Is this a good travel deal?

[JenniferC]

ok I've never booked a vacation (or taken one for that matter) We are going to Orlando for one week and I went to travelscape.com and found a rate of 1587.00 for airfare for two adults and one child and one week stay at Holiday Inn Family Suites. We are in NJ and I've checked out dozens of websites but can't find any amazing deals. Is this a good deal? Thanks
I've also been to travelocity.com expedia.com hoteldiscounts.com am I missing any?

[cata5]

What airport are you leaving from? Are there other airports that you might consider leaving from? What are the dates of your trip? Did you know that by traveling on certain days of the week like Mon-Thurs,flights can be cheaper?I have some ideas but need more info...I think you might be able to do better. One more question.Are you familiar with Priceline?

[mrbowler]

Try to break the trip into separate costs-Airfare & Hotel.
With the airfare portion I would take a look at Spirit Airlines flying out of N.J. to Orlando-sometimes they run
the cyber specials for $69 each way or $138 roundtrip. Even if you can't get the specials-Spirit has some very good
prices usually. Or I believe Southwest flies out of ISP.
If you are flexible on the time take a look at priceline.com
If you signup at smarterliving.com<no cost> they are adding
$25 onto each person's bid. If you know which hotel you
want to stay at which it sounds like you do. Then look
around at various sites trying to price your room-Holiday
Inn has a program so make sure to signup for that and earn points thru them. I'm sure someone could tell you if any
point programs have Holiday INN as a merchant partner so
you would get double goodies. Im sure you can save some
big bucks $$$. Go to [Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now]
they provide a beta version which is very good for airline
pricing. They sell the software to some of these airline
sites.

Here is some Hotel Sites
------------------------
[Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now]
[Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now]

Im not the best for finding the cheapest hotel stuff-so maybe someone can help out on that stuff, but regarding airlines I'd be happy to find a good one.

[cata5]

Exactly. Southwest does have a flight from ISP for $158/slightly less for a child. I have seen Holiday Inn Family Suites listed from $95- $145/nt depending on when you are going.They might be available for less than that!There are other places cheaper yet.That Holiday Inn is very nice tho-we stayed there last summer.

Check out this thread for some great websites with hotel/disney info etc.
[Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now]

We bought our tickets,car rental, and hotel as a package and while it was inexpensive, I know we paid too much at that hotel. By separating the two you could very well do better.

[reford]

Does $1587 @ Travelscape include car rental? What airport are you leaving from and on which dates? How flexible can you be with the dates?

I'm positive you can do better by separating out airfare, hotel, and car rental.

The site I like the best for airfare (I've used many but this one always is best) is [Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now] - depending on the exact airport and the dates, I saw the airfare as low as $136 pp roundtrip from JFK.

For hotel, I HIGHLY recommend Priceline. If you can pay with an American Express card, AE will add $20/night to whatever you bid, up to 5 nights (hurry: you need a winning bid by 4/1/01 because the offer is supposedly expiring then). Click here for that offer: [Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now],1641,2582,00.asp?pers_offerzone=trav_hot_vaca

With or without the extra AmEx money, Priceline will probably still be your best bet. To figure out how much you should expect to bid for a hotel room on Priceline, THE place to go is the Priceline and Expedia Bidding Forum; the direct link to their suggested strategies on bidding for Orlando hotel rooms is here: [Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now]

People in the forum list their winning bids for particular hotels on specific dates. Just glancing through it, it looks like $35-$45/night in Orlando during summer is typical (less the $20 AmEx bonus if you have that card, for $15-$25/night!!).

So, $136 x 3 people + 5 nights @ $25 (assuming a $45 winning Priceline hotel bid, less the AmEx bonus for the max of 5 nights) + 2 nights @ $45 = $623. A lot better than the $1587 @ Travelscape!

No strategies here on car rental except to shop around on the web.

Good luck! Wish I was going!

p.s. If you want to post the specific dates of your trip and the airport you're leaving from, we might be able to help you more! It's kinda fun planning a trip we don't have to pay for!

[mrbowler]

Wanted to add this: I had come across this link for a $50
add on bonus link

[Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now]

Some real good advice on this board!

[mrbowler]

Here is some stuff sent in a email today regarding car rental discounts at smarterliving.com

SMARTER LIVING MEMBERS SAVE AT ALAMO, BUDGET, AND HERTZ!

When you need a rental car, be sure to check out the special
discounts and coupons that Smarter Living members receive at
Alamo, Budget, and Hertz! Save up to 15 percent at Hertz, up
to 25 percent at Budget, and get a free car class upgrade at
Alamo! For all the details, click below.

Alamo: [Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now]
Budget: [Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now]
Hertz: [Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now]

[mrbowler]

Here is the link for the $25 added to priceline


SAVE $25 PER TICKET AT PRICELINE.COM!

Smarter Living members get $25 per ticket added to their bid at priceline.com! That means you can bid less and still get your flight!


[Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now]

[JenniferC]

I can't be flexible with the dates, because once hubby puts in for vacation time that's it. We are going May7th-14th. We wanted to go before memorial day and still late enough to where all the water parks are open. The airline was continental. The hotel alone is 129.00 a night if you book that seperate. I love the hotel because of the seperate kids room. Other hotels that have the side by side beds leave hubby and I going to bed when we weren't even tired because our son was alseep.
No that doesn't include the car rental I can't seem to find one under 260.00 with the insurance and taxes. I went to these places advertising 139.00 a week but after taxes and insurance it added up to 300.00 That really bugged me- It felt like false advertisement.
I really want to thank you all for your help. Deal of day is the BEST!

[vanderhoeven]

As far as the rental car goes, if you have car insurance of your own, you may not need the extra insurance.

I have Allstate insurance and my allstate agent has told me more than once that every time I rent a car, that I am covered for just as much liability and stuff as I have on my car at home. And not to take the extra insurance.

Sometimes that extra insurance can be up to like $20 a day. Totally not worth it if you are covered at home with a car.

Also, when you rent cars with American Express cards they have extra travel insurance and tell you that you don't need to buy extra insurance.

On hotels, many times you can call a hotel and ask if there is any managers special going on and they may have something available that they don't even advertise. Just a thought. Especially if you want to know where you want to stay.

I work for a travel agency and I see that hotel available in my system for $111 a night for the 2 bedroom classic suite with 2 Queen beds nonsmoking or smoking. So it is available for less.

But with all the stuff people have said about priceline there may be something much lower.

[swn14]

I like [Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now] most. You can use this code REFK7WI455N7R to get $10 off for your first purchase with them. If this code has been redeemed, post your email, I can get you another one.

[Edited by swn14 on 03-09-2001 at 04:51 PM]

[Carreane]

I am not sure if you have or have not booked the hotel yet but if you have not, I may have something to offer. I have one week of timeshare this year that I am not going to be able to use that I would sell to you for a negotiable price per night (less than you would be paying for the hotel). The timeshare is for multiple condominium resorts in Orlando (many which are minutes from Disney). I suggest staying at Orange Lake Country club (golf course on site) which is excellant or Westgate Vacation Villas. Both of these resorts are kid friendly and the timeshare is for a two bedroom which sleeps 6 (Full kitchen/washer/dryer) etc. Let me know if you are at all interested and I can check what is available. E-mail me at [Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now]

[hezell]

If you use priceline, go through ebates. I think they give 1% back! Every little bit helps!

[medgirl]

Thanks, SWN14, I used your hotwire code to save $10. I got a great deal on my flight, about half the going price! I got my tix for $180, while with my previous searches of about 6 other sites, the best I could do was $360. I recommend hotwire if you can be somewhat flexible with your times. At least you know they use reputable airlines, and you can specify no red-eye.