Archive for the ‘Spirit Airlines’ Category

This collection of hotels is not particularly well known, but offers great values for the budget minded travellers. The chains are: Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality Inn, Sleep Inn, Clarion, Cambria Suites, Mainstay Suites, Suburban, Econlodge and Rodeway Inns.

A word of warning is that these hotels vary greatly in quality, comfort, location and condition. I tend to stay with newer Comfort Inns, Comfort Suites, Clarion and Cambria Suites. Because of the variance in quality I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you consult tripadvisor.com before booking any Choice hotel property. There are some real steals and some real lemons.

The rewards program was featured several months ago because of the very advantageous exchange rate with Amtrak Guest Rewards, Continental Airlines and Southwst Airlines. The program was used by many as a laundering tool into Southwest Rewards tickets (me included), but I found that the points are worthwhile in lots of locations.

We stayed at a Choice hotels property in Cairns, Australia last year and were very satisfied. It was an older family run hotel, but clean (the big deal with me), well located, reasonably priced and available during a busy season.

Our upcoming trip to New Zealand is loaded with Choice Hotels. I found that they had more hotels, with better redemption rates, and more locations than my typical big three of Hilton, Marriott and Starwood. Of course the fact that they are all free stays is really critical and I had little trouble with availability except in Queenstown

One drawback of the program is the ability to book AWARD STAYS only 30 days in advance domestically and 60 days in advance for international reservations.

In addition to the hotels, they have an online shopping mall, numerous other partners and one of the most extensive airline mile redemptions in the industry. You can convert your Choice points into 20+ airlines including Southwest Airlines.

And the last but probably one of the best features is the affiliation with Preferred and Summit Hotels which offer great high end hotels throughout Europe. A unique combination, budget minded in the US and high end in Europe????

Don’t overlook this chain. the main website page is: http://www.choicehotels.com/ires/html/ChoicePrivileges

Cheap last minute weekend Travel-
Airline seats that go out empty are lost revenue to the airlines, that can never be recaptured.
Most domestic airlines offer weekend “FARESAVERS” that allow for outbound travel on Friday night after 7PM or all day Saturday. Return travel is allowed on Mondays or Tuesday.

These fares typically become available on Tuesday or Wednesday one to two weeks prior to travel and are quoted on the airlines own websites as either one ways (requiring rt travel) or round trip. There can be some TERRIFIC BARGAINS found here or some just ordinary fares with date restrictions that may not match your last minute needs.

Most of the airlines allow you to sign up for FREE to receive email alerts for these weekend specials. Go to the airline websites to check them out.

American Airlines Netsavers
United Airlines E-Fares
Continental Specials
Northwest Airlines Vacation Packages (combines flight with hotel and/or car)
US Airways E-Saver
Delta Airlines Weekly Web Fare Specials

In Addition a site called: http://us.lastminute.com/ offers last minute deals on flights with hotels and/or car rentals at similar prices to the airlines own website AND they also have flight availability for last minute travel that is much cheaper than calling the airline for that last minute emergency ticket need.

For example: if you need to get to Boston for a weekend funeral and you find out about it Thursday, don’t forget to check http://us.lastminute.com/

At times, you can just ditch the hotel and/or car rental, and still come out dollars ahead.