Budget Travel: Three steps to a cheaper car rental

by Grant Martin on

Three main components go into any vacation package: Hotel, Airplane and Vehicle bookings. Once you can get around and have a place to sleep, activities and food can just fall into place as the days roll in.

Here at Gadling we’re covering all of the niches of vacation bookings in our Budget series. Earlier in the week was plane tickets. Later, will be hotel bookings. Today’s focus? Getting a good deal on your car rental.

It’s not as difficult as you think. The same booking engines (Kayak, Expedia etc.) used to find your bargain basement airplane tickets can be used to find cars as well. But with car rentals, the strategy is a bit different. Most of the time, airfare prices that are quoted from a search engine are fares that you’re stuck with until the bitter end. With car rentals, that’s the point from which you start.

From that marker, you optimize you booking in three ways:

  1. Join the club
  2. Get a coupon
  3. Be Flexible!

We’ll start with Joining the Club.
Like most hotel, airline and credit card brands, car rental companies will do anything they can to hook you into their product. By making you believe that you’re loved, you’re more likely to stick around, identify with them and feel better about yourself. Happiness is money.

National‘s Emerald program, for example, means absolutely nothing. Anyone off the street can join, get the card and walk to the Emerald Aisle when booking, it just takes time to follow the right links, sign up for service and fill in the forms.

Being a member, however, affords discounts. Coupon codes for Emerald members float around the internet freely, and by being in the “club” you’re entitled to these rates.

The same applies for basic membership in many other rental agencies — sign up for basic service and you’ll immediately see the benefit. Furthermore, you get the added bonus of getting through the line at the counter faster (or often bypassing it) and earning points, so it’s a win-win situation.

Get a Coupon

The internet is RIFE with coupon codes for car rentals. If you want a good place to start, check the repository at flyertalk.com, where coupons should be filed under each specific agency.

As a word of waning, remember that different policies and insurance coverage come with each contract code or coupon. You might get a great deal by renting under the Missouri Alligator Hunters contract ID, for example, but after you get into that fender bender, you also might find out that all insurance is waived. Just make sure you read the fine print and know what you’re getting yourself into.

That said, many a coupon code that we have found online have resulted in huge (40-50% discounts) over the rack search engine rate. Never, ever book without a coupon.

Be Flexible

Being flexible in pickup time, location and vehicle has its benefits, but some days, your favorite car company just doesn’t offer the best price on your itinerary. It’s difficult breaking free from your preferred carrier when you’ve worked so hard to earn that “granite status” that gets you the free windshield wash fluid, but you have to remember: most car rental agencies are charging you way too much to begin with. If they can’t offer a competitive rate, you can’t let their perks sway you. Join the competitor’s rewards program, do the research and book the cheapest fare. Hey, you might like the vehicle that you get to drive.

**

The nice thing about vehicle rentals is that getting a good deal is less time dependent than in working with airplane tickets. There is almost a higher supply than demand for cars, so usually a near term rental isn’t much more expensive than a reservation that you make three months out. Airplane seats, conversely, often sell out.

So take your time. Book your airplane tickets first, hotel second and spend a while shopping around for car rentals. Get the perfect convergence of membership rewards and coupon codes lined up, and you just might drive away with a bargain.

Budget Travel – The Low Cost Carrier

by Scott Carmichael on

Summary: The low cost carrier (LCC) may seem like a new development in the aviation world, but the concept is anything but new. The first real low cost “no frills” airline was Laker Airways, which took off back in 1966 from the UK, and shuttled passengers to destinations all around the world for as little as $50.

Laker Airways provided the inspiration for many of the current low cost carriers, and even major airlines like Virgin Atlantic took a close look at Sir Freddie Laker’s business model to learn from his experiences and mistakes.

A low cost carrier is exactly what the name implies – low cost. In order to offer these low prices, the airline naturally makes some cuts. You won’t find anything “free” on the majority of these carriers. Everything from drinks to checked luggage will add to the price of your ticket, but in return you are able to book an insanely cheap fare.

Finding a low cost carrier: Several days ago, Jeffrey wrote about some basic ways you can find a low cost carrier. This information is very important, because almost all low cost carriers handle their own bookings, and do not participate in sites like Expedia or Travelocity. There are 100’s of low cost airlines out there, so if you can’t find what you are looking for, try entering your destination into Google, and a airline or other resource is bound to pop up.


When not to use a low cost carrier: As you navigate the low cost airline websites, you may notice a trend – many of them do not use the airport you expect them to.

For example; Ryanair flies from London to Brussels. Their destination is not to the “normal” airport of Zaventem, but “Brussels South Airport” in Charleroi. Zaventem airport is just 10 miles from the Brussels city center, Brussels South airport is about 50 miles with no direct rail link.

You’ll need to take this into consideration when you book a ticket, as the trip from Charleroi to Brussels takes about an hour by bus and will add about $30 (round trip) to your ticket.

The same goes for many other airport destinations serviced by a low cost carrier. Before you hit “purchase now”, always pull the airport up on a map, and check out the airport site to determine just how much of a hassle it will be to get to your final destination. Saving $50 on a ticket is meaningless if you have to spend another $50 just to get to your hotel.

The low carrier will not always warn you about these remote destinations, so make sure you do your homework. One more thing to keep in mind is that many of these airports are low cost themselves, so do not expect too many facilities.



Too good to be true? When you research a low cost carrier, and compare their prices with a normal carrier, you’d be forgiven if you wondered whether the whole thing is too good to be true.

If you come across a $3 fare on Ryanair, don’t be too suspicious, these carriers sell millions of tickets, and many of them do indeed start that low. In fact, some of these airlines are amongst the largest in the world, all thanks to those cheap tickets.

Of course, you do need to keep in mind that even tickets on a low cost carrier are subject to taxes and other surcharges, so your $5 ticket could easily become $60.

Competition = good: Don’t always depend on the low cost carrier. On routes within Europe where competition is stiff, you’ll often be able to find similar rates on the legacy carriers. For example; easyJet charges about $42 for a one way ticket from London Luton to Amsterdam. But British Airways charges just $68 for a flight from the much nicer Heathrow airport to Amsterdam. If you are on a budget, but still have a little cash to spare, consider your comfort before committing to a low cost carrier.

Booking on a low cost carrier: As i mentioned earlier, don’t expect to use your favorite booking site to book a ticket on a low cost carrier. All these carriers handle their own bookings. This means you’ll have to select the cheapest airline yourself.

A great place to start is FlyLowCostAirlines.org, this site has most major low cost carriers in their database, and allows you to enter your destination to locate all the low cost carriers that operate on that route.

Low cost carriers are everywhere! When you think of low cost carriers, most people will think of the airlines they recognize – Spirit, JetBlue and Southwest are all very well known in the US.

There are however 100’s of other low cost carriers around the world. Heading to India? Check out GoAir. Going to China? Take a flight on Spring Airlines. A convenient list of all the low cost carriers in the world can be found at Wikipedia.

Get your expectations straight: There is no easy way to say this – low cost carriers are not a luxurious way to travel. If you are used to flying in the first or business class cabin, and having a flight attendant look after all your needs, then a low cost carrier is going to be mighty disappointing.

Book your ticket with the correct expectations, and your flight will be just fine. Remember, most of these flights are under 2 hours, and the money you saved will go towards a nice dinner at your destination. If you board the plane expecting full service, then you are going to be in for a nasty surprise.

What to be on the lookout for: Every low cost carrier will do what it can to “upsell”. During your booking process, you’ll be offered all kinds of additional services, for a fee.

Some of these services may be cheaper than buying them directly, but others may not be the best value out there. If you have money to spare, you may want to consider paying for “priority boarding”, which allows you to board in the first group, greatly increasing your chance of getting a decent seat. This is especially important if you are traveling in a group and do not want to be split up.

Remember, almost no low cost carriers do the seat assignment game, so as soon as the boarding doors open, you are on your own to snag the seat you want.

One other thing to keep in mind, is that not all airlines let you check in for free at the airport. Ryanair is a good example of an airline that charges for checking in at the airport, so don’t be surprised if your family is charged an additional fee, just because you were not able to do an online checkin.

Budget Travel: 7 Quick tips for cheap airplane tix

by Grant Martin on

Spending some time on the road this year? Chances are, you’re going to have to battle the internets for a good deal on your flight. But what to do when the prices are sky high and your wallet is recession skinny?

Most respectable travel websites out there have giant lists, strategies and flow charts about the best way to get the absolute best price. It works, but it can be complicated, and in a busy world like this, few of us have time to look through an ITA Matrix and calculate the most optimum routing.

Don’t know what an ITA Matrix is? Then keep reading for our quick tips to getting the best price on airplane tickets.

  • Flexible Flexible Flexible: There’s a reason that Kayak has a “flexible dates” option in their search engine. Traveling on Fridays and Sundays are most expensive (highest demand,) so if you can, try Thursday or Monday. Monday AM flights are often drastically less expensive and you can still often get into work by 10.
  • Book early: Probably more than a month out. Definitely more than two weeks. If it’s inside of a week, drive or take a hot air balloon.
  • Use a metacrawler: Given that we just mentioned Kayak, we should point out this important tip: Always use a metacrawler. Both Kayak and Mobissimo search engines search all of the traditional search engines on the market AND airline websites, so you can guarantee that you’re not shelling out extra cash on a third party website.
  • Check the Low Cost Carrier: Southwest doesn’t publish its fares on the regular search engines, so make sure you do a cross check at southwest.com before you book your ticket.
  • Search nearby airports: Flying out of Los Angeles? Make sure you check Long Beach (LGB,) Santa Ana (SNA) and Ontario (ONT) as well. Airports with a large LCC presence often have more competitive fares.
  • Look for coupons: As our friends at Airfarewatchdog (AFWD) recently pointed out, promo codes are the way that airlines are going this year. American, Virgin America and JetBlue are among the carriers that frequently used coupons last year and you can expect moreto come. Not sure where to find codes? Check with AFWD or your respective carrier over at flyertalk.com.
  • Consider a consolidator: For international travel, consolidators often buy tickets in a discounted block and pass the savings onto passengers. Hotwire.com and airlineconsolidator.com are both fairly simple sites that you can use, or you can always use a local (physical) source.

Finally, the best piece of advice we can give is to be patient. If you’ve got a few months before your dates of travel, set up a fare alert at Kayak. You have to create an account, but once you do, you can have the software automatically search for your fare every day and report to you when the price drops.

Budget Travel: Detroit

by Grant Martin on


Editor’s note: Today’s Budget Travel post comes from guest contributor David Landsel, editor of the New York Post’s travel section.

Summary

Detroit is a place of big doings. Everything it has ever done, it has done spectacularly, from meteoric rise to the total cratering that has left the city half empty, more than sixty years after the unstoppable decline began.

But the Motor City, the land of the Model T, Motown and Madonna (and other famous musicians too numerous to mention) isn’t just an empty shell. Nearly a million people still live here, for starters. As startling as its collapse is the fact that the city continues to move on as if things were almost normal. For sure, this is a place of grand ruins, hopeless politicians, monstrous mansions and grinding poverty, but somehow it all just works. Sometimes just barely. Sometimes surprisingly well. There simply isn’t any place like it. Not in the Rust Belt, not in the Midwest, not anywhere.

Even as times get tougher, there are so many reasons to drop in on Detroit. You can come for the music, for the art, the bars, the history, the cars. Come for the gambling, or the grand architecture. Don’t be surprised, though, if you leave most impressed by the people.

Some of the most genuine folks you’ll find anywhere in the country live in Detroit. Sure, the streets may appear mean, but mostly, the people are anything but. So, talk to strangers. Ask them questions about the city. Find out where they like to go drinking. Don’t worry about coming off like a crazy person – around here, that can often work to your advantage.
Getting in
With the automotive industry so influential in the greater Detroit area, large scale public transportation never took real shape in the city. Metropolitan buses are available, but routes are anemic and schedules sparse, so if you’re going to visit the city you’re almost certainly going to need to rent a car. Luckily, vehicle rentals are fairly inexpensive at Detroit Metro Airport (DTW) and around the city.

Northwest Airlines’, hub at DTW can be a mixed blessing. While one can access almost any city in the country in one stop, prices can be monopolistic and expensive, and therefore it can sometimes be difficult to find a budget fares into the city. Luckily, Spirit Airlines and Southwest Airlines have recently paid closer attention to the city, and routes that compete with their cities are often very inexpensive.

Chicago, Baltimore and Washington DC are all places from which you can reach Detroit for often around $100, and on a good day you can visit from New York for about $150. From the west coast, prices sneak in around $250 – $300.

Amtrak will lead you into the city center as well, where the closest stop to downtown is on Woodward in the New Center area. [thanks to Michael Kellermann for the coordinates]

Where to Stay
While the city is 143 square miles massive, most of the action in the city is centered either in or near the downtown area, a one mile-square, very walkable area that sits on the Detroit River, facing south to Windsor, Ontario. Conveniently for visitors, Downtown is not only the safest place in town, it also happens to contain the city’s best hotels, some of them quite expensive.

For example, the sparkling new MGM Grand with its top-notch, Tony Chi-designed spa, commands rates of $259 and up, while the beautifully renovated Book Cadillac hotel, a local institution that is up and running again under the Westin flag, often goes above $200 a night. (Stop in at the Motor Bar for a pint of locally-brewed Ghettoblaster Ale, even if you don’t stay over.)

To find bargains, though, you don’t have to resort to the mediocre, or the frightening. The Doubletree Suites Fort Shelby (another historic renovation, just completed) offers rates under $150 at non-peak times, as do the reliable Hilton Garden Inn and perfectly fine Holiday Inn Express, both conveniently located right in the city center.

For more unique lodgings, head for Midtown. Just north of the center and walking distance from most of the city’s main cultural attractions, the inspired Inn on Ferry Street is spread out among a handful of grand old mansions along a peaceful block just around the corner from the massive Wayne State University campus. You can find rates around $150 online when they’re not busy.

What to See

The best way to see Detroit is with people who know the surroundings, mostly because the city is more interesting when you’ve got a Detroiter to show it to you, whether we’re talking downtown’s appealing architecture or the city’s diviest dive bars.

Inside Detroit offers weekly tours of downtown highlights for $10 as well as custom tours of anything (anything legal, that is) within city limits that piques your interest. Co-founder Jeanette Pierce grew up on Detroit’s East Side and has a seemingly limitless supply of local know-how. Even if you don’t take a tour, stop by the Welcome Center at 1253 Woodward Avenue, for advice, maps and brochures.

To focus strictly on architecture, look into the summer tours offered on Saturdays and Tuesday evenings by the folks at Preservation Wayne, most cost just $10. For even more adventure, Wheelhouse Detroit re-opens in March, offering bike rentals (just $10-$15 for two hours), regularly scheduled tours, group rides on Wednesdays, as well as custom outings on request.

While getting the local perspective is always recommended, there’s plenty you can do on your own around town. Here are a few must-do activities to get you up and running.

DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS The star of the Cultural District (pictured, right) is home to Diego Rivera’s remarkable Detroit Industry murals – a must see for any fan of the Mexican artist’s work. The DIA, though never quite as flush with cash as it would like to be, has managed to complete major improvements in recent years, presenting a treasure-trove of art in an almost celebratory way. Admission is just $8. The museum hosts an excellent film series and an occasional “Brunch with Bach” in t
he museum’s beautiful Kresge Court.

EASTERN MARKET Many cities have used their historic market districts as a major driver for tourism; in Detroit, the sprawling wholesale food district just northwest of Downtown just happens to be there. That’s not to say Eastern Market is not loved. Every Saturday, in good weather or bad, it seems like a whole chunk of the regional population is waiting in line for breakfast at one of a handful of worthy venues. There’s always something that’ll catch your eye, whether it’s gizzards for sale in the Gratiot Central Market building or the array of spices at one of the local shops. In season, though, make sure to look for the gardeners behind the budding Grown in Detroit movement, selling their parsnips (and the like) here.

BELLE ISLE While Frederick Law Olmsted is best known for his work on New York’s Central Park, Detroiters known him as the architect of their favorite park, Belle Isle, which is roughly twice the size of Central Park and receives a fraction of the visitors. In the middle of the Detroit River, accessible via bridge from Detroit’s East Side, Belle Isle is, like Central Park, so much more than a patch of grass. It comes complete with a zoo, aquarium, conservatory, a stand of thick forest and a long, sandy beach. (Now, ask what percentage of the amenities on the island are still in operation.) True, today’s Belle Isle is running at half mast, if that, but a loyal group of supporters has ensured that the park receives as much love as possible. Key stops include (in season) Cass Gilbert’s whimsical Scott Fountain (pictured) and the year-round Whitcomb Conservatory, with its modest orchid collection. In warmer months, the beach scene heats up, and there’s even a rather impressive water slide. Central Park can’t boast that.

AFFORDABLE JAZZ You’d have to really work to find a night when there isn’t something cool to do around town, and whatever your tastes, there’s a venue for you. Notably, though, Detroit is a great place for jazz lovers. Baker’s Keyboard Lounge — just one door down from 8 Mile Road — is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year; it offers a good schedule, as well as soul food dinners for under $20. Downtown, the much newer Jazz Café sells advance tickets for as little as $15, while over on Park Avenue, Cliff Bell’s, the well-executed revival of a famed 1930’s venue, has affordable cocktails and a lot of covers under $10 – when it charges a cover at all.

David Landsel is Travel Editor at the New York Post. He lives part-time in Detroit, because he has grown accustomed to its face (and affordable drink prices.)

Budget Travel: Boulder, Colorado

by Aaron Hotfelder on

If there’s any city in the US that you could compare to Amsterdam, Boulder might be it. Located about forty-five minutes from Denver, Colorado, Boulder is widely known as a hippie hang-out and boasts some of the most liberal laws in the country. But like Amsterdam, there’s more to Boulder than it’s tie-dyed, dreadlocked image.

Fantastic outdoor activities like hiking, rock-climbing, bicycling, and white-water rafting lie within easy reach of the city, which is situated at the foot of the unique Flatiron rock formations (see below).

Boulder is also home to the main campus of the University of Colorado, which ensures that there’s never a shortage of cultural activities. A Shakespeare festival is held on the college’s campus each summer, and the Pearl Street Mall (below), a four-block pedestrian walkway in downtown Boulder, is home to street musicians and artists of all kinds, as well as some great local bookstores. The Boulder Farmers Market takes place on 13th Street between Canyon and Arapahoe on Wednesdays and Saturdays between May and October; don’t miss it.

Also located on 13th Street, the gorgeous Boulder Teahouse, a gift from Boulder’s sister city of Dushanbe, Tajikistan, is also well worth a visit. From 1987-1990, the ceilings, tables, and columns of the teahouse were all hand-painted or hand-carved in Dushanbe, and they were then flown to Boulder where they were eventually assembled. (Boulder, for its part, opened an internet cafe in Dushanbe, albeit 20 years late.)

Sounds great, right? But can it fit your budget? Of course it can!

If you plan on visiting Boulder during the summer, my advice to you is simple: rent an apartment on Craigslist. Thousands of students abandon their apartments during summer break, and many of them would be glad to rent them out for a week or two for even a nominal fee. Couchsurfing is another great (cheap) option, and there appear to be plenty of available hosts. For something more upscale, try the historic Hotel Boulderado. Built in 1909 and with the original Victorian interior, the hotel is simply stunning.

Boulder’s vibe is youthful but not immature, artistic but not pretentious. It’s a great destination for anything from a family vacation to a solo camp-out– and best of all, it doesn’t have to break your budget.