Today I summarize my recent travel booking experience with respect to AAA, Amtrak, Travelocity and USAA.
Situation: I had a daughter visiting from Las Vegas and another daughter visiting from Flagstaff.
Mission: Coordinate round-trip transportation between Arizona and California and hotel accommodations in CA for up to four people for two days.
Task #1: Amtrak
Tools Used:
AAA Membership
Computer
Credit Card
What Happened: My daughter in Flagstaff will oftentimes take the train from there to home. It’s about an eight hour ride by train when it’s not delayed (by up to six hours recently). The train has a set schedule you need to check frequently to ensure everything’s still on time. If you schedule your trip at http://www.amtrak.com, you can make lower-level seat reservations, take advantage of the AAA 10% discount off the posted fare, e-mail your itinerary to whomever you wish and print a bar-coded receipt you scan at the Amtrak kiosk to receive your tickets. Easy, cheesy. I did everything on-line with my credit and AAA cards. Everything was set for her to arrive in CA on Thursday and return to AZ on Saturday.
Task #2: Holy Crap, Change Almost Everything
Tools Used:
Amtrak Receipt
Computer
Phone
What Happened: It occurred to me that if I rented a car (which I had to do anyway) through Monday, I could drive my daughter back to AZ and my son, my daughter from Las Vegas and I could all enjoy not only the time together, but the experience of “doing Flagstaff” for a day or two.* I needed to cancel the return leg of the Amtrak ticket and change how I was going to rent the car.
Lesson Learned: By canceling the return ticket BEFORE she scanned the bar-coded receipt and received her tickets, I was able to receive a full refund (in 5-10 days) for that portion of the trip. I still received the 10% AAA discount for the one-way ticket and my daughter kept her lower-level seat assignment. To cancel the ticket all I had to do was call the 800 number I found on the Amtrak website and speak with their automated assistant. Very easy.
Task #3: Rent A Car
Tools Used:
USAA Membership
Computer
Credit Card
What Happened: I used to always use an American Express card to reserve rental cars because I knew they covered any insurance issues and I didn’t have to buy the rental agency’s policy. I no longer use AMEX, so I thought I’d call my auto insurance carrier and see what they had to say. As a member of USAA, if I rent through one of their partners, not only does my USAA policy cover me, they cover any additional costs incurred with a claim. Long story short, I booked an Avis rental car through the USAA website. The cost for the rental (Friday through Monday) was the same cost it would have been if I rented a car through Hertz for Friday and Saturday with a AAA discount. My USAA price was the price–I didn’t have to add any additional anything for insurance purposes.
Task #4: Booking Hotels
Tools Used:
Computer
Credit Card
What Happened: I tried booking through the USAA website but they didn’t have “partners” in the two places I needed to stay in AZ and CA. I looked at the AAA website and found some deals but I wasn’t thrilled with the choices. Then I tried Travelocity.
I needed a hotel for four people in CA for Friday and Saturday nights. I am very familiar with the area and the hotels. Not satisfied with the pricing I found from the hotels displayed, I looked into their “super discount” rates. They will describe a hotel but not the name until after you book. Most of the discount rates for the “named” hotels in this area were as low as $65 but hovered around $110. I found a hotel in the “super discount” area for $48 per night that included two queen sized beds, a pool, hot tub, exercise room, laundry facility, complimentary breakfast and a nightly social hour (two hours, actually). The hotel was in the specific area I requested so I took a chance and pre-paid for the two nights.
The hotel wound up being the Ayers Hotel and Suites (or something like that). Crappa dappa it was nice. Located at the Ontario Mills Mall, the room was large, clean and secure. The complimentary breakfast was a misnomer. I was thinking a plastic bowl of Fruit Loops and a cup of coffee. Instead, they had menu cards whereby you custom ordered what you wanted. Eggs, meats, cheeses, vegetables, breads, potatoes, fruits–just fill out the card, hand it to the grill staff and when they called your room number, it was ready. I told my kids to go to town and eat what they wanted, assuming it would be added to my bill when I checked out. Not so. When I checked out they reviewed all of the room charges and said I was covered because I had pre-paid and had not incurred any additional costs. Awesome.
Booking for AZ was different. I again used Travelocity but because I only know the east side of the city very well I wanted to know the name of the place I would be staying. I again booked a double-queen bed room for four. This was at the Ramada Inn. Normally a $65 room for $40, I was very happy. They had the plastic bowls and Fruit Loops, but I’m not complaining at all.
I returned from AZ sans one daughter and my son, who was going back to his house. I needed a hotel in CA from Monday night through Thursday morning for my Las Vegas daughter and me. I went back to Travelocity looking for a “super discount” room.
I searched in vain for the $48 room that would have tipped me off it was the Ayers again. I found one hotel for $45 and another for $55 that had, at least by iconography, the exact same amenities with one exception: The $55 room had shuttle service to the airport. I remembered that the Ayres also had shuttle service but since I didn’t need it, it didn’t matter. It does matter, and I’ll tell you why shortly.
Anyway, I opted for the $45 room. This turned out to be the Econo Lodge Ontario. Again, being familiar with the area, I double-checked the safety on my 0.357 and chambered a round in my 9mm. Just kidding. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The area itself is not someplace I would want to be after dusk. The hotel itself, however, had a controlled single-entry access point with multiple exits under video surveillance and a staff member that routinely walked the perimeter with the resident beast-on-a-leash, checking the security of all the exit doors and keeping watch over the vehicles in the parking lot. I felt much better after I checked in than I did after I initially booked the room. Other than the wireless service going down Wednesday afternoon and not being repaired before we left, I had no issues with the room or the hotel at all.
Okay, what difference does the shuttle service make? Here’s my thought: Better hotels close to the airport will have a shuttle. For me, this includes the two Hiltons, Ayres, Doubletree and Aloft (though I’m certain there are others as well). Off-brand hotels or hotels more than three or four miles from the hotel don’t seem to have shuttle service. The Knight’s Inn is just as far from the airport as the Doubletree but they don’t have a shuttle. If price is your only issue, the Knight’s Inn is your best bet. If safety and security is an issue, the Doubletree might be your choice. Regardless, I will be staying in a hotel at least once a month with my son. I’m going to explore the shuttle versus non-shuttle iconography on the “super discount” portion of the Travelocity site and let you know if my theory pans out.
Hotel Booking Summary:
The desk clerk at the Econo Lodge clued me in to a couple of things I didn’t know about the Travelocity rate I received. First, not even the people at the front desk know what I paid. When we stayed at the Ayers, I assumed that because I pre-paid they had my credit card on file to bill any additional charges. I didn’t think it was odd that they didn’t ask me for the card when I checked in but I didn’t dwell on it. At the Econo Lodge, however, I had to sign a statement that I agreed to the room rate. However, the room rate amount was blank and in the total it simply said, “Pre Paid.”
Second, I was told that when you book a “super discount” room via Travelocity, the rate is withheld because the hotel may only offer one single room for that rate or that rate may only apply for a specific period of time (like a stay not exceeding two days or a three-day minimum stay). The rates are truly unadvertised so the desk staff cannot offer someone else a room with the same deep discount you paid on the “super discount” Travelocity site.
Believe it or not, this was the summary. I’ll talk about the trip down Route 66 some other time.
*NOTE: There is no “doing Flagstaff”. If you don’t drink or eat pizza there’s not much to do after about 8:00PM.