Know how you can save? The Penny Pincher's Passport to Luxury Travel by Joel L. Widzer (Travelers' Tales, 2008) is in its third edition. Subtitled The Art of Cultivating Preferred Customer Status, the book focuses on building relationships with airlines, hotels and car-rental agencies and turning those relationships into discounts and upgrades. Widzer calls the tourism industry confusing and contradictory, an assessment hard to disagree with.
Richard Carpenter The Boston Globe, May 2008
“Flights will take longer to board. Things will run late. That’s going to cost airlines way more than the revenue they generate.” Joel Widzer, author of “The Penny Pincher’s Passport to Luxury Travel,” agrees. “This could backfire,” he told me.
And, finally, Widzer offers a word of warning. “Be sure to ask the reservation agent to calculate the total cost of your rental, including fill-up costs if you come back empty. Often the quoted rate leaves out such things as airport fees, city taxes, license fees, and more. These won’t sting so much if you know about them in advance.”
Travel Worldwide Guide; March 2008
If you're staying more than one night at a hotel catering to business travelers, you might want to time your check-in between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. Most business travelers check in around 5 p.m. or later, so you'll want to make your request while good rooms are still available, suggests Joel Widzer, author of Penny Pincher's Passport to Luxury Travel
Get the Best Hotel for the Lowest Price
Kiplinger’s March 2008
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