Travel hacks and advice

[ex-powderbroker]

pull the sheets at the pillows and peel the headboard to look for bed bugs at every hotel. those fuckers are everywhere and if you bring them back to your home you are obligated to burn your place down.

[huckbucket]

pull the sheets at the pillows and peel the headboard to look for bed bugs at every hotel. those fuckers are everywhere and if you bring them back to your home you are obligated to burn your place down.

I AM the bed bug ....

[ex-powderbroker]

also, bring a book. it’s really easy to get sucked into your phone for a few hours but remember nothing of what you did. books are the opposite and and it will impress the call girl at the bar.

[MontuckyFried]

Caution against hotels.com. Their prices usually average 10% over the hotels base rate for the room. You cooperate guys probably don’t notice or care, but in my own small business I now go to the hotel directly and ask for the AAA, or government rate. At the hotel it is usually 10% off their base rate which at times of markups is a really nice discount. All the while using the hotel’s points system. I have a Marriott and Hilton rewards number, which I can usually find one or the other, and count on a good nights sleep.

I generally avoid booking through all travel sites now. I've had a couple of bad experiences booking through hotels.com or travelocity where I'd show up to the hotel and they'd tell me the room wasn't booked and to take it up with the travel sites, which had terrible customer service (at the time at least). After getting things straightened out, the desk clerks at one of the hotels told me that all I have to do is find the lowest rate on the travel site and it's easy enough to book directly through the hotel who will honor said rate. They prefer you do this since now they don't have a third party taking their cut, which costs the hotel money. Anyway, ever since then I've simply booked through hotels directly and it's been a MUUUUCH smoother experience overall.

Now what I do when I'm on the road is use my phone to Google hotels in whatever area I'm landing in, it pulls up a list with prices and "deals." Then you can drill down the hotel of choice where it gives you the prices that pretty much EVERY travel site offers. Screenshot for proof at the front desk (I've had to do this on occasion). Boom. Half price hotels sometimes! On my last trip, sometimes you could either stay in a Motel 6 OR for just a few bucks more you can stay in a Four Seasons. Google proved to be quite a valuable tool on my last trip for sure.

[Captain Awesome]

also, bring a book. it’s really easy to get sucked into your phone for a few hours but remember nothing of what you did. books are the opposite and and it will impress the call girl at the bar.

I travel with a Kindle, and while it doesn't have the impact of holding an actual book, it does have the distinct advantage of not letting me focus on anything other than the book. If I can do other stuff, like on an iPad or whatever, it's harder to stay focused. And, while I may not impress the call-girl, I've significantly increased the number of books I read, which is a good thing.

I generally avoid booking through all travel sites now. I've had a couple of bad experiences booking through hotels.com or travelocity where I'd show up to the hotel and they'd tell me the room wasn't booked and to take it up with the travel sites.... They prefer you do this since now they don't have a third party taking their cut, which costs the hotel money. Anyway, ever since then I've simply booked through hotels directly and it's been a MUUUUCH smoother experience overall.

Hard to argue with this, but I've had really good luck (pricing and service) with booking.com, pretty much everywhere, FWIW.

Now what I do when I'm on the road is use my phone to Google hotels in whatever area I'm landing in, it pulls up a list with prices and "deals." Then you can drill down the hotel of choice where it gives you the prices that pretty much EVERY travel site offers. Screenshot for proof at the front desk (I've had to do this on occasion). Boom. Half price hotels sometimes! On my last trip, sometimes you could either stay in a Motel 6 OR for just a few bucks more you can stay in a Four Seasons. Google proved to be quite a valuable tool on my last trip for sure.

Hmmm... Maybe I'll give this a go, too. It might be a little too "living on the edge" for me, since I'm often arriving late and leaving early, and don't have a lot of time to search for a plan B, but if it works, it'd be great.

[thommy21]

OP -Couple good points brought up. Do you have to use You corporate travel agent/service or are you on your own? I have to use CWT but I have some bootleg corporate codes I use for hotels so will go outside the system pretty often on that part of my trip.

Cap Awesome brings up a good point as well. For international I always like to go to my furthest destination at the beginning of my trip. Usually Singapore or Thailand then work my way back so my travel home at the end of a couple weeks is shorter. Shanghai Taiwan Hong Kong.

[Parvo]

OP -Couple good points brought up. Do you have to use You corporate travel agent/service or are you on your own?

I have to book everything through SAP Concur. It's pretty trick and likely will use it to book vacation flights as well.

[frorider]

Our contracted travel agency is CWT— so I’ve used Concur for years and years. Works fine for domestic travel. Piece of shit for intl. So I usually figure out the best itinerary / price combination via google travel, then phone a CWT agent who then books what I dictate.

Concur also comes up with totally retarded ‘lowest proposed fares’ that are fucking stupid itineraries. Yes there are ways to game the system but it’s a hassle.

YMMV. Obviously corporate policies vary.

[plugboots]

Maybe Concur is good if you’re new to the game, but I found it to suck completely.

[booner]

I have to use Concur as well. It's easy if you know the quirks it has and how to avoid the errors.

It's great for expense reports

[riser4]

Ya, I don't like Concur. It keeps coming up with stupid short layovers for international travel that don't leave time to catch a connecting flight even if you didn't have to deal with customs. Everything else comes up 'out of policy' which means you get flagged with an exception and have to explain to way too many levels of management. I gamed it last time. Which was a PITA and required a bit of time on a bunch of other websites researching routes and schedules.

[riser4]

I have to use Concur as well. It's easy if you know the quirks it has and how to avoid the errors.

It's great for expense reports

YMMV. The expenses worked well for me. Some other folks not so much.

[plugboots]

I have to use Concur as well. It's easy if you know the quirks it has and how to avoid the errors.

It's great for expense reports

I get all that. It was a time suck, and I never wanted my reps wasting time with that BS. The time suck never outweighed any benefit. Which, there seemed to be none. My reps were smart people, and we had small bonus benefits to keep expenses down, etc. Instead with Concur, the reps learn to game the system. Yeah, that's what I what my employees doing, wasting time trying to game a system that has nothing to do with why we hired them.

[El Chupacabra]

For the corporate types racking up nights and charging the client for it -- as stated earlier, pick a hotel chain that is easily found in the places you typically go -- YMMV whether in US, Europe, cities, rural, etc. Personally, for US travel, I picked Marriott and Hilton for cities and IHG for rural (Holiday Inn Express is decent and found in podunk towns). Someone said they always go for Airbnb -- I would never do that; go get the hotel points that someone else is paying for!

Collect points on Marriott and/or Hilton. Both offer a "5th night free" option, which is usable when redeeming those points:

https://hiltonhonors3.hilton.com/en/...e-example.html
https://www.marriott.com/loyalty/redeem/hotels.mi

Here's an example of a points vacation redemption: Mrs. C. and I used the 5th-night-free for a trip to Maui last year, staying 5 nights at the Marriott Residence Inn Wailea was 160K points + $100 parking fee ($20/day), no resort fees, included breakfast. Hotel was built the year prior*. They gave us a free upgrade to a 2-room suite at the end of the hotel -- I had a Ritz Carlton card at the time, so had some sort of higher tier Marriott/RC status.

* Hotel tip: when selecting your chain hotel, look for info on the hotel website regarding whether it was recently opened, or recently remodeled. Newer = better, IMHO. I'd rather stay in a brand new Hampton Inn than a Doubletree that was last renovated in the 1990s.

[DBdude]

i liked concur

[DBdude]

Dulles is my least favorite airport

Fucking hate that pile of shit

laguardia sucks ass - but at dulles the combination of a late flight and the bus to another gate is the worst travel experience I have ever had - and the place is a pit

philly - we close at the first snow flake - at least there is a hotel at the terminal

[Parvo]

Not sure I have the balls to vape weed in the aircraft loo. Sure it's safe?
Edibles don't seem to have any discernible effect on me and I'm always gobbling them down when offered.

[DBdude]

do not vape on the plane - lol

[thommy21]

Yeah CWT/Concur here as well. US flights are ok but as mentioned Int’l sucks. I always cross check with the Untied site and then call the CWT line and just tell them the flights I want. I also separate my in bound out bound from my inter-Asia flights because it doesn’t know how to pull all that together without giving you horrible flight selections. Hotel searches for me give me false reads on price. It will show AAA or Sr Citizen rates initially and when you look at the rates for what I can select prices are much higher.

[plugboots]

Yeah CWT/Concur here as well. US flights are ok but as mentioned Int’l sucks. I always cross check with the Untied site and then call the CWT line and just tell them the flights I want. I also separate my in bound out bound from my inter-Asia flights because it doesn’t know how to pull all that together without giving you horrible flight selections. Hotel searches for me give me false reads on price. It will show AAA or Sr Citizen rates initially and when you look at the rates for what I can select prices are much higher.

And here we are. Exactly what I was talking about.
Fucking software, (and automatic transmissions), can't think, or look ahead, or know that $3 saved on a flight is not worth the 6 hour layover or whatever the fuck it suggests, that causes the person to waste time to do the work around. Not to mention you need to be online to use it effectively. I could go on and on. A simple spreadsheet and .pdf's of receipts works far better in every way.

[booner]

Wouldn't recommend it but I see people do it in their seat sometimes

I've definitely taken a quick rip as soon as I get in my seat, before anyone is around

[DBdude]

the cart donkeys get really pissed

[summit]

I'm not a business traveler but I do travel:

SHOES
Fuck flip flops on flights. If you need to run or jump, you are gonna regret it. Bigger reason is you sure as hell don't want to pop off your flip flips after takeoff because now you are barefoot and who wants to know what was on that carpet under your seat. With shoes, you have socks. At least wear full sandals with socks and who cares what other people think.

SLEEP AND QUIET
1. If at all reasonable, when long hauling on an overnight, do not ambien (or drug of choice) until you start you takeoff roll. If you pop it the moment you hit your seat and find yourself deplaning for a mechanical (or exiting the aircraft emergently) it's a lot harder to get your shit together, coordinate your flight change, or walk to another gate.

2. Foam earplugs with your noise cancelling over the ear earphones playing your relaxation music is WAY better at drowning out noise than either thing alone. Significantly less comfortable but more effective: noise cancelling earbuds playing your music with 30db earmuffs over. Never be without some combo plus an inflatable (neck) pillow and a quality eyemask. If you can't sleep in the terminal through the overhead announcements, then you can't sleep with a screaming baby 5 rows back. Don't forget to set an alarm.

3. Cowin E7 noise cancelling earphones... as good as Bose at 1/4 the cost.

pull the sheets at the pillows and peel the headboard to look for bed bugs at every hotel. those fuckers are everywhere and if you bring them back to your home you are obligated to burn your place down.

Yep. Luggage in the bathroom until you confirm. Don't assume your nice hotel makes you immune. Bed bugs are equal opportunity.

[booner]

One of our VPs immediately calls and requests new bedding the second he checks in and keeps his bag in the bathtub till they're done and no bed bugs is confirmed

I always lift the mattress for a quick check

[hutash]

Caution against hotels.com. Their prices usually average 10% over the hotels base rate for the room. You cooperate guys probably don’t notice or care, but in my own small business I now go to the hotel directly and ask for the AAA, or government rate. At the hotel it is usually 10% off their base rate which at times of markups is a really nice discount. All the while using the hotel’s points system. I have a Marriott and Hilton rewards number, which I can usually find one or the other, and count on a good nights sleep.

Edited, to make sense

Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

I don't find this to be true, at least most of the time. I find Hotels.com to be consistently the lowest, including going to the hotels websites, but it probably depends on the hotels. I tend to look for cheap hotels/motels on hotels.com then check other sites as a comparison. Occasionally I find a better deal elsewhere, but not often. If you start with Marriotts, and Hitons, I would not be surprised to find them cheaper with their websites, but I don't stay at such properties often.