, however, that you can only do the latter if you have a valid complain.

Airlines also offer bargain travel deals to people who are willing to go on courier flights. This means that, in exchange for a lower seat price, you have to transmit a number of documents or packages. This is usually offered to flights that end up at some exotic destination in Asia, Europe or South America.

Another way of getting bargain travel deals is to consider your destination. Some destinations, especially those that attract a lot of visitors tend to be more costly than places that are not well-known tourist attractions.

Learn about our services at http://www.thetravelsteals.com.

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Travel Packages: Get the Best Bargain Deals

Travel Packages: Get the Best Bargain Deals

Stress has become a part of the every day life of every human being. When stress mounts from all the things we do everyday, it’s time to have a real getaway. For this, you have a variety of cheap travel packages available to suit your needs.

If you would like to get away to Mexico, Cozumel, Cancuun, Hawaii, the Caribbean or other such great places, can you really afford them? Would you believe that there are vacation packages costing you for less than 0? Yes, there are all-inclusive most affordable travel packages that you could go with them. All-inclusive means airfare, drinks, meals and star-rating accommodations are all included. To make the things even better, cash back sites and e-shops have emerged as weeds over the web space, creating a competition among various portals for offering the best and cheap deals to the travelers. You can make the most of this opportunity created by this boom and can book your travel package online.

The best method to enjoy your vacation is to take up travel packages after comparing those from various travel agencies, hotels and airlines and selecting that are cheap and that can suit your travel needs. As better deals are now available on vacation packages and airfares, you can set your sight on trips to distant places to see what others have to offer. You can always have a look at various vacation packages available over websites. Packages offer you savings over vacation arrangements when purchased individually, irrespective of whether you plan to leave immediately or plan for a vacation well in advance. Travel packages offered by travel agents are available in various forms in abundance; but the one that is best needs to be chosen. You can also compare the rates offered by various travel agents to choose the best one.

Some of the dream vacation packages offered are:

Las Vegas vacations, Disney vacations, Mexico vacations, European vacations, California vacation packages, Florida vacation packages, Cheap Hawaii vacation package, Cheap Caribbean vacations, New York vacations and ski vacation packages. Most travel packages include airport transfers, accommodation, food and sight seeing for creating a perfect holiday plan that can relieve you from all the worries.

You can also check out some cheap vacation packages by clicking on websites offering Last Minute Travel Deals and Vacation Deals and then talk to the travel agents for comparison. Such travel packages are vital and offer you peace of mind in the first place. You need to pay attention to the monetary aspect also apart from the comfort factor while choosing a travel package. Some travel packages offer exciting discounted rates to some exotic locales. You need to do a little bit of planning and research for your dream vacation to have an enjoyable trip. These travel packages include almost everything from airport transfers to 5-star accommodation and from meals to sight seeing. These packagers take upon themselves to create that perfect holiday plan for you, relieving you from all causes of worry.

By taking up a vacation package, you need not slog down for the preparations as you used to do earlier in the absence of travel packages. You can bring in a lot of smile for you and your family by choosing a travel package that involves less effort and less time to be spent upon.

Lesley Lyon is an expert writer in tourism related topics. He regularly contributes articles to http://www.mytoursguide.com that carries very useful info on travel, holidays and vacation packages, the web guide on cheap air tickets – http://www.bestdealsononline.com and http://www.holidayassistance.com/ that deals with cruises.

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Cheap Travel Insurance: How the Web Has Made it Easy to Find Great Deals

Cheap Travel Insurance: How the Web Has Made it Easy to Find Great Deals

The internet has changed the world in which we live. Things that were never before possible are now possible thanks to the World Wide Web. The world is much smaller, and you can visit with and gaze upon loved ones even though they are thousands of miles away. You can shop, work, date and play games all from the comfort of your own home. What does this have to do with travel insurance? Not only has the web brought all of these wonderful activities into our homes, it has also made it easier than ever before to find great deals on travel insurance.

One of the ways that the internet has made it easier than ever before to find great deals is that there are more companies to choose from online. Travel insurance companies who can’t afford to or don’t want to sink money into expensive ad campaigns can attract customers online with a website. These are companies that you would never have known about if you didn’t find them online. You can also contact companies that are not located in your area when you hunt for deals online.

All of this has led to increased competition between travel insurance companies. And we all know what competition does. It drives prices down. Competing companies are always trying to capture the interest of their competitor’s customers with a better bargain. Competitive marketing is great for consumers.

There are also many benefits of browsing online for insurance. Instead of shopping for insurance conventionally which meant numerous phone calls and meeting with a travel or insurance agent, shopping online allows you to browse from the comfort of your own home. There are no business hours to dance around, and all of the information you need is at your fingertips.

Having everything in front of you allows you to easily compare travel insurance deals. If you want to investigate coverage options or different packages, all you have to do is point and click. This is much preferable to reading all of the fine print contained in black and white paper copies. Many sites even have FAQs sections that will answer many of your questions without you having to actually ask them.

After you have found the perfect policy, you can even purchase your travel insurance online. This eliminates the middle man’s percentage and passes the savings right along to you. Many companies who sell insurance online have little overhead costs as well. When a company does not have to worry about paying for a fancy office building and utilities, they can sell policies much cheaper than their brick and mortar competitors. Online companies can also operate for less money as they don’t need as large of a staff. When it comes time to purchase travel insurance, you should definitely shop for deals online. Even if you want to purchase a policy from your agent, finding travel insurance deals online can give you some leverage when it comes time to negotiate price.

Steven Clarke – Marketing Manager for www.mytravelinsurance.org.uk. We offer a travel insurance service which compares all the UK’s travel insurance deals to find you the cheapest insurance quote.

How to Find Cheap Travel Deals on the Internet.

How to Find Cheap Travel Deals on the Internet.

There are several good and reliable travel sites on the Internet where you can find great travel deals and save big bucks on your next holidays.

However, getting the best deals is not always as easy as we think. Even though there are hundreds of travel sites out there, getting a bargain is not always simple.

Some of the well known sites, which I have personally used without any problem, are: Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, Cheap tickets, Ebookers and Last minute.

Still, to find a good deal within these sites is not straightforward, a digging job has to be done to find the gold, despite the easy to use and wonderful sites these brands above and other companies have.

One of the activities that should not be missed is comparing your traveling schedule among the sites of your choice, because no one has the best prices, for all routes, always. Each one has its own specials and when someone has a bargain in certain route, usually the others have not the same special price.

To do this job, there are some websites which compare among these popular travel sites for the destination of your choice and after spotting the lowest fare, you can always go back to the lowest fare site to review the conditions and make the purchase, if you wish.

Major airline sites, often have special deals which are not published through travel sites, so taking a look to the airline sites, which travel to your selected destination, could give you surprisingly good fares for your flight.

Regardless the site or sites you choose to look for your travel information keep in mind the following tips when planning your next holiday.

Book as advanced as you can. Airlines fares increase as the time for departure approaches.

Try to arrive and depart in a mid-week day. Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.

If you have flexible dates, chances to get a bargain will increase. Sometimes, a trade show or a special event will make the city of your destination very expensive for a given week, while a couple of days later or earlier, the prices could drop sharply.

For obvious reasons, avoid holidays. It is practically impossible to find a bargain during holidays, even more, airlines increase prices during holidays.

If you are traveling during Christmas, usually the Christmas day itself is cheaper than the days before. The same applies to Thanksgiving and other crowded holidays.

Try to use several websites to research your travel information, and then you will identify the most appropriate website for your needs.

When traveling to Europe from the US, try getting to a major city like London, and then use the local cheap fare airlines to travel around Europe.

When booking a hotel, use Expedia or Travelocity to see the pictures and location of the hotel, even if you book later in other site with better price.

Use as many sites as needed to book different parts of your holidays, if you get the best price in each one of them.

After you select a flight or hotel in any travel site, get into the airline and hotel sites directly and compare prices.

Verify that the site where you are purchasing has good reputation and uses SSL encryption when you pay online with a credit card.

After you receive the confirmation code from the travel site where you made the purchase, mail directly to the hotel and/or airline and confirm that they got your reservation exactly as the one you purchased.

Following these tips will give you the lowest fares available on the Internet and will avoid you unpleasant surprises when traveling.

Dr. Laurent Mikhail has extensive personal experience traveling around the world. To learn more, visit his site:
www.discount-travel-tickets.com

The Joy Of Finding Cheap International Air Travel Deals

The Joy Of Finding Cheap International Air Travel Deals

Generally flying overseas costs more now than it ever has before and as a result finding low cost international air travel deals can be quite a challenge. Many airlines are presently struggling to remain solvent throughout this fiscal crisis, so they have no alternative bu to charge more for tickets than they once did. Nonetheless, everybody who loves to go to other places knows that there are still some tricks you’ll use to find cheap international air travel deals, and getting a great bargain forever feels absolutely wonderful. The sole things needed of people who would like to find low-cost international air travel deals are an obliging point of view and a smart amount of determination.

Look through Travel Websites

There are several common travel websites that you can use to search out low-cost international air travel and hotel deals. These deals are a great option for people who are ready to book right away and travel in the near future. You must also be willing to travel to an airport that is not close to your home. If you do not mind where or when you go abroad then finding low-cost international air travel deals is actually quite easy. But, if you’ve got a selected time or destination in mind then finding a sensible deal may take a ton longer.

When using travel websites to find low-cost international air travel you must perpetually use caution. For instance, if you see a fare quoted with an asterisk next to it then there can most likely be hidden charges like additional tax. Always find out how much you’ll really be expected to pay prior to committing to something, since what seems like a great cut price might not be.

Acquiring Free Air Miles

There is an additional way to get cheap international air travel without hunting out bargains on the internet. Many airlines can provide you free air miles in return for your loyalty. Therefore if you used the identical airline to travel from the east coast of the United States to London and went to Britain or Europe very often then you would soon build up a heap of free air miles. Eventually you could use these free air miles to get a flight over the Atlantic that costs just a few hundred dollars. Clearly if you do not travel overseas very often it is not worth joining a loyalty program so as to get low-cost international air travel tickets. But, if you tend to travel abroad quite a bit you could save quite a lot of cash using this technique.

Save up to 65% on Family Travel Deals at CheapOair.com.Unbelievably low prices, Book today !

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