To make your trip as smooth as possible take the time before you leave to perform some preventative measures. A little time invested will enable you handle the unexpected curve ball thrown your way. The following travel tips and tricks should have you well on your way to a stress free vacation or business trip.

•  Before leaving home, add important telephone numbers into your cellular phone. Enter the telephone numbers for your hotel, airline, car rental agency and travel agency. This way if you have any delays or problems, coming or going, you can easily place any necessary calls.

•  If you’ve missed your flight or connection, call the airline directly instead of standing in line for a ticket agent.

•  When making a hotel reservation be sure to clearly state the type of beds that you want, i.e., king, queen, etc. Confirm the type of bed that is on your reservation. At check-in request a room that does not face traffic or is near elevator or vending machines. If you are a member of the hotel’s rewards club, check to see if the hotel offers a late checkout.

•  Afraid you might lose your cellular phone? Don’t wear a watch. This will force you to check your cellular phone for the time which will alert you more quickly if you misplaced your phone.

•  It is easy to misplace a purse if you are bringing along a carry on. The carry on may feel like your purse at times and make it easy to forget you should have two items over your shoulder instead of one. If you are afraid you’ll lose your purse, wear a waist pack instead. 

•  Print out a local map, review it ahead of time and bring it with you. It will save stress.

•  Call the airline ahead of time to make sure you are earning frequent flyer points.

•  Download pictures from your digital camera before trip. This way if your camera gets lost during your trip, you won’t lose any other precious memories.

•  If taking a picture of your hotel room is a vacation tradition, snap a picture of your room before you unpack a thing. This way everything will still be neat, tidy and in place in your room.

•  Have a medical condition or allergy to food and traveling out of the US? Prior to leaving have someone who is fluent in that language write down your allergy and problems/questions that may pertain to it. Such as, “Are there nuts in this item?” or perhaps you may need to state, “I need immediate medical attention for …” Be sure to have the English translation written next to it

Wishing you a safe and problem-free vacation!

Would you like to find a way to save money or get extra perks during your next hotel stay? First, decide on a hotel or at least narrow it down to just a few choices a couple months in advance. Then consider becoming a member of one or all of the hotels’ free travel clubs or rewards clubs. Once you become a member, there is a good chance that the hotel will start sending you special hotel rates and offers by email with some amazing deals or packages.

 Additional benefits to becoming a member of a hotel’s travel or rewards club may include special offers for breakfast or free dining such as “kids eat free” and express check in or late check out. Hyatt club members are able to enjoy a later checkout at 2:00 pm which may come in quite handy if you have a later flight or would like to enjoy the pool just a bit more. Look online or call the hotel or hotels of your choice to check the savings and perks they offer. 
 
In your search for hotel savings, another option to consider and look into is combining an airline ticket with a hotel reservation. The combined rate will be much less than if you booked each separately. You can try an online or local travel agency such as American Express Travel to book your airline and hotel together.

Recently when making travel arrangements I found that when I added a hotel stay to the booking of my flight my additional cost per night was a mere $23 which included all hotel taxes and fees.  It is rare you can get a hotel for under $100 a night with the fees and taxes included, so at $23 a night it is a steal!

Remember that with just a little extra planning before you make your travel arrangement you might find easy ways to save money.

Wishing you a happy and inexpensive hotel stay!