Oh I never realized how time consuming of a project this can be. If you’re in the travel planning business, I hope you are well compensated for your time.
The husband had a business conference to attend in Anaheim, California. Disneyland to be more exact. I hadn’t been to California since I left 18 years ago. Yes, after doing the math, it was too long a time to pass. My cousins got married, had babies and moved to different homes. Friends got married, had babies and moved to other cities. All in all, it was a fantastic trip and one I will share here along with my endeavors to save us money along the way.
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Hotel California, Here We Come
Hotwire.com offered some of the best in hotel deals. Add their discount along with an early bird payment and you could be sitting pretty in a 3 1/2 to 4 star hotel for 1/2 the price. Hotel rates are not cheap and when you’re talking California and the Pacific Coast Highway, you want the best bang for your buck, and you want to pay $150 or less per night. Actual cost per night in the mid to high star rated hotels can be upward of $150 along the coast (and some inland hotels as well).
I am a big advocate of Priceline.com but found a few of my bids were not accepted. So I turned to the competition, Hotwire.
With California’s financial woes, expect to pay a little more of the tourism tax (or fees) and occupancy fees on your hotel tab. When you use Hotwire.com for your reservations, your quoted rate is all inclusive. No ‘tack ons’ or surprises at the hotel upon check out, unless you have incurred incidentals. If you haven’t traveled in awhile, be aware that most hotels are requiring deposits with a credit card upon check in. Expect a hold on your funds anywhere from the cost of your room reservation + $100 to $200 more, to just a $100 – $200 hold. Largely depends on whether you paid for your room in advance. If so, they just hold the $100-$200 funds which they feel is comparable to incidentals. I think it’s a fair amount. We didn’t use room (food0 service or rack up phone calls and movies so there was nothing more to charge and pay at check out.
If you have a business, you can apply at ABN Save where you can receive up to 75% off everyday purchases. Most of the vendors are business related such as printing and shipping via FedEx Kinkos, Staples, etc. However, if you are in the market to rent a vehicle on your trip then you’ll want to take advantage of the Hertz Rental discounts. If you have a business (small or large), then all the better and go sign up now. Do you sell crafts? Babysit? Photographer? Sign up! Your email is safe with them; they don’t send you any.
Round Trip Your Way
Best place to start looking for flights in and out of your city of choice is Orbitz Travel, Travelocity.com and then the airline of your choice. Shop the trip one-way and round. Decide whether you’re willing to fly in and out of smaller airports as opposed to the larger internationals, when you have the option. Sometimes flying on a weekday is less expensive than a weekend day. We flew into John Wayne Airport in Orange County, also known as SNA and saved ourselves some money; and it was closer to Disneyland than the LAX. Splitting up the trip as a 1-way versus a round trip might also have advantages and different savings or promotions through different cities. This takes a bit of work if you’re on a budget and researching it yourself. When frustration sets in, walk away and come back awhile later. Or just call your travel agent, tell them what you’re trying to accomplish and see if they can come close to the rates you found.
On another note, let’s talk about auto rentals. I think renting the auto for a part of our trip was probably the most stressful in researching the best rate. Rates have increased tremendously and there’s a lot to understand regarding their terms and conditions, their insurance and the realization that if you are the one signing up for the rental, your spouse or significant other might not be able to share the driving without paying an additional fee. Fortunately, Hertz doesn’t work this way; but some do. So use caution and ask questions. Check with your insurance agent to find out if your personal auto insurance has you covered the same way for a rental. If not, you should be able to determine which additional insurance will best benefit you for the rental vehicle. Traveling with your own car in another state? Check with your medical and auto insurance to make sure you are covered in those states to the fullest extent possible. Some states have different insurance regulations, and you’ll want to know if you’re in a no-fault state or not. It’s always a good idea to let them know you’ll be traveling out of state anyhow.
We chose Hertz as our auto rental of choice mainly because we had a few promo codes we could use that brought our rate down to an amount acceptable by our budget constraints. Try AARP, ABN Save and Hertz Gold Plus Membership for promo codes. Hertz often runs specials so these might be better than using ABN Save, for example. A little tip: AARP can be used in conjunction with 1 other promo code. For example, we used ABN Save and AARP. When we called to confirm our rental 2 weeks prior to pick up, we were told there was a better promo at the moment. They gave us that promo with the AARP. AARP is only 10%. They apply the discounts in this order: Base rental rate minus promo credit = new base rental rate, then they minus the 10% AARP. If you are eligible for the AARP discount, be prepared to prove your age when using this discount.
One last tip before closing. When booking your reservations online, you don’t always have to call the hotel, airline or rental agency to confirm. However, sometimes there is an advantage to doing so. When promotional discounts change your rate for the better, a live agent can make this a seamless transfer. Make sure there’s no additional charge to make the changes and prepare for take off!
