Last year’s prices were rock-bottom, but deals still out there

Did you cash in? Last year at this time, well-mannered travelers with spare dollars in their wallets could pick and choose from some incredible recession-fueled deals.

Did you cash in? Last year at this time, well-mannered travelers with spare dollars in their wallets could pick and choose from some incredible recession-fueled deals.

In an effort to lure guests, hotels were offering everything from complimentary upgrades and extra nights to free meals, theater tickets, massages, car washes and gas tank fill-ups. Restaurants were rolling out elaborate Happy Hours, theme parks were selling single-day tickets that could be used for admission year-round, and giving away free tickets for volunteering.

I worried about being a โ€œvulture touristโ€ by taking advantage of some of these deals that were just too good to pass up. โ€œDonโ€™t worry,โ€ said David Bojanic, a professor of marketing and tourism at the University of Texas at San Antonio. โ€œYouโ€™re not taking advantage of them. Itโ€™s a buyerโ€™s market.โ€ Besides, he added, โ€œwhen times are good, prices will quickly go back up.โ€

While some parts of the economy are getting back on track, Erik Torkells of Tripadvisor.com said the travel industry has a ways to go. โ€œWeโ€™re still a long way from where we were three years ago. There are absolutely still travel deals to be found.โ€

Last yearโ€™s travel deals kept getting better and better, but you may need to do a bit of hunting this time around.

Airfares not so up in the air

Unless you stay close to home, a big part of your vacation budget will still be spent on airfare. In the past year, airlines have made route and capacity cuts that make it harder to get a great fare. While international fares are โ€œstubbornly high,โ€ said Airfarewatchdog.comโ€™s George Hobica, alert travelers may still find deals for domestic travel.

โ€œWith winter almost over, this is the first time in memory that the airlines didn’t have panicky โ€”as in $300 round-trip, with tax or so โ€” dead-of-winter sales to Europe.โ€ Domestically, Hobica added, โ€œwe are still seeing panicky fare reductions. These are unadvertised โ€˜strategicโ€™ sales that last only a few hours.โ€

In other words: pay attention.

Hotels still a great deal

Travelers are still in luck when it comes to hotel prices. According to a report released earlier this month by Hotels.com, hotel rates fell by 13 percent in Europe in 2009, 14 percent in the U.S., and by even more in Asia and Latin America. โ€œWe keep using the word โ€˜unprecedented.โ€™ But most room rates are down to where they were back in 2004,โ€ said Hotels.comโ€™s Nigel Pocklington.

Pocklington sees the rate decline slowing and stabilizing, but said many hotels โ€” especially four and five-star luxury hotels โ€” are continuing to cut rates, while others are adding value by including extra nights, free breakfasts, upgrades and other complimentary amenities.

Last year was the first year a handful of hotel properties in Beverly Hills, Calif., offered a collective deal. This year that deal is back: in addition to free breakfast and a complimentary extra night, the dozen hotels offering โ€œBreakfast in Beverly Hillsโ€ are throwing in a free day on rental car reservations. And in Las Vegas, where the average room rate now hovers at just $80 a night, free show tickets, meal vouchers and waivers on property resort fees are often included in the package.

Suzanne Rowan Kelleher of the family travel Web site, WeJustGotBack.com, said she senses stabilization. โ€œWe’re not seeing nearly as many blowout deals as we saw last year, when rooms could often be snagged for 40 to 50 percent off regular rates. Now a great deal is when you can snag 25 percent savings or more,โ€ she said.

Yet some hotels no longer need to cut prices. Sasa Nikolic, a spokesperson for the Sagamore Hotel in Miami, Fla., said the hotel last year felt โ€œforcedโ€ to offer an in-season third-night-free promotion because both occupancy and revenues were way down. This year is a different story. โ€œNo specials are needed; and in fact many weekends we have the two-night minimum stay.โ€

Some attractions and theme parks still wooing you

In an effort to convince travelers to spend a weekend away from home, some cities with pricey reputations last year created free and low-cost online and print promotions. Those pitches continue in 2010. For example, while New York City is focusing on marketing itself as a classic, iconic destination, the cityโ€™s revamped tourist site, NYCgo.com, now has prominent sections listing discount offers at theaters, restaurants and hotels, and attractions and museums with free admission.

Furthermore, many Six Flags theme parks are once again offering significant discounts for purchasing single-day tickets online and offering reduced prices on season passes, which are good for admission at all the Six Flags parks around the country. And starting March 12, SmartDestinations.com is dropping prices on sightseeing passes for Boston, San Francisco and Seattle, while adding extra attractions to passes for several other cities.

Dining deals

The menu is mixed when it comes to restaurants. Since 2001, Miami restaurants have hosted the successful summer โ€œMiami Spiceโ€ program, featuring prix fixe lunches and dinners. But for a month last year, 30 restaurants offered the same deal during the first-ever winter program. โ€œThis winter, restaurants in town didnโ€™t feel they needed to repeat that offer,โ€ said Jennifer Haz of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. โ€œIt seems as if the economy has gotten better.โ€

However, Boston restaurants are still feeling the crunch. In the upcoming Winter Restaurant Week (March 14-19, and 21-26), more than 200 restaurants will participate. Like last year, many of the venues offering the three-course, prix fixe meals will be honoring the promotion on Saturday nights, which are traditionally blacked out โ€” and this year the meal deals come with discounts on theater tickets and parking spots downtown.

โ€œWe had to come up with these types of deals to make it as affordable as possible,โ€ said Stacy Shreffler from the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau. โ€œEveryone is looking for value.โ€

And in Seattle, where a new Restaurant Week promotion (actually lasting two weeks) will join the more established month-long โ€œDine Around Seattleโ€ program, the owners of the Tidbit Bistro vow to keep their special money-saving option on the menu โ€” offering customers a 10 percent discount if they pay their bill in cash.

โ€œIt started back in November,โ€ co-owner John van Deinse said. โ€œWe wanted to give people a little more money to spend at the holidays. Now, even though business is down, itโ€™s a way we can give a little something back to new and repeat customers who make a point to come here.โ€

So did you miss all the great deals?
Not at all, marketing professor David Bojanic said. โ€œYou donโ€™t have to feel bad about missing out by not taking advantage of last yearโ€™s rock-bottom deals because the landscape hasnโ€™t changed all that much. There are plenty of deals available.โ€

In fact, when it comes to sweet deals, thereโ€™s a repeat promotion coming up that should appeal to travelers focused on the bottom line: During the month of April, participating Kimpton Hotels will once again be offering their โ€œSweet Tax Reliefโ€ promotion that waives room and hotel restaurant taxes, and provides guests with a Sugar Daddy, Payday and other candy bar bonuses.

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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