*******Travel Discounts*******

Now that we have a Budget Travel forum, this post may not be as necessary. When I initially wrote it, we didn't have a Budget Travel forum - but we do now. The information there, combined with some information from here, should allow help out in planning a cheap MR. I figured, I’d add to the MR Tools List with some discount listings. There was a thread that was recently started called MR Checklist? that asked about the over all planning of a MR. Well, part of Mileage Runs is to keep overall costs as low as possible (for me, anyways) and a lot of people use hotel points for the MR’s or sleep in airports & so on.

Well, this part of the MR Tools Thread is for discounts that one can use on a mileage run – if you know of any special deal or any discount codes that are available 24/7 that (almost) anyone can use, feel free to post them. NOTE: I AM NOT CONDONING THE USE OF ANY DISCOUNTS THAT YOU MAY OR MAY NOT BE ELIGIBLE FOR – ALL OF THE INFORMATION BELOW IS PUBLICALLY AVAILABLE INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET – USE IT HOW YOU WILL & I’LL DO THE SAME! But I will note that sometimes the volume discounts that these companies receive are due to the amount of traffic & business they generate, so not all will be disappointed if you decide to use their discounts. Use at your own risk & under your own ethical principles – if you know of a discount that you’d like added, please let me know & if you strongly feel that one of these should be removed, then also please let me know.

Here's an article on MSNBC regarding hotel discounters - there may be some best price guarantee's that can be filled with these wholesalers. I'm not 100% positive if they'll work, but hey, the information's free so it can't hurt to check it out.

I find that often times non-FT Forum chain hotels (Choice, Cendant, Baymont, etc) generally provide pretty affordable & safe lodging when going on an overnight mileage run. One can earn even airline miles (or with Choice, a free night after 2 stays with the promos they've had over the past two years). I've often tried to figure out how to get the best discounts. I've found that there's 2 types of general discounts for Choice Hotels - the 15% VIP discounts & the 20% Significant Organizations Savings discounts. Sometimes, when one is available in one hotel, the other is not. Sometimes both are available.

Travel Depot's Listing of Car Rental Discounts - Found this while searching for some Hertz discounts - has a listing of all major car company discounts.

Here's a couple of members only associations that have Choice & other random travel (and non-travel) discounts available for test selling:
IABC - 20% discounts on Choice & other random business discounts
GPAC 20% off for Choice Hotels
GPAC 20% off discount for Baymont Inns
Southern Illinois University's discount list - a variety of hotel & car rental companies


50% off the rack rate at La Quinta Inns - use the following rate code: SWA50 - this is apparently a targeted 50% off rack discount that requires a postcard to use, however it has been reported that one doesn't actually have to have the card. The rack rate at LQ's are usually whatever they are selling regularly, so actually a useful 50% off discount (not that the SPG50 at SPG properties isn't, but it isn't always the best rate). (Thanks for the tip, Viajero Joven!)

Giant Eagle Discount Card 10%-50% discounts on 1 & 2 star hotels (primarily Choice Hotels & Cendant Hotels) – you can get a free discount card by registering.

Student Advantage Card – this card gives discounts on Amtrak & Choice Hotels – but costs 20/year for membership. It used to be free via Amtrak, but no longer. I’m not sure if its still free through a Greyhound ticket purchase or not. This may be worth it to some & not worth it to others, but at 20 bucks, it’s a decent deal. Note that it doesn’t really matter if you’re enrolled in college or not to get this. I graduated from college in 2001 & I’ve had one the past 2 years.

To get 2 cards for the price of one through the end of the year, try doing the following: Sign up for one at studentadvantage.com and use promo code: SAG04CBOGO (where the first 0 is a zero, and the second & third O's are the letter). The free offer is not valid for the 4 year cards or the bundle packages. A redemption code for the second card is provided after the purchase, so it's 22.50 total for the first card & second card free (not sure whether they will charge you shipping on the second card).

Also, when your card is about to expire, wait til the very end of the membership month to renew. They'll send you a renewal offer that has some freebies (like free movie tickets or something) - I can't recall what mine was, but if you change the last number of the renewal code, you get a couple of different offers (everything from free shipping to $5.00 off to Free movie tickets & popcorn).

Avis Discount Code Thread – I like the Starwood discount & the USC Monroe School of Business discount. One thing to note is that when I was renting a car for KEF, American Express Travel (via ITN.net) gave the best rate on an unlimited mileage car.

Hertz Discount Code thread Started by snorkmaster, this thread is a great resource for PC codes that'll save you money. Using codes from this thread, I was able to drop a rental in LAS for a 2005 Mustang (such a cool car!) from ~75 to ~50 over a holiday weekend!

SE Asia's Visa Platinum discounts - okay, so these aren't really great financial values, but if you're staying at a nice hotel, you may as well try to score a free upgrade & welcome drink. There are discounts for car rentals in SE Asia and many high-end things in SE Asia and Australia. I am placing it here because I wasn't sure where else to post this (see there's a need for a budget traveler/discount forum!)

Amtrak Discount Code Thread I used to manage this thread, however, the Amtrak Moderator, ByeByeDelta, has graciously offered to take over the management of the thread & keep it updated. The reason this is part of the MR tool thread is because sometimes we have to stage our MR's out of cities that we don't live in. Say you live in DC & there's a great fare out of NY - you could either drive the 5 hours & pay the tolls & gas, or you could hop on a flight from WAS-NYC, or you can take the train. May as well save if you've got to take the train!

UA 5% off discount – for online bookings - Currently not available, but I will leave the link up here in case that changes.

APA Discounts – discounts on Red Roof Inn’s & other random discounts – no ID needed. (I occasionally play pool, not very good at it, but a guy I was playing against recently ran the table on me & completely kicked my butt – he did, however, tell me about this site).

ISU’s rates – include CDW insurance – haven’t used this before, but found it online while searching for some discounts for an Alamo rental. Careful when using discounts that include insurance & not being eligible for them. As I’ve never damaged a car, I don’t know what the process is if you do damage a car.

Staying at the Crowne Plaza on your Mileage Run? Well, then you travel differently than I do on a mileage run! Here’s a little something to make your stay more enjoyable…

Union Plus If you’re a member of a Union (or even if you’re not), you can get some discounts. Just enter a name, a zip & a union to see what’s available. I think it’s pretty generic from union to union.

A2Z Colleges Discount thread - information on discount codes for various car rental & 1-2 star hotels - save some money while on those Mileage Runs! Note that although it says that there's a 50% off code for Enterprise, I couldn't get it to work on any of my rentals. Of course, I prefer Hertz.