Saving Money Arranging Last Minute Vacation Packages

Saving Money Arranging Last Minute Vacation Packages

Highlight:
If you’re planning a last-minute vacation package, you can save by being a bit more flexible with your travel choices. Search online and identify a benchmark cost for transportation, accommodations, etc. Once you’ve narrowed down your accommodations options, check out reviews about them. Research last-minute airfares and lastly, take risks. If you’re really after savings, gamble on inexpensive but lesser known travel providers.

Original source:
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/deals/inside/2005-02-23-column_x.htm

Summary:

- Although I generally prefer to plan my vacations a few months in advance, my boyfriend and I decided to celebrate our anniversary with a last-minute weekend trip.

- To escape the wet snow and murky skies of January in New England, we headed down to New Orleans for a taste of jazz music, hurricanes on Bourbon Street and warm, sunny weather.
By using strategies unique to booking last-minute travel, I found a good price on a vacation package that offered us the best value for our money.

- I wanted to fly from Boston to New Orleans with as few connecting flights as possible, stay two or three nights at a mid-range property within walking distance of both the French Quarter and the St. Charles streetcar, and spend about $400 per person.

- And, although I'm a staunch believer in booking vacation packages as a way of saving money on air and accommodations, for this trip I liked the idea of staying in a cozy bed-and-breakfast.
Using BookingBuddy.com (a sister site of SmarterTravel.com), I searched the three major online travel agencies (Expedia, Orbitz, and Travelocity) to get a benchmark price for airfare.

- Though you can often find lower prices on airlines' Web sites than through a third-party agency (by circumventing the $5 to $7 service fee that the major agencies charge), I find that getting a benchmark price by comparing airfares on these sites is easier than checking each airlines' site individually.

- Packages ranged from $400 (my target price) to $600 (out of my price range), but the choice of flight schedules and hotels was mediocre.

- Still trying to find a decent hotel in our price range, I searched last-minute travel provider Site59.

- I booked a 6 a.m. Northwest flight to maximize our time in New Orleans and spent three nights at the Hotel InterContinental New Orleans (a AAA four-diamond hotel).