Where to book hotels, rental cars

[Benny Profane]

Go old school and Contact your local AAA office, they are a travel agency and can do it all, then you have an actual person to call if shit happens.

For easy domestic trips no need but for more detailed itineraries it nice to have.

#savethetravelagentjobs

Are you 74?

[Gepeto]

Best I can tell, all the services dump cookies onto you for every search. If you keep checking, the prices will bump a few bucks each search. Especially on airfare.

Nice To Know

google flights is my new favorite. simple and none of the extra BS of some other sites with pop ups etc

https://www.google.com/flights/

I also like their "explore destinations" option

clean interface

Go old school and Contact your local AAA office -
#savethetravelagentjobs

Was always curious about this. They are a client of mine and have visited quite a few regional offices. Much nicer work environments than a typical travel agent. More upscale feel than you would be lead to believe.

This is true, always search in private browsing/ ingonito or whatever the private setting is on your browser of choice.

Saves from having to purge - good thinking

*

Individual Locale has a significant impact - living near an airline hub is a luxury some take for granted.

[Marshall Tucker]

Hotels: Hotwire or Priceline. 3* and higher properties are acceptable, IMHO; below that and you risk Super 8 and similar. Also, if you need your room to have specific # of beds (e.g. 2 adults + 2 kids), then go with Hotwire, not Priceline.

I've always used hotwire with good results, but IMO i find the "recommended" as important as the stars. 2.5 * @80% or better is sorta the starting point and i find generally gets you a nice, new hotel, very clean, but maybe just a little out of the way. you also have to tell Hotwire got 4 adults to get the two double beds. rates will go up slightly for that.

[Marshall Tucker]

costco gives you a discount on major brand rental cars if you are a member and book through them. its usually 10-20% and often more if you're not picky about type of car.

Had never thought to check with costco. Just saved $75 on a 4 day tahoe rental SMF, thx!

[Sirshredalot]

I don't find 10-20% through costco, hertz, or wherever else cheaper than rentalcars.com or kayak.

Just saw a Porsche rental for $150/day through hertz without a discount, they have Teslas too. very tempting....fucking booked a minvan a half hour ago instead because i'm practical, ughhhh. I suck. next time.

Let's go ski some time soon and I'll hook you up.

[boarddad]

+1 for Google Flights. You won't be disappointed. Once you've discovered the best price there is not much of an advantage to book with anyone but the airline. Google flights finds you that best price easily and reliably.

Hotels I research through just about any site, then CALL the hotel and ask for a better deal. Worst case they shut you down. You can get some sweet deals if you talk to the right person and have already done the research.

I used to save a ton of cash booking rental cars through autoslash.com. It was sweet - you put your rental info in or better yet, book through them, no obligation. It would regularly check back on your rental and automatically re-book your rental at a better price if it found one. We saved hundreds of dollars on a rental in Boston that way. Problem was, most car rentals are all owned by the same company or very closely related. They caught on the what autoslash was doing and refused to let them handle thief car rentals. Last I checked autoslash is still around but there are very few car rentals you can book with them so the deals are practically gone.'

Still, kick-ass idea. The car rental companies can suck it for not playing along. I guess they'd rather the car sit idle in their lot than let someone in on their dirty little secret (the monopoly that is).

Another tip; if you are flying into one city and can't find a decent deal, consider checking nearby airports and renting the car for only a day and swapping at the cheaper location. We saved, no kidding, over $1000 on a week-long rental flying into Denver that way. The rental places in Denver were charging extortion rates and we were driving to Crested Butte. I rented the cheapest car I could in Denver, drove it to Colorado Springs, traded for a Grand Cherokee, then drove that car for a week, returning it to Denver. I even called Avis in advance and told them what I was doing in hopes they'd go be me the Colorado Springs price in Denver. Their response; "go ahead and do that." Hard to believe the agents have no leeway, but apparently not.

[Danno]

Rental cars: start with Costco and carrentals.com. I often book a cancelable rental first, then as the trip gets closer (or is 100% firm), start lowballing Priceline with bids. Sometimes I can get much cheaper on Priceline, sometimes not. Also check back periodically on your original search sites -- prices change, unpredictably.

Just reserved a car through costco at LGA in September (god that airport is a shithole). Started with avis, got cheaper on budget, then costco got even cheaper. Booked whenever I found cheaper, and canceled the old res. Going to keep working at it!

[KQ]

[stompinlines]

Sidenote
Costco provides legitimate savings on package trips to Hawaii.

[El Chupacabra]

Another tip -- if you're not picky on the car, search all available options. Sometimes the car rental company has stuff they need to move and it's cheaper than an econobox. During a recent search I did, one of the companies was offering a "specialty" car (described as Dodge Challenger or similar) for less than a compact.

[yeahman]

Curious why nobody uses Expedia. I've used it a bunch and never had a problem. Seems to have pretty much the same prices as other sites, although admittedly I don't look too closely. Sometimes I book straight through Delta but usually Expedia for flight and car.

[riser4]

Curious why nobody uses Expedia. I've used it a bunch and never had a problem. Seems to have pretty much the same prices as other sites, although admittedly I don't look too closely. Sometimes I book straight through Delta but usually Expedia for flight and car.

Because i dropped it once i discovered Kayak.

[yeahman]

Because i dropped it once i discovered Kayak.

Why?

[riser4]

Why?

Kayak found some better deals, seemed easier to use, and had more deals. At that point in time time. Never went back. And I always hated Expedia because it had Microsoft roots.