Travel Deals - Getting The Most From Your Travel Discounts

next) but had not planned on spending that much. * I let the sales person try to 'sell me the IDEA' that it is OK to buy the product. Sometimes, they offer some free product (e.g. a pair of socks or tickets for a gallery or some show while on holiday). Then I 'ask' for the discount but make it clear that I will definitely buy if they give me the discount. This is how I 'ask' ... * "Look I'll definitely take it at $X". The sales person then says "... so you want $Y off the price?!".

They may tell you they don't normally offer a discount outside of the sales season, etc. If they are very confident about not offering discounts, I then say "ok, I'll take 2 shirts ... this one and ... that one, only if you give me them at $Z for both ...". * At this stage the sales person may even say he hasn't the authority to offer discounts. No problem, I ask them to speak to their boss. I have done this lots of times and get this: 90% of the time the boss agrees to the discount. Of the remaining 10% at least half the time, the boss offers me a counter discount which is a not as good as what I asked for but still pretty good.

Do you want to know the kind of discounts I've had? Well, on two shirts worth $62 I got $22 off.

That is around 35%! On a travel package worth around $4,300, I got about $600 off but wait for it ... I also got an upgrade from a deluxe room to a business suite in the same 5 star hotel. That suite was worth $800 per night and the deluxe room was worth $250 per night!

I had to explain the above details at length but all that I did was to display that I 'WILL' buy with a discount. They knew all they had to do was just one thing: give me a discount, so they did it. I made it, as they say, "a no brainer" for them.

In short just "ask" but (a) be realistic (let them make a little profit, don't ask for 80% off) and (b) have a little flexibility as a backup plan (be ready to tell them that you'll buy more, e.g. 2 shirts or a holiday for 4. Hey, even the sales people like to think they have got a concession form you ... it is not a one-way street).

This technique works for almost everything but also works extremely well for travel bargains too.

So lets get back to more tips specific to travel deals then.

Travel bargains, discounts and deals are all around you because we all travel regularly and repeatedly for holidays as well as for business and of course the travel industry competes for our dollars. Nevertheless, some research and being alert to travel deals can mean more substantial savings. Here's how to spot and get the best travel deals: * Booking as early as possible usually entitles you to some travel discount. * If you're buying more than one ticket, a further travel discount is possible. * Be flexible. Sometimes weekend flights can be cheaper than weekdays (less business travellers). * Flights departing later at night can be cheaper.