Take the guesswork out of your hotel choice.

Jen and I are looking to go to Chicago for the 4th of July and we were perusing Hotwire and went looking at two newer sites for hotels where they don't tell you the name of the hotel until you purchase it. LastMinuteTravel.com and Travelocity's Top Secret Hotels.

It turns out that LastMinuteTravel.com lists the number of hotel rooms the hotel has available. A quick Google search indicated the hotel we were going to "steal" was the Westin on N. Michigan Ave. They show 521 rooms. We were right! We think we're so smart.

Once you book it

I was going to go to Chicago today and sell this digital board advertising... but I never pulled the trigger on booking hotel and here's why.. once you book it, you own it. NO cancellations allowed.. not for weather, not for missed flights, not for a car wreck. It's yours.

I wasn't totally sure I was going, the weather turned sour so I didn't go.

You can always stop at a Biggby or a Panera on the way, and book the hotel. Yes you may pay more, but..

Hotwire comes thru again in Chicago

I'm working with a couple guys with a digital billboard in Chicago, I ran into one of the guys one day in town and he said "HEY.. you know Chicago pretty well." I replied 'yes I do' ..

"do you want to sell it in chicago? " I said "yes I do". So I've gone down there twice to see if I can get some customers 'on board' (how do I come up with this stuff? .. and when will I stop?)

I used HOTWIRE twice to stay there and I'm telling you it's the greatest internet site ever. I got a Holiday Inn in Oakbrook Terrace (Oak Brook is where the Oak Brook Mall is.) for $36/night. How can you beat that? I checked their website and the online rate was $88/night... so I saved a bunch of money. Three stars Oak Brook Lombard Downer's Grove.. $36 Holiday Inn.. it's a decent hotel.. with the slowest elevators EVER!

If you're going to go to Chicago at all.. invest $10 in the IZOOM toll collector and avoid those lines at the tolls. It's the best thing you will ever do if you go there a lot. Tolls have gone up a great deal in the past couple years but sitting in a line to pay that toll.. will just piss you off. So get one $10 Izoom is the Indiana toll collector but it works in Illinois too.

The sales tax in Cook county and Chicago is among the very highest in the nation. It's about 10%.. room tax for hotels is 16%. Parking in the city at a hotel $32-35/night. Factor those hidden costs into your trip.. you'll be surprised at how fast they add up.

Parking on the street.. used to be Monday thru Saturday.. $1.25/hr pretty much everywhere. Now it's all week, probably holidays too.. until 9 pm. more nickle and diming. You can either take a LOT of quarters or use your credit card. I've never seen anyone checking the slip of paper you put on your dash.. but I'll bet it's $40 or more if you get caught.

Ah.. Chicago.. I love you.. but you are a whore for my money.

OMG!

I haven't entered in this thing since August.. and NOT ONE person has said a word to me. All my adoring fans have forsaken me!

Jen and I are off this week to Nashville by way of Indianapolis. Given the recent fun on the airlines and I'm sure the resulting increase in security.. driving is the way to go. Every time I fly.. I think 'why am I doing this? this is NOT fun." And while the drive to Nashville is about 8 hours or so.. I prefer it.

Rule #1 - the time between Christmas and the New Year is easily the best time of year to travel for fun. Simply, there is NO business travel this week and hotels are going begging. We got a 3.5 star hotel in Indy for the ridiculously low rate of $37.50.... thirty seven bucks.. roughly the cost of a round of drinks at a decent bar. The drive is pretty long to Nashville so we thought if we left Tuesday night and stayed in Indy we'd have more of a day to spend in "Music City" .

We are then going to Nashville where I found a Sheraton for $50/night!!!! Out by the airport. Rule #2 no business air travel makes for great rates out by an airport. Not so much in the downtown where touristy people might be hanging.

Thanks Priceline! for Nashville and thanks Hotwire! for Indy. This little trip points out how to use the two best sites online. For Indy.. we really wanted to be on the southwest side of the city to avoid 'rush hour' as we motored south toward Louisville. So I was as concerned about the area, than I was just price driven. I'd been following a 3.5 star hotel oh Hotwire for $46 for a week and I didn't think it would be going up... when it dropped to $37.50 I jumped on it.

For Nashville.. I just wanted to see how cheap I could get a hotel. With plenty of time on my hands between when I bid and when we left.. I made what I thought was an incredibly low bid. I was pleasantly surprised when they accepted my bid.

USA Today had an article a while back about how all of LAS VEGAS in on sale.. the best deal there was an all you could drink (wine or beer) buffet for $22! I'm sure it's still up somewhere on their site. if you like to travel and you like to do it cheaply.. right now is the time to go...anywhere (except Florida)

Here's ONE way to travel

Offer to work at a resort at no wage! I spent the month of July in Platoro, CO (don't look for it on a map!, it's probably not there) working at a lodge for no money. I got room and board and a lifetime of memories.

First bit of advice.. if you ever thought you'd like to own/run a resort.. try this. I knew in three days this was not gonna be for me. I'm not a people person.. it turns out, who knew?????????????

The hours are INSANE!!!! You are talking 12-14 hours a day depending on what is going on and maybe more.

The hiring (and firing) can shoot holes in your schedule. I was there 3 weeks, two people were let go. How do you replace people when you are 40 miles from a cell phone signal?

But the benefits were terrific.. the scenery was just fantastic, the southern rockies up around 9-10,000 feet, the sound of a rushing river just outside the lodge is like Prozac to me. Mule deer, elk, moose, antelope, marmots, hummingbirds all around the lodge.

The people I worked with were all characters, mostly great people. I enjoyed the change in my lifestyle. Some of the guests were terrific and I was glad to meet them. Others, notably a family from Texas, I could have collectively drowned them in the river.

LOTS of memories, lots of stories to tell.. worth every minute of the time I was there.

New way to travel

If you volunteer to work at a resort for free.. you can stay in Colorado for free!!!!!!  that's what I'm doing... 

Travel & Leisure magazine

I've been getting T&L for years now.  In my opinion it's the better of the two travel biggies, the other one  Conde' Nast Traveler.  Even though, I believe T&L  depends way too much on lists to fill their magazines.  Best Hotels, Best Spas, Best Travel Agents (really!).  You can subscribe for about a dollar an issue and if you have the travel bug.. it may help scratch it. 

I found the 33 best travel web sites in an old issue I unearthed from a pile of papers and some of them are worth passing along..

www.farecast.com  "predict the ideal moment to buy a(n airline) ticket

www.kayak.com and sidestep.com "best deals on flights and hotels" (still not cheaper than hotwire.com I'll bet)

www.traffic.com  'avoid roadblocks'

www.tripadvisor.com   'reviews by users'   (this is a GREAT site to check out hotel reviews) 

www.lastminute.com  'package deals one week out' 

There you have it.. from the 2008 December "Travel & Leisure".