By Bobbi Burger Brunoehler of BobbisBargains.
Tired of the usual Thanksgiving traditions? Want to put the giving back in Thanksgiving? Try these 10 ideas.
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By Bobbi Burger Brunoehler of BobbisBargains.
I had a bad experience at a hotel recently, and didn’t keep quiet about it. Neither should you.
A couple of weeks ago, I went “glamping” (glamorous camping) with my daughter. A bunch of families camped out on the beach, but sleeping on the ground wasn’t doing it for me. I booked a hotel near the camp site so could spend time with my friends camping, but sleep on a good mattress. I snagged a good rate using the online special and my AAA discount.
When bedtime came, I went into the hotel to get my pre-confirmed room. It was between the pool entrance and the gym. I could hear the thump thump thump of
The Unethical Man wrote in with another money morality dilemma (he seems to run into them often):
Sorry, I got one more question for you. As you may already know, I go to Vegas quite a bit. I try to take advantage of as many free room night offers as I can. Why? Because when traveling out of town, one of the incidental expenses is the room. My question is whether you think it is unethical to accept an offer of free rooms from a property but not gamble there or eat there? You hardly spend any time at the property except for showering and sleeping. At checkout time, the bill reads $0.00 on the TV screen.
Ethical or unethical?
I think you are in the clear as long as part of the agreement for the free hotel room does not include a promise to spend time at the hotel eating or gambling. I’m sure that’s what the hotel wants, but it can’t force you to gamble any more than it can force you to starve.
More money morality posts:
Freebie tacos a deal or a steal?
Is BB a good Samaritan or greedy stranger?
Dilemma: Neighbors gave us cash we don’t want
Longtime reader Glenn shared a dirty secret about hotel room safes. They’re not safe at all! He writes:
Do you ever use the hotel safe in your room? If so, do you know about the default combination code that can make your valuables “less safe” than you thought? If the answer is “No,” then you must check out a video that was posted on YouTube on Sept. 6th by skyrangerpro.
Here is the video Glenn mentioned. It’s been viewed more than a million times!
This post is brought to you by VacationPass.com, where you can browse New York Pass Coupons.
The Sunday New York Times Travel section had a good article on volunteer vacations, which is when you put in time for a good cause while on vacation. A major upside is reduced cost. Here’s my take on the story, with specific cheap volunteer vacations listed below.
Pros
Cost reduced by as much as 50%!
Unusual activities and trips built into your vacation.
Burn extra calories on the trip, making up for indulgent eating and drinking.
You can feel good about visiting third world countries, or wherever your trip takes you.
Cons
Some of the trips require 6 hours of work a day.
Not all the work is light labor. You’re going to break a sweat!
Specific trips (prices do not include airfare)
Appalachian Mountain Club
Help clean up trails from New Hampshire to St. John for about $220 a week
With 20%, 30% and 40% off properties, HostelBookers Summer Sale promises budget fun in the sun for all. For beach and city breaks rolled in to one, travellers can find bargains in Barcelona, Malaga or Dubrovnik while sun seekers longing for a slice of island paradise should try Hvar in Croatia or Santorini. Alternatively, there are some fabulous hostels with roof terraces in Granada, Florence and Marrakesh — the perfect spot for an aperitif at sunset. Discounts are available until 31st July for travel completed by 31st August 2011.
HostelBookers has properties in 3,500 destinations, charges absolutely no booking fee and offers a lowest price guarantee. Their dedicated Group Travel Team can help make arrangements for larger parties such as school or university groups, sports clubs or stag and hen dos.
To find a hostel, cheap hotel, B&B, apartment or campsite to really suit you and your trip, you can read reviews and ratings from previous guests. If you are looking for a party hostel, search by atmosphere. If you are planning a family trip, search by safety and cleanliness. Our website also clearly displays properties with private rooms, dormitories or both!
The HostelBookers Blog
From advice on how to pack your backpack to finding the best clubs in London, the HostelBookers blog is a treasure trove of city guides, places to visit off the beaten track and local know-how.
HostelBookers on Facebook
A great place for posting your travel queries, keeping up to date with the latest offers and sharing your experiences with the travel community. Go on, like us!
This is a sponsored post. Interested in an ad? Read my blog adverting page.
A free airfare offer I received: scam?
We received a postcard for an offer that was so obviously fake, we had to laugh. This is my second brush with fraud in two weeks! Here is what it said:
We have identified you and you are now on record. We are happy to contact you directly at your residence to inform you that you have been confirmed to receive this notice for our complimentary* airfare certificate. This offer is real and is no mistake. Please respond promptly so that we may process you.
As soon as we receive your call, we will process your validation number and tell you all about your 2 round trip airfares to many exciting destinations in the Continental U.S.!
Ben Miller, Disbursement Manager
*Some restrictions apply
The postcard, shown above, was troublesome for a few reasons.
Going somewhere? You better be getting a cash back rebate when you book flight, hotels, or car rentals! One of my favorite cash back sites, Shortcuts, has a page dedicated to cash back travel deals. New to this? Here’s my guide to how cash back rebates work.
A sampling of the travel savings available:
Hotels
3.5% of your purchase back from Hotels.com on Ebates
2.5% of your purchase back from Best Western on Ebates
Hotel freebies for me!
My first thought yesterday when I saw the huge spread of toiletries on my Radisson hotel room vanity was, “I’m totally going to take this stuff!” Somehow, the spectacular display of toiletries made me feel as if the hotel wanted me to take it all. A hotel that parts with an essential bar of soap, shampoo and conditioner has a stingy glow, while a hotel that displays no fewer than 23 items clearly has riches to share.
Which of course reminded me of a guest post from a reader who takes toilet paper from hotels to save money. I draw the line at tp and tissues, but confess my plans to stash away these goodies, which I estimate are worth about $25. It’s the biggest assortment of hotel goodies I’ve ever seen:
Do you take hotel swag home?
One solution to finding cheap flights is to get off the plane early, suggestions a story in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine. So-called “hidden-city ticketing” is when you book a cheap flight to Vegas, for example, but deplane during a connection at your true destination of Salt Lake City.
What’s going on here? Flying to smaller airports with fewer flights is more expensive than flying to a major airport like NYC, Vegas, Miami, or Boston.
Obviously, this doesn’t work for non-stop flights. But for connecting flights, the New York Times Magazine reporter found four instances where buying a ticket directly to a big city, but then getting off at the connecting city, was less than 50% of the cost of buying a ticket to the connecting city. Examples:
