Philadelphia Budget Travel

Philadelphia Pennsylvania is the embodiment of history and metropolitan pinache as there could be in any one city. Yeah, sure New York City and Boston have there hats thrown in on this argument, but I'm a Phillies, 76er's and Eagels fan and I'm writing this post. 

Now one great argument for talking about Philadelphia as a great budget travel destination to visit is the fact that unlike NYC and Boston, Philly offers a lot of great free tours. Yep I said it, free tours. Then there's the relatively cheap travel. The transportation system of Philadelphia is called SEPTA and a lot of the traveling is per ride is actually about $2. Again, yes I said it, $2 per ride. You won't find deals like that in other major cities. If we had to offer the best way to do a tour of the city we've found out about a touring bus called Phlash. Again, you pay about $2 per ride, but you also can tour for the entire day for $5. 

Then there's the number of great historic spots that either offer the free tours or something like $10 to $15 a tour. We're talking about Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and other great places to name a few.

Ok, let's not forget about the great Philadelphia Hotels that are available. If you look for hotel vacancies in other major cities across the United States you'll see rates like $250 to $350 a night. In Philadelphia you'll see some great quality hotels for like $95.00 to $149.00 a night and that's including weekends. 

So don't pass up on the opportunity for a great trip and a a chance to take on a little history during a vacation to the city of Philadelphia.

Portland Oregon Travel

There are some areas of the United States that aren't always thought to be great choices in terms of travel or vacations. Some, however, offer a unique twist of fun and because they may not be the premium places to visit in the eyes of the consumer can offer would be travelers great savings with a great vacation. Portland Oregon is one such city.

Set in the great North West of the United States Portland Oregon is rich in history and really a beautiful part of our great country. If you take a look at a random Portland Travel Guide you can see the many options available should one be so inclined to take a vacation or plan a trip. Portland is Oregon's official metropolis so it offers all of the great things you'd expect to find in the big city. You'll find great arts and culture, fantastic dining, a hip nightlife and of course be privy to things that are just unique to Portland that other big cities just don't have. One such area is the ability to enjoy the great outdoors. 

As is always the case, should we not lose site of our goals on this blog, you can see and enjoy Portland Oregon without great expense. Now showing is the 2009 Portland Jazz Festival. The Festival is being sponsored by Alaskan Airlines and Horizon Air and starts today February 13th and will continue through and up to February 22nd. Tickets to attend the event are $21 per night !! There are also some great hotel rates right now for rooms that are starting at around $70. Call 1-800-950-1363 to inquire about vacancies in any number of hotels. Of course why not try out the local fare with a visit to one of Portland's most acclaimed restaurants by checking out the Portland Spirit. Why is this so unique? The Portland Spirit is a dinner cruise that takes you down the Willamette River. 

So for a great trip consider Portland Oregon.  

US Airways Vacations - Discount Travel to Las Vegas

Every day it seems like one more big time name or brand in the travel industry is doing their “little” thing to respond to the declining economic situation. We've had a few posts in the past few days mentioning some big names like Priceline, Orbitz and Travelocity. US Airways Vacations officially adds their name to the discount travel game with their current promotion for Las Vegas Vacation Packages. The deal, quite simple. US Airways is giving away tickets to shows in Las Vegas when customers book a Las Vegas Vacation Package.

The Las Vegas Vacation Packages are fantastic too. They come with a basic plan that includes a four night stay at any number of top Las Vegas Hotels and include round trip flight to and from Las Vegas to your destination. Obviously not all packages are priced the same based on the fact that so many different types of hotels can be booked. That is, customers to US Airways Vacations can choose from highly rated hotels to moderately rated hotels. Pricing and hotel room rates are relative to the price.

What's the catch? From every thing we've investigated there doesn't seem to be one, and what's more the shows are top headlines. Tickets to shows include Criss Angel's Believe, Love, Zumanity and O. Oh, I'm sorry, there does seem to be one catch, but it's not bad. All Las Vegas vacation packages must be booked by February 20th, 2009 and the trip must take place and be finished by June 1st, 2009. Is that such a catch? I don't think so and from a business perspective deals like this with definitive and tangible time lines seem to be working.

There is no doubt that discount traveling and vacations priced like this and offering such incredible premiums can't be permanent or continuous, but at least it shows that companies are responding in a positive way.

Orbitz Price Assurance Guarantee

Another in a long line of major travel web sites that are throwing their hat in, as it were, to the response to the bad economy is Orbitz travel.  The official name of the company is Orbitz Worldwide, that according to a statement on the website the official framing of the company mission is "using innovative technology to enable leisure and business travelers to research, plan and book a broad range of travel products". Ok, that is pretty vague, so why not offer a little more of a laymen's explanation is that the company owns several global consumer brands in travel and aggregates suppliers inventory for hotels and airfare. Originally it was a cooperative between several of the major airlines, but as the travel industry has grown and matured so has the company. 

Well back to Orbitz Price Assurance Guarantee. Orbitz is doing something a little different in response to the economic down turn. Many of the web sites I've posted about offer a nebulous 50% or more discount to regular rates. I've always kind of found that difficult to try and gauge. Orbitz, however, is kind of putting their money where their mouth is. The price assurance is actually very simple concept. Stepping back on their technology, Orbitz tracks the purchases made by their customers. Once a customer makes a purchase Orbitz will track it to see if any other customer of their makes a purchase for a flight or hotel room, and if the subsequent price is less than what the original customer paid a refund for the difference will be made. 

This is some pretty good stuff and I'm banking we'll see some great innovative discounts in the travel industry as we all navigate through these troubled economic times. 

Deep Discounts for Destination Travel.

The economy is swirling down the proverbial toilet and the world of travel is responding with deep discounts. From zoo's, aquariums, museums and theme parks to the marketing of major cities and states, the word is out....Discounts !!!

Recently a report surfaced that not every sector in this bleak economy is doing so terrible. In fact, the sector of retail dedicated to offering wholesale discounts to consumers is doing quite well. In turn, the travel sector, on masse, has seemed to copy this strategy and every day it appears that more and more travel related or industries dependent on travel and tourism are adopting this specific focus. 

How glaringly obvious are some of these trends and how wide spread between type and geography? Well in Orlando you have the World famous Disney World Theme Park offering free night stays. Actually one specific deal is offering  $400 off the price of a seven night stay if the package is booked for dates between February through the end of June 2009. In Pennsylvania Hershey Park is offering coupons for $15 entrance fees at the gate. Finally, at the world's largest aquarium in Atlanta, the Georgia Aquarium has stepped back entrance fees to last years prices, which is $27.  As a matter of fact the Georgia Aquarium is offering an additional incentive, whereby if you visit once they will give you what is called a "bounce pass" which you can come back to the aquarium for the price of $15. 

As you can see drastic times call for drastic measures. The deals keep popping up, and we'll keep our eye out for more and more of them as they develop. 

Discount Ski Vacations in Aspen.

Surprisingly enough it's already February and we haven't done a post for ski vacations yet. The ski season is in high gear across the country, well at least in the destinations where you can ski. I thought it would be novel to do a post on Aspen Colorado and talk about some discount ski vacations that are being offered to this beautiful destination.

I'm not a big time skier so when I went to what I thought is an expert website on the subject, aspen.ski.com. Actually just reading through the site has made me truly consider taking a trip to Aspen. What a beautiful place. Wow !!

So I looked around and found some great deals. Yes, they may be pricey but Aspen is definitely not for the budget minded. The thing is and as this blog's title states we're all about discount traveling. So here we go with a few discount ski vacations to the beautiful area of Aspen.

The deal actually is coming to a close come February 11, 2009, but for a measly $2090 per person you get one hell of a vacation in luxurious accommodations. The package is for Little Nell, where you get 4 nights of lodging in an upscale hotel. Also enjoy 3 days of the best skiing you'll find anywhere on the glob. But wait, as they say on infomercials, there's more. This package offers $250 towards shipped luggage or airline luggage fees, free demo ski or snowboard rental each day and a whole log more. The hotel features an outdoor pool and outdoor hot tub, a steam room spa services, dry cleaning services, the works. Then your room comes with incredible views of the surrounding area and the option of getting an executive suite down to a junior suite. Obviously the price mentioned will take into account these accommodation changes.

Hotel Savings at 50% Discounts.

It seems like everyone these days is reacting to the world wide storm that has fallen upon the economy. The big boys of internet travel are doing the same. 

With hundreds of thousands of employees being laid off or having to deal with major cutbacks that include furloughs or work stoppage money is very tight. How these businesses react NOW will effect the how we all weather through the storm. Not doing so will have a domino effect that can be catastrophic.

So with all the doom and gloom out of the way let's get to the good news. There are some tremendous deals out there being offered by great companies.

Let's begin with Travelocity's Silver Lining Sale. If you go to their site the promotion offers several featured destinations with hotel rate discounted up to 50%. The deal is only temporary and the promotion actually ends February 16th. The other issue with this promotion is that if you go to the site or other marketing posts about this deal they make a statement that many of the deals may no longer be available. I've come across several people that have found this to be frustrating but a deals a deal and it it definitely worth looking at the deals this company has.

Not to be left behind Priceline, heralded by famous actor, singer and poet James Shaffner, is upping the ante by pushing it's own 50% savings program. The only issue is Priceline has been pushing the fact that they offer 50% savings with their unique pricing program anyway. That being said, as with Travelocity several deals of quality area available.

Another smaller site Reserve Vacations, which recently launched in the fall of 2008, has been offering some unique rates for accommodations that also come with add ons known as premiums. Premiums are the extras provided with a vacation package which may include such things as free tickets to area shows, rounds of golf or restaurants. Now the rates for these packages are ridiculously low. There is a little caveat to these packages also. The low discounts are provided in an effort to get travelers to the properties to hear sales presentations for timeshare opportunities. 

Keep your eye out because there are many deals out there and many more companies are finding new and inventive ways to maintain a share in the current declining market.