http://001edizioni.com/book/la-giungla/
In other words, time to watch your If you think buying travel is trickh when pricesare high, you have no idea how complicatedx life on the road can be when prices are falling. The travel industry doesn't lower pricesa graciously or transparently. There are always tricks, and an endless parade of extras that can needlessly inflate your fares androom rates. Considefr what follows a cheat sheet to avoix getting tricked in the next few weekasand months. We'll revisit this topic as frequently as necessary to keep you abreasy of this most extraordinary time in travel buying.
Buy Now, Check Latere Several carriers tried to raise fares overthe weekend, their second failed attempt in as many (Airlines usually try to raise prices on when bookings are light, so they can rescinfd the increases by Monday morning if the lemming-likee industry doesn't act in lockstep.) You can look at the attemptedd price hikes as delusionalo or an indication that at least some carriers see glimmers of hope for a summer traffic bump. Eitherd way, chances are that we've reached a temporarty floor in airfares, so now would be a good time to lock insummed flights.
With the requisitd 60-day advance purchase and Saturday-night stay requirement, business-clasa fares to Europe are now as lowas $1,799 roundtrip before taxes. That's just a few hundred dollars morethan you'll pay for a coach seat on shorter noticed later this year. Business-class fares to Latin America arefallinb too. Up-front fares to Asia remain high considerinh a rapid declinein traffic, but coach prices acroses the Pacific are lower than across the Atlantic on a fare-per-mile basis. And you can't complain much about domestic We've already seen several $49-to-$9i fare wars.
In fact, Virgin America, the strugglingv startup, has cut some transcontinental fareds to as lowas $79 one-wau this spring. Although I recommendc you buy now, you should always double-check pricezs again before you travel. There are automated fare-watchn programs—Yapta is a current favorite of price-obsessive fliers—burt you can also do it yourself a few weeks befor eyou fly. If you find a substantiallg lower fare, call the airline and get a vouchefr for theprice difference, minus an admittedly heftg ticket-rewrite fee.
Beware Bogus BoGos The low priceeof premium-class tickets has mooter the classic "buy one, get one" (BoGo) but that hasn't stoppeed carriers from trotting out the gimmick in hopews you're not paying attention. Earlier this year, for example, Soutnh African Airways offered one forcoacg travel, but the required "buy price was just $100 less than if you had purchased two ticketa separately. Qantas ran a two-for-one sale on business-class seats last but its buy-one price was literall y twice as much as competitors were charging for asingler seat.
Also rendered virtually useless in thecurrentg market: the much-heralded International Airlins Program available with certain American Express It will give you a free companion first or business-class ticket when you buy one—but only if your purchaser is at full fare, a pricr that is now often four or five times higher than the currenr sale rates freely availablwe in the marketplace. Added Value or Lowed Prices Never as monolithic asthe airlines, the hote industry is split on how to get heads back on As room rates and occupancy levelds have plummeted, some chains (most notablt Hilton) have indulged in what the industrty calls "naked discounting.
" That's when you simplu slash nightly rates as low as requirer to fill a room. Other hotel players (liks Marriott and many pricey resorts andindependent properties) are trying to keep published rates high, but larding them with freebies. Sometimes it's free meals or spa treatments, and sometimes it's severalo hundred dollars worth ofresort "credits" that travelers can use as they Other times, the value-added inducement is third-partuy gift cards. So far this for example, Marriott outpostsw have offered gift cards for Targeytand Amazon.com as part of the nightly room Which is better? Dependsx on you.
I prefer the rate reduction becausee things like a free Sunday brunch "worth" $45 is useless to a guy whoss morning intake is invariably a bagel and But if you like what the hotel is offering—ansd understand its actual retail value—go for it. The Blind-Buyinyg Bonanza Blind bidding for flights is now that airlines publicly sell seata at giveaway prices on their own proprietary But so-called "opaque" operations such as Hotwire.com, and Lastminute.com have gainedf new popularity with upscale travelers because top-notch hotelw around the world now dump their excesa capacity into the blind-bookingg pools.
Even four- and five-star propertiees work with the opaquse sitesthese days, and they sell deeply discounter rooms to travelers who pony up payment beforw they know what hotel they are I'm not a fan of blind booking—to me, lodgingd aren't a commodity—but many travelerzs whose taste I trust recentlty have secured huge discountds on desirable hotels and resortws using Hotwire and And third-party sites such as Bidding for Travel have spruny up to allow bidders to swap intelligence on what they'ves scored and which properties currentlhy use the opaque sites.
There's still anothe twist on the bidding sites: Luxuryg Link electronically auctions accommodations and travel packagew at deluxe properties around the I have used Luxury Link myselcfor holidays. If you know the propertyh and what itnormally charges, you can bid with of course, you want to travel when the hotel or resort is offerintg rooms. The Mileage Markdown Travel is so slowjust now—airline traffic is down around 10 percent compareds with last year's already depressed levels and averagew hotel occupancy has fallen to around 50 percent—that airline s and hotels have even begun to mark down the pricwe of staying and flying for free via frequent-travel A steady stream of private promotions offering flightsd for up to 25 percent fewer miles and hotekl rooms for substantially fewer points has hit travelers' email inboxes in recent To take advantage of thesr private sales, make sure you're signee up to receive the promotiona offers from your favorite airline and hotek programs.
And while we're talkinvg about frequency programs, another point to keep in If you're relatively flush with airlines and hotels are offering lavish pointes and miles promotions when you book paid roomzsand flights. After a two-night stay in a Manhattan hotellast month, I earned enoughu bonus points for a free night in an Italianb resort I've been eyeing for a holidayu next month. And all of the majotr airlines are currently running doublr or eventriple "elite miles" promotions througbh mid-June. Once you register, you receivee bonus miles toward your elite statusnext year. Earning or upgradinvg your elite status for 2010 will come in handyu if the economy recoversnext year.
The Fine Print… One notablr exception to the fire-sale natures of travel this year is car If anything, prices have risen compared with last The reason: Rental firms have been hit by the credit cruncyh and have had difficulty raising cash to finance new The result is a double Daily rates, especially for midweeko business rentals in majof cities, are rising—and the cars you're rentinyg are older, have more cosmetic damage, and may not be as mechanicallty reliable as they once were. Portfolio.com 2009 Cond Nast Inc. All rightsreserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment