Upcoming Chicago Trip- Earn A Free Hotel Night (Updated)

On Thursday I am going to Chicago for something I consider very exciting.  For the past three years I have been attending the Frequent Traveler's Conference.  I love to travel and hope to inform my readers about what I learn from this get together.  At this conference are the true travel "experts."  The hardest part about the conference is two seminars are going on simultaneously and it is difficult to make a choice what seminar to attend.

In addition to the conference I plan to do a few side trips.  In order to get ready for the conference and side trips I had to strategically make my travel plans. I had to figure what hotels to stay at in order to maximize my points and/or earn free stays.  Below is how I maximized my stay at the Radisson hotel.  This information can help anyone who is planning to travel in the month of October.

I subscribe to Club Carlson emails (remember to subscribe to all hotel/airline emails) and saw they had a great promotion- Stay one night at a Radisson hotel, earn a night free.  This is really good as you can stay at a $70 a night hotel and your free night can later be at a $300 a night hotel.

I currently have Platinum status with Marriott and no status with Carlson hotels.  So I emailed them and asked if they would do a status match. Here is the response I received:

Thank you for providing the documentation for a status match! We have upgraded your Club Carlson account to Gold status effective immediately and expiring on February 28, 2014 (unless otherwise re-obtained). Please review the list of elite benefits below.

50% Point Bonus
Late Check-out (based on availability)
Early Check-in (based on availability)
Best Available Room in the category booked

Now that I had my elite status it was time to start earning points and a free night.

1) I registered for the "Stay One, Get One" free night after a paid night.  Click here to register for this promotion. It is only open to the first 50,000 Club Carlson members who register between October 1 and October 31, 2012. You must book your hotel room on the Radisson website and your stay must be completed by December 31, 2012. You can only earn one night so sign up your spouse/significant other in order to earn 2 free nights. (Post previously erred by stating your stay had to be completed by 10-31-12).

2) I also signed up for the "Stay More Nights.  Earn More Nights."  For staying 1 to 5 nights I get an extra 2,000 points.  Click here to register for this promotion. This promotion is good for stays between October 1, 2012 and December 31, 2012.

3) Remember the July 2, 2012 blog on best Interent shopping website?  Well, I checked Evrewards and saw that MrRebates was offering 5% back on all Radisson bookings.  Going to MrRebates takes you directly to the Radisson website so you are still eligible for the free night.  If you have not signed up for MrRebates yet please do so here.  I get a referral and thank you for helping me out. This also lets me know someone is reading my blogs.

4) Finally for booking online you earn either 1,000 or 2,000 points as a bonus.  Red level club members (entry level) earn 1,000 points.  Since I am now Gold I earned 2,000 points.

So where did I book?  I got a room at the Radisson Milwaukee for $79.20.  This is the AAA rate.  The AAA rate is acceptable for the Buy One, Get One promotion.

Pool at the Radisson

Finally, if your not a member of Club Carlson, sign up here.  Remember to subscribe to their email.

My Top 10 FREE Travel Apps (Part 2 of 2)

It has been almost a month since I listed the first 5 out of 10 FREE travel apps I like.  Due to the death of Tio Felipe I was not able to finish part 2 of the post. But fear not, I have not forgotten my loyal readers. So here are my remaining 5 favorite travel apps:  

6. Flightview Free Flight Tracker-This app tracks upcoming and in-air flights.  You can receive status alerts, check gate assignments, delays and cancellations.  

I rarely pay for apps but when it comes to flight status I am willing to pay the $4.99 for the app Flightstatus. With this app you can also view maps with live weather radar.  This app has more than flight information.  You can get information on parking lots, gas stations, car rentals, transportation, hotel, restaurants and more for airports worldwide. Since I said this blog is about FREE apps I would recommend Flightview for those who don't want to pay for Flightstatus.

7. Google translate- for those that travel worldwide don't leave home without Google Translate.  This app allows you to translate words and phrases between more than 60 languages.  For most languages you can speak your phrases and hear the corresponding translations.  Even for those that don't travel worldwide America is a melting pot and it is nice to know a few words in a language other than English.  The words, "Thank you" are always good to know in any language.

8. Wi-Fi finder- when you travel the GPS function on your phone will tell you exactly where the closest Wi-Fi hotspot is and how to get there.  You can even filter between paid and free Wi-Fi.

9.  XE Currency Conversion- This app converts every world currency.  What I like about this app is it even stores the last updated rates, so it works when the Internet doesn't. Don't overpay for something by trying to figure the conversion rate in your head.

10. Skype- Call, video and instant message anyone else on Skype for free.  I love the Skype app.  I used this on my trip to Japan this year to keep in touch with my family back in the U.S.

Hope these apps help you.  Here a few more apps you can check out on your own: Next Flight, Seat Guru, Gate Guru, Hotel Tonight, Packing Pro ($2.99) and finally Help Call ($2.99).

Leave a comment in the comment section on any of your favorite apps I may have missed.

Disneyland Club 33

Today's blog is definitely NOT about saving money but it is about having a great time.

Today was a very special day at Disneyland.  I got to do what a lot of people only wish they could do.  I got to have dinner at Club 33. Club 33 is a private club located in the New Orleans Square section of Disneyland.  

In May of this year, for the first time in 10 years, Disneyland opened up new memberships to Club 33.  Disneyland had an 800 name waiting list.  Individual initiation fees are $25,000 and the annual dues are $10,000.  Way out of my price range.  

The number 33 to the right of the door is the only identifying information

A friend of a friend knew someone who was a member to this exclusive club.  Today was Maria's first official day of retirement so Tim, Maribel, Maria and I got a chance to dine at Club 33. It will definitely be a night to remember.

Maria's First Day of Retirement

Have a great weekend!!

300 FREE La Quinta Points

Thanks to Miles Momma here is your chance to get 300 free La Quinta points by clicking here.

I just keep plugging away at these free points as one day I will earn a free night.

Today is a short blog.  I am at Disneyland today and am very excited as I get to do something that is very rare.  Check in tomorrow to find out what I did.

How To Save On Airport And Hotel Parking

An airline trip can be really fun until you land at home and have to pay the car parking lot attendee.   Next time consider parking in a hotel lot and taking the free shuttle.  I know some people who don’t even stay at the hotel and do this.  Of course you have to find a hotel that has free parking.

A few months ago I had a free night at a Marriott that was getting ready to expire.  I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with the free night.  I normally fly out of Burbank or Los Angeles but a recent short notice ticket caused me to fly out of Ontario, Ca.  The ticket was over $100 cheaper using Ontario airport.  The flight was at 6 AM.  Maria suggested spending the night at a hotel near the airport.  With a free award night in hand we stayed at the Ontario Residence Inn.  We were gone for 4 days but the Residence Inn allowed us to park the entire time for free.  Click here for the website ParkSleepFly to help you save on parking.  This is especially helpful when you are going to be gone for an extended trip.

Another website I like is Airport Parking Reservations.  For example, in October I will be staying at the Marriott in Chicago which charges $24 a day for self parking.  By using the website airport parking reservations I ended up only paying $20 for the 2 night stay versus $48 (I was given a $5.00 code for signing up).  The hotel allows people traveling to the airport to use their parking lot.  It just so happens I plan to stay at the hotel.  Please use the link on this post or the link on the right hand side of my blog to check out Airport Parking Reservations.  If you find lower prices from other websites please feel free to pass on the information so we can all benefit.

Priceline for Car Rentals

Today, I am going to San Francisco on my $14 round trip flight (See September 14, 2012 blog).  Sherri and Pete also jumped on the deal.  Once in San Francisco we looked at a couple of options for transportation in order to get around.  Sherri found BART for $17.00 per person.  While this sounded like a good option it limited us based on the BART schedule and destinations we wanted to include.  

Sherri and I both then started looking up rental cars.  I checked Costco ($116), Airport rental cars ($92) which generally has good prices, Autoslash ($92), my credit union savings site ($92), and Avis directly ($96).  What I found was the taxes were almost 50% of the price.  

Remember the July 9, 2012 blog on using Priceline for bidding for hotel rooms?  This time I used Priceline for bidding for a rental car.  I started my bid at $28 (without taxes) for an economy car.  Priceline said the bid was rejected but for $32 I could get a car or try rebidding by changing the parameters.  I changed my bid from an economy car to compact and bid $30.  This was again rejected but it allowed me to go back and bid again on the economy car again with a slightly higher bid.  This time I bid $30 for the economy car.

I received a "Congratulations" on my bid.  Here is my result including all taxes:

I paid $53.49 (or $13.37 per person) for a Budget rental car.  This is just a little over half the price of all the car rental websites I had previously checked. 

So don't forget to use Priceline when trying to find the lowest prices on hotels as well as car rentals.

Goldstar 1/2 price event tickets (some even free)

This blog not only tells you how to travel for less but also how to save once you get to your destination.   A co-worker, Marie, told me about the website Goldstar several years ago.  I love this site. Goldstar offers half price tickets (sometimes even free) to such events as live entertainment, comedy, sports, music, performing arts and even things like wine tastings, sushi making classes and rodeos. 

Goldstar works with over 4000 venues and producers across the country.  This website will not only get you discount tickets the website will also give you tips on how to dress for the event, where to eat and park as well as reviews of the event.  The funniest play I ever went to was a result of purchasing a ticket through Goldstar.   The play was about a wedding where the parents didn't want their children to get married to each other. What I didn't know beforehand is the audience was part of the play. There was even a reception after the "wedding" with real cake and champagne. A few months ago I also got free tickets to a WNBA basketball game from Goldstar. Had I not been looking up something to do for the weekend I might have missed out on this events.

Check out Goldstar by clicking here and signing up.  There is no fee to sign up. Change the location when you travel so you can find out what events are going on at your travel destination.  Have fun and enjoy!