Ask upfront about your travel agent's fees

Joel Widzer, author of "The Penny Pincher's Passport to Luxury Travel," says an agent may be useful if you don't have the time or interest to plan a trip yourself, or if your destination is a less-traveled place, such as Cambodia or Cameroon, and the agent specializes in the area.

Kiplinger's Personal Finance May 2007

Websites of the Month: Loyalty Programs

February 15, 2007
By Kinley Levack, Successful Meetings

Jetready.com is the digital home of Dr. Joel L. Widzer, an organizational psychologist, speaker, and author of The Penny Pincher's Passport to Luxury Travel. The site includes information about the best ways to use frequent flyer miles and other perks of travel. There is also information from a segment that the television show Inside Edition aired in November of 2003 that uses Widzer's tips to successfully receive a rental car upgrade, a hotel room upgrade, an airline upgrade, and a better restaurant table. Widzer explains how best to receive such benefits, without being underhanded and resorting to trickery or lying.

Originally published in Successful Meetings magazine, February 2007.

Snagging a Sweet Suite

Expressing interest in the special characteristics of a property is just one way to talk yourself into an upgraded room, but there are many others, says travel expert Joel Widzer, author of The Penny Pincher's Passport to Luxury Travel (Travelers ' Tales Guides ; $ 14.95). He recommends check...

Blackenterprise.com Feb 13, 2007
Read More: