Results tagged “Deals” from Intelligent Travel Blog

National Geographic Expeditions Marketing Manager Sarah Muenzenmayer shares tips on planning a Hawaii trip that's budget-friendly and full of local color.

As avid travelers in our early 30s, my husband and I like to plan trips that will challenge us--language barriers and exploring foreign cultures are the aspects of travel we find both adventurous and memorable. But with the hubby currently in grad school, we wanted a trip that was slightly easier to plan, not to mention easy on the wallet. Drawn to Hawaii's natural beauty, we decided to skip the resorts and instead to camp along the spectacular coastline. Here are a few tips on how we kept our trip to the Big Island and Kauai challenging, and kept the total cost pretty darn low.

Katie Beddingfield recently popped back home to Washington, DC, for a quick break in her month-long All-You-Can-Jet (AYCJ) adventure on JetBlue. The half-time score:

Number of flights: 9
Cities visited: 5
Window seats scored (with empty middle seat, no less): 7
Airport floors slept on: 1 (JFK. Not as bad as you think)
Items lost: 1 (driver's license--returned 24 hours later. Crisis averted)
Desired flights sold out: 0

Yep. Priceless. I've been having such a blast since I set off September 8, for Oakland, that I actually haven't made much time to jot extensive musings. Suffice it to say, the AYCJ pass has not yet let me down. All of my JetBlue flights have been perfectly uneventful, on-time--and most importantly, bookable. My fear with such a bold offer was that the airline would collect its $599 from eager passengers and then make the pass all but impossible to fully use. Not so for me. I booked my recent western swing several days before departure (the pass requires 3-day advance booking), but then pushed to the limit booking my upcoming southern swing to Bogota, Colombia and Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. With those legs pretty full, the JetBlue reservation agent apologized for being unable to assign a seat in advance, but assured me that I would indeed have a seat. "JetBlue does not oversell its flights," Rose said, "You'll be fine." (I can only hope we see another AYCJ pass offer once JetBlue's recently approved codeshare agreement with Lufthansa is cemented.)

Ask any of my friends and they'll tell you that I'm a big nerd. I'm also a college student (i.e. broke and cheap), so any event that allows me to learn for free gets two big thumbs up. This is why I'm so excited for the Smithsonian magazine Museum Day. This coming Saturday, September 26, over 1,250 museums around the U.S. are offering free admission. That's right, FREE. All you have to do is go to the Museum Day website and print off the admission card.  Each admission card is valid for two visitors and the only stipulation is that only one card be used per household.

This event provides a great opportunity to take that trip to the museum you've been putting off or to check out a funky one you normally wouldn't consider. With a price tag like this one, what do you have to loose?

I've compiled a list (after the jump) of some of my favorite participating museums from the Museum Day list...

With the struggling economy, hotels have been scaling back their amenities in an effort to save cash. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year that large chains have been removing hand lotion, sewing kits, and other former freebies from their rooms, and limiting their hours for restaurants and bars. But some hotels are celebrating their frugality: Introducing the world's first zero-star hotels. Switzerland's Null Stern Hotel for example, occupies a 1980s nuclear fallout shelter. It's more of a hostel, really, with four double beds and six single beds arranged in two large open rooms that are adorned with antique beds and furniture. Says one of the hotel's designers, "We wanted to create a space of contrasts... Like sugar and fish. They are two things that naturally don't go together, but matched up they make people think, for good or bad. For us it's an art installation before it's a hotel--a place where people can think about their surroundings."

San Diego's Rancho Bernardo Inn--normally a swank hotel and spa--offered a similar deal last month. The "Survivor Package" ranged from $19 to $219, offering a progressively lower rate depending on which amenities you decided you could live without. Can you skip breakfast? Your rate is $199. No breakfast or A/C? That'll be $159. No breakfast, A/C, linens, lights, toiletries, or a bed? A night in an empty room will only cost $19. The promotion seemed popular (though I haven't quite figured out why), as reservations were completely sold out. But it begs the question: What are hotels willing to (not) offer to lure guests to their property?

Photo: Null Stern Hotel

If you like this bargain with a cause, the package, offered through Sept. 7, comes with a few rules: the reservations cannot be refunded or canceled, and must be made 72 hours before you check in. It also requires a minimum stay of two nights.

Since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lifted its ban on nonessential travel to Mexico on May 15th, I've been wondering how the H1N1 flu virus, aka swine flu, has affected tourism to Mexico and how the country is poised to recover from the hysteria.

The World Health Organization estimated that 23,000 individuals in Mexico were infected with the virus during its peak in late April. During that time and in the past few weeks, travel bookings to Mexico fell some 80 percent. The Cancun Hotel Association reports a loss of some $2.4 million in tourism revenue. Cruise ships canceled 64 port calls that would have brought 134,000 tourists to Mexico. Some hotels temporarily closed down. The flu certainly had a devastating effect, in many ways still not completely quantified, on Mexico's bottom line as tourism is the country's third largest source of legal foreign income (some 0.3 percent of its GDP).

To bounce back, the Mexican Tourism Board has launched a $90 million recovery plan to boost tourism and many hotels throughout the country are offering deals; two-for-one offers, discounts of up to 70 percent, extras like yoga classes, additional nights, nature treks, and a slew of add-ons. President Calderón says he'll invite international celebrities, including Plácido Domingo and golfer Lorena Ochoa, to visit Mexico to elevate its image as a safe and healthy travel destination. Many hotels and resorts are redoubling their cleaning efforts, installing hand sanitizer dispensers, and offering travelers refunds in the unlikely case they would fall ill after their visit.

In the New York Times, Michelle Higgins details some of the deals now available in Mexico. High-end hotel consortium Mexico Boutique Hotels is also offering many deals at it member properties. Specials are available in Cancún, the Riviera Maya, Los Cabos, Mexico City, Puerto Vallarta, and just about everywhere in between.

Is it now time to rally around Mexico as we overcome what some have called an "epidemic of fear" to help save our neighbor from a tourism crisis? Or, do you feel that snatching up today's prevalent deals is somehow taking advantage of the situation?

Photo: Cabo San Lucas, by Janelle Nanos

Contributing Editor Andrew Nelson is back from a long weekend along Florida's Gold Coast, where he found the economic downturn has had an impact on the high life.

More posh. Less dosh. For travelers looking for resort bargains, these are, as Natalie Merchant said, the days. No more so than the Sunshine State. Last winter tourism fell off the stove along with the stock market. "There was no season this year," complained one taxi driver heading up the Gold Coast from the Ft. Lauderdale Airport. "I've never seen it like that."

The recession combined with the traditional slow season - the humid Florida summer - offers bargains for the traveler. Even Boca Raton, one of East Coast's glossier destinations, is discounted this year.

Exhibit A is the august 1047-room Boca Raton Resort and Beach Club, now part of the Waldorf-Astoria collection. The resort, which started life as the aristocratic Cloister Inn (more on that later), just dropped $110 million on rejuvenating its Beach Club, a swankienda rising like a mid-mod Phoenix from the Atlantic sands. Despite the new pool and a terrific, South Beach-style lobby that makes even the knobbiest-knee-ed schlump feel himself George Clooney, the Club and the Cloister are lopping their rates during the summer with prices starting at $99 a night. Some deals offer a third or fourth night free.

Ironically, Boca Raton has been at this rodeo before. Founded by Florida's own Great Gatsby, the Jazz Age architect and shameless self-promoter Addison Mizner (1872-1933), the town owes its very existence to real estate speculation. The roly-poly Mizner, who was often accompanied by a pet monkey on his shoulder and a gaggle of swells in tow, was a driving force behind the creation of Palm Beach in the early 1920s. Looking to replicate his success further south, he began purchasing land in Boca Raton, first building the preppie-pink Spanish Revival Cloister Inn in 1926 with the hopes of attracting Northern investors. It all worked like a charm until it didn't. Mizner sold $26 million worth of real estate in 24 weeks, but then speculation and the infamous Miami hurricane that year popped the state's property bubble. Boca was "nixed by nature" observed Addison's brother, Wilson. Mizner's Boca holdings were finally sold for $71,500. He died broke in 1933.

Kathmandu, Nepal -- Tala Katner awes me. Her blog about watching Hindu death rites with burning corpses and floating the ashes down the Bagmati River made me glad I dodged the experience that day. We were both in the area at the same time, but had very different experiences, which helps explain why Kathmandu continues to be a mythic destination for anybody who visits.
 
First, we did a fly-by of Everest. Then we explored two of the seven UNESCO World Heritage sites in the Kathmandu Valley: 14th-century Bhaktapur, a car-free, Hindu temple town where people still live traditionally, and the 15th-century Buddhist stupa at Bodhnath, a center of Tibetan life here. Finally, we kicked back with live jazz at the Cafe New Orleans in Patan. (Which, by the way, is a few blocks from a third UNESCO site.)
 
This was a meandering day, not a dash, and three of the most extraordinary sights in the world were affordable. Here's how:

Hip, hip, hooray! Tax day is here!

April 15 is coming up, and I'm thrilled. Like most Americans, I'm getting a refund. According to the IRS, the average tax refund for 2007 was $2,733. My refund typically seeds or funds my summer vacation.

This year that money will go a long way. Take even a portion of your 2008 refund and combine it with the unprecedented deals currently being offered by the travel industry, and you've got yourself the makings for a great summer vacation. Check out our web story for 15 strategies and deals to get you started. And see our Smart Traveler story in the current issue of the magazine (April 2009) for more ideas.

Photo: A trip to Jamaica's Montego Bay is just one way to spend your tax refund. Courtesy Half Moon Resort.

The question isn't whether or not to travel in this economy, it's how to travel smart and get the most value out of your trip. Hotel Central editor Susan O'Keefe begins a series of posts that will feature affordable lodgings that don't break the bank, but are also worthwhile for their location, amenities, and unique character--real gems you should know about. Along with great hotels, she'll share strategies, deals, and insider tips on the destinations. And we encourage you to share your own lodging finds and recommendations for things to do in the city featured. 

Spring may be on the horizon, but Intelligent Travel Contributing Writer Cathy Healy doesn't want you to pack away your skis quite yet.



JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. -- I was getting ready to tell you about how skiers of all ilk, including me, an impassioned green-run cruiser, can find their bliss in this valley of extreme skiing...when I discovered that the region is on sale. After a 60 percent drop in bookings over the bad-economy holiday season, Jackson merchants are hoping for a spring rescue, so negotiate. This may be the year you can afford one more ski trip.

What people often forget, and I count myself among them, is that there are four ski options at Jackson.

One: There's Jackson Mountain, of course, the big one, which offers the world-famous 4,139-foot vertical drop and a new tram that lifts 100 people to the top of the mountain in nine minutes. No greens up there, and most intermediate blue trails at Jackson are like blacks in other places. Good skiers love Jackson. Great skiers really love it. Check out their packages (many of which include airfare) here and here.

Anyone planning on traveling to Africa this year should check out the amazing fare offers on Ethiopian Airlines. In celebration of Obama's inauguration, between now and March 30 they're offering a "Free Companion Fare"--one free ticket from the U.S. to some 32 destinations in Africa with the purchase of another ticket. Tickets must be booked before March 30, with a 21-day limit on the length of stay, and travel must start during that time (though travelers can return as late as 21 days after March 30, or April 20, if I can count correctly).

If you're not planning to fly within the next couple of months, other deals include round-trip fare from Washington Dulles International to Johannesburg from $900 or to Kigali for $1050 (travel before April 30), according to the website.

Even if you didn't vote for Obama, you gotta admit this is a pretty sweet deal.

Photo: David Erazo via the Intelligent Travel Flickr pool 

Originally built at the turn of the last century as a hotel for landlocked sailors, the Jane Hotel in the West Village housed Titanic survivors just after the shipwreck in 1912. The hotel was restored in 2008, and its maritime history is reflected in its cabin-style rooms. While the accommodations are small (from 50 sq. feet to 250 sq. feet), what they lack in square footage they make up for in amenities: flat-screen TVs, free Wi-Fi, and iPod docks grace each cozy room. A ballroom and bar are set to open in the next few weeks, but in the meantime, you can eat at the Cuban Café Socialista or pack a picnic and wander across the street to Hudson River Park. Single rooms have shared bathrooms and start at $75 off-season, $99 peak season. Double rooms are not yet available but are expected to start in the mid-$200s.

The Jane Hotel: 113 Jane Street; 212-924-6700.

Photo: Jane Hotel 

I'm a huge sucker for 50's kitsch, so I loved the recent post on the L.A.Times travel blog about how you can now camp out in an Airstream trailer in Vegas.

The folks at Airstream have sold 25 of the giant silver Twinkies to the KOA RV campground near the Circus Circus hotel, and they'll be renting them out for about $45 dollars a night. The 25-foot-long Vegas Airstreams sleep up to four people on one queen bed and two twins. The units feature bathrooms, kitchen, plates and linens. They're also renting Airstreams in Sugarloaf Key, Florida, and plan to open a few more this spring in Bar Harbor, Maine. The iconic campervans cost about $65,000 a pop, making them an tough buy in these current times, and it's an interesting partnership idea between Airstream and KOA. 

Photo: The AP via Yahoo! News

If there's anything I particularly love about Washington, D.C., it's that most of our museums charge no admission. The City of Light seems to be following our lead and, beginning this April, 18 of Paris's national museums will be free to those under 25. The list of national museums includes favorites like Le Louvre (above) and Musee d'Orsay.

Of course, those over 25 must still pay full admission, but it beats paying admission for younger kids who might not fully appreciate the experience. For more free things to do in the city, check out Traveler's Free Cities guide to Paris.

Photo: Jennifer Kijek via the Intelligent Travel Flickr pool