Category Archives: DEALS

DEALS, TRAVEL

Snagging a Luxury Hotel In Dublin For Free – Thanks To Club Carlson

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By Lakshmi and Siddhi:

Travel a lot, but travel smart.  That’s been our adage forever.  On this trip across the UK and Ireland, a “deal” that we snagged was a four-day, three night stay at the Radisson Blu St. Helen’s for ZERO dollars!  How did we manage to get a property that currently retails for 300 Euros per night for free?  Not for just one night, but for  three nights – saving us 900 Euros or 1200 dollars.

Here’s how we did it.  Last year, my husband applied for the Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa credit card.  The primary reason for applying for this card was to get  85,000 Bonus Gold Points – 50,000 Gold Points after our first purchase plus 35,000 points once we spent $2,500 on our card within the first 90 days (we simply put our routine expenses for 3 months on the card and for every dollar we spent outside of the Carlson branded properties, we gained 5 points).  We now had 97,500 points to spend on our hotel in Dublin.

The Radisson Blu St. Helen’s is a spectacular property located a short 15 minute bus ride from the city center.  The massive property is showcased with beautifully manicured gardens.  A room at the hotel for a party of three would cost us 300 Euros a night. We could also get the room for 44,000 points a night.

With our accumulated points, we got two nights for free.  An added benefit of the Club Carlson Visa Card is that each time you book a reward stay, your last night is free.  Since we were card holders booking three nights, the third night was free.

Ok, this is not all we got.  With our card, we were upgraded to a better room, got a beautiful basket of fruits upon arrival, and realized that our room service breakfast cost us nothing as well!

This gets better.  We got a lovely room overlooking the gardens where there were celebrations happening each night.  From a Brazilian Samba themed party to a family themed reception, we got people watching opportunities galore.

Last, but not the least, the staff was friendly and efficient, providing us just the right amount of support to make our stay memorable.

Take a look at these pictures and you’ll see why this was just an amazing part of our journey.

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To learn more about the beautiful Radisson Blu St. Helen’s, click here: http://www.radissonblu.ie/sthelenshotel-dublin

If you’d like to learn more about the Club Carlson Visa Card, click here:  http://www.clubcarlsonvisa.com/credit/visaPremierCard.do

 

 

DEALS, TRAVEL

Planning A Summer Trip to Alaska? Don’t Leave Home Without The Alaska TourSaver

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By Lakshmi:

If you are planning a summer trip to Alaska, you MUST check into the Alaska TourSaver Book and get one or two before departing home.

Why?  Because for $99.95 you can get the Alaska TourSaver Book which is just packed with savings offers which will save you a ton of money in one of America’s most beautiful but expensive states.

The Alaska TourSaver Book is a coupon book that is filled with 115  deals to save you money on all kinds of activities in Alaska including hotels, helicopter tours, rafting, whale watching, etc.  Many of the deals are two for one, which means that for a very expensive helicopter tour, you can get two people to go for one price.  If you buy two books, four can go for the price of two.

You can buy the Alaska TourSaver Book online at https://www.toursaver.com/order/ for $99.95 plus shipping and handling.  Additionally, for those wanting to forgo paper, you can order the TourSaver app on iTunes or GooglePlay for the same price.

We were a family of four traveling to Alaska and each of the activities we wanted to experience added up to an incredibly expensive affair. For example, taking a 4.5 hour glacier tour in Whittier would cost you $119 or $476 for a family of four.  With two TourSaver Books, you would pay only $238, thus recovering the cost of the books with just one activity.  So if a family of four took a road trip from Fairbanks to Seward and did a number of things along the way, here is a sampling of savings they would get with the purchase of two books:

– Get 2 tours on the Riverboat Discovery for free ($119.90 in savings)

– Get two Heli-Hikes in Denali for free ($1050.00 in savings)

– Take two people for free on a spectacular train journey from  Fairbanks to Denali ($272.00 in savings)

– Get two gold mine tours for free ($79.90 in savings)

– Get two ATV adventures in Denali ($210.00 in savings)

and much much more!

To check out the complete list of activities available, click here:

http://www.toursaver.com/deal/dealview/action/list/

So, this is really one of those deals that is not worth debating – you just need to get it!

DEALS, TECH AND TOOLS

Hotel Tonight: Last Minute Half-Priced Finds

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By Rohan:

This weekend, my uncle and eleven year-old cousin came to town to help me celebrate my graduation. Since he had some business to take care of in Boston, he decided to take me and my brother along for some fun in the city.We love Boston, and usually have a motley of hotel options to choose from, especially since we go so frequently, whether it be for conventions, festivals, or simply getting away without breaking the bank. On the train ride there, our uncle gave us some shocking news: we don’t quite know where we’re staying.

 

He reassured us, told us not to panic, and opened up a fancy new app on his smartphone: Hotel Tonight. He was able to book two rooms at the Copley Square Hotel (a review to follow) for a little less than $160 each. This property is situated right in the heart of downtown Boston, with plenty of shops, restaurants, and tourist attractions within walking distance. How could this little app give him such a big discount?

Every day at 9:00 am, Hotel Tonight releases multiple properties per city in many cities in the US and abroad. Each property is discounted (sometimes up the 50%).  It’s like a game of roulette, sometimes you will land a huge discount at an amazing property, while in other cases, it might add some inconvenience to your trip.  Either way, we highly recommend picking up Hotel Tonight.  Living an hour away from New York City, a day trip to Manhattan can easily turn into an overnight one thanks to this useful tool.  Best of all, Hotel Tonight is completely free, and runs incredibly smoothly with a welcoming interface on both iPhone and Android devices.  Just another piece of travel tech making seeing the world that much easier!

 Thanks Hotel Tonight for your deals and discounts! Consider us a loyal customer!