DEEPER DISCOUNTS

With the advent of the internet, travelers are becoming more informed. The savvy traveler can perform reserach and determine the appropriate price range for various vacation options.

A few of the especially well-informed know a secret: CONSOLIDATORS.

Consolidators are ‘end-of-the-line’ stops for companies in the hospitality industry. When they have excess inventory, be it hotel rooms, cruise ship spots or airfare seats, providers hand over their left-overs to consolidation companies to liquidate. The theory behind this is, better a room sold at $60 than a room left empty because they were asking $229 and didn’t sell it.

There are quite a few good sell-off sites out there. See our short list at the end of the page.

As you may have heard, some consolidation companies offer even better deals if you are willing to be a little flexible in your options. Pricline and Hotwire are examples of these, and the basics are explained below.

Bidding For Travel

Websites such as Priceline and Hotwire are two great examples of ‘blind’ sites from where you can get an even deeper discount if you know your way around. Priceline works on a customer bidding system, while Hotwire works on a provider bidding system. You can obtain fantastic rates on hotel rooms, cruises, rental cars and much more. If you are flexible in either your specific location, date range or star preference, these sites will be a great resource for you, and you’ll never go back to retail!

THE CATCH: You will not know the provider until AFTER you have accepted the offer.

Let’s use a hotel room as an example. Say you wish to stay three nights in Las Vegas next week. You’ve done your homework and you decide you’d like at least a four star hotel*, and ideally you’d like to stay on the strip.

A) With Priceline, you would enter your star rating and area of choice (in most cities, you will be given a map from which to choose very specific sections you want to bid on, for instance downtown, airport, etc.). and then bid your LOWEST offer. Priceline will then take a moment…you will hold your breath and wait…and get back to you as to whether any hotel has accepted your offer or not. Do not be afraid to bid VERY low: a little homework here will go a long way**.

B) Alternatively, on Hotwire, you would input similar information, and Hotwire will come back with results saying ‘There is a hotel offering you three nights at XX dollars. Would you like to accept this offer?’ Again, knowledge of the rack (retail) rates, various website discounts already published, and comparable offers obtained from other users** will be your ally here.

*ALWAYS keep in mind that star/quality ratings differ from website to website, so the higher the rating you find consistently over many sites, the better overall your experience is likely to be. Read any hotel and trip reviews, amenity and exclusion lists you find carefully. Try TripAdvisor.com for updated traveler reviews, and be sure and submit any reviews YOU may have to the Travel Insider blog (click below).

**IMPORTANT: Knowledge is always power! A very useful tool for using these websites to your best advantage is Bidding for Travel, a forum site set up specifically for this purpose. You can research other winning bids, find out the best strategies, and avoid common mistakes. Also take advantage of the traveler reviews at Tripadvisor.com.

Consolidators (if you have a great one not included here, please contact me):

• SellOffVacations.com
• VacationsToGo.com
• LastMinuteClub.com
• WholesaleTravel.com