We’re a little bit lucky here in Canada.
Down south, the headlines are all about booking now to avoid higher summer prices. But we still have something of an airfare war going on, as Air Canada, WestJet and Porter duke it out.
Still, you might want to think about booking your summer trip fairly soon, as hotels and rental cars are expected to cost more as we get closer to the peak season. I saw an item the other day that San Francisco hotel rates, for example, rose by something like 15 per cent last year, and that more hikes are on the horizon.
I usually tell folks that booking a ticket too far in advance is a mistake. If you’re an airline, you know that folks buying a ticket a year in advance really, really have to go somewhere. You can almost hear the airline’s computer cackling in the distance when you book a year out.
Often, flights that are a month or two away from departing have decent deals, as the airlines aren’t quite sure if they’ll be full. Occasionally, there are last-minute deals, too.
A story I saw from Associated Press the other day suggested choosing the flight you want online and proceeding with the booking as normal. But when you get to the point where you can choose your seat, check and see how full the plane is. If there’s a big whack of empty seats, you might want to wait. The airline will see the same empty-seat pattern and, quite likely, lower fares.
If you’re in Toronto, you might want to consider Buffalo/Niagara. Flights can be ridiculously cheap from Buffalo/Niagara compared to Toronto, as taxes on airlines are vastly lower. And you can often great deals with Southwest or Spirit or Frontier. Some budget airlines are crazy about extra fees, so be careful and do your research in advance. Vanessa Lu in the Star’s business section did a great piece on this in last Saturday’s paper.
Where to go? That’s a matter of taste. Hotwire.com recently named Orlando as the place in the U.S. where you’ll get the most for your holiday/vacation spending. I’ve been to Orlando a few times and it seems you can always find a hotel for less than $100 a night, often for $70 or $80, and almost always with a pool and a shuttle to take you to the theme parks.
Here’s the order of (U.S. only, too bad) Hotwire’s picks: Orlando, Atlanta, Dallas Fort-Worth, Houston, Phoenix, Tampa, Denver, Charlotte, Albuquerque and Miami.
I’ve passed this list along but, quite frankly, it’s utter nonsense. I was given a longer version of the study, and I found New York way down at 30, below Cleveland (29) and Cincinnati (21) and a lot of other cities you probably aren’t dying to spend your money in. Why? Because the study was based on affordability, not value.
You won’t find an $80-a-night room in New York with a pool or a free ride to Disney, which might take a little longer than you’d want from Manhattan, anyway. But it’s one of the world’s great cities, and it can be quite affordable if you do your homework.
It’s easy to get to, and not expensive, from Toronto. You can find clean hotels in the city for less than $200 a night, and there are increasingly great (and cheaper) options in up-and-coming parts of Brooklyn and Queens (try Long Island City, a short subway hop from Manhattan).
I’ve had fabulous Thai food in mid-town Manhattan, often over near 2nd or 3rd Avenue in the mid-50s blocks, for less than $20 for dinner. Ditto for Italian at the “neighbourhood” joints. Some of the museums offer free days or discounts and, last time I checked, it was free to walk through Central Park and stroll about Rockefeller Center, SoHo or the wonderful High Line Park on the lower west side.
Aside from maybe Scandinavia, almost any big city can be cheap if you wander away from the traditional tourist areas a bit.
Stroll around Yaletown and have a drink if you’re in Vancouver, then dash over to Main Street or Commercial Drive for a more affordable dinner. Have your fancy meal at lunch and eat cheaper meals in the evening.
A lot of folks look at the cost of a flight to Asia and throw up their hands. But you can get a five-star hotel in town for half of what it would cost in New York, and you can dine well for less than you’d pay for a bottle of beer at a swish hotel in Montreal.
Paris can be quite reasonable if you go a little away from the major tourist spots or don’t mind a small room at a Best Western Hotel, almost all of which are clean and include breakfast.
Check exchange rates for good overseas values. Krakow, Poland is getting rave reviews these days and Poland isn’t on the Euro, so it’s relatively cheap. The Icelandic kroner has plummeted in value against the dollar. The Australian dollar was at 1.04 against ours the other day. But the New Zealand buck was at 81 cents; making it a much cheaper destination versus Australia, and slightly closer to home.
This sounds crass, but one final tip is to watch the news and look for trouble spots. Cruise bookings are said to be down 20 per cent since the Costa accident in Italy (and the fire on a ship in the Indian Ocean). Because of the economic chaos, Greece is a relative bargain these days if you avoid the big stars like Mykonos and Santorini. I tell folks to try Paros; a real Aegean gem that doesn’t get much publicity. There’s been trouble in Mexico, so check that out, too.
And, hey, you want a disaster double-dip? Try a Mexico cruise! I recently saw a deal for a seven-day cruise from Florida to Mexico and back that was less than $60 per person per day. How’s that for value?
Opinions/feedback/general gripes? Send me a note at [email protected].
