The third week of Daily Getaways organized by the U.S. Travel Association brings deals from Carnival Cruises, Avis Rental Cars, Choice Hotels and MGM and Sands Casino & Resorts in Las Vegas – find out whether I will strike or pass and who I think should strike on these deals!
Monday: Carnival $100 gift card for $85
You can purchase up to 3 gift cards worth $100 each at a price of $85 each towards booking a cruise, online purchase of tours or services as well as onboard for your Sail & Sign account. They are valid until November 30th, 2018.
I will pass – I’m not a fan of large-ship cruises and don’t have any plans for a Carnival Cruise.
Who should strike: If you have plans for a Carnival Cruise, this is a no-brainer. You get 15% off your cruise and expenses, a nice saving for your vacation!
Tuesday: Avis 1-day rental for $30 and Presidents Club $750
Avis offers a 1-day rental of cars up to Premium in the US (except NYC) & Canada for $30. You can purchase up to 7 paper certificates and they are valid till May 18th, 2018. All fees and taxes are extra, so this is far from a “free rental day”. There are lots of conditions and limitations, so read the T&Cs carefully before striking on this deal.
Avis also offers a President’s Club membership for a year at $750 – this membership level is free, if you rent 10 times a year and spend at least $2,000 with them!
I will pass – I don’t have any plans to book a car with Avis and I generally prefer the flexibility to get the best deal for the date & location I am renting. I don’t like deals that have so many questionable conditions (including that Avis can expire the certificates at any time of their choosing!), because I don’t want to get stuck with worthless coupons!
Who should strike: If you have one or many Avis reservations coming up (and have to pay for them yourself), the rental-day certificates may be worth it to you. Make sure to check your rates with other companies before yo buy them – on Priceline and other websites you can often beat a $30/day rate. Also read the T&C carefully, so you don’t get stuck with the coupons.
I can’t think of anybody who should spend $750 for the President’s Club membership: if you rent frequently, you get it for free. And if you don’t, there is limited value in it. You can just buy an upgrade (instead of maybe getting one) and in my experience with premium elite levels the benefits are limited!
Wednesday/Thursday: MGM and Sands Resorts Las Vegas
There are a number of casino and resort packages available, including rooms and shows or suites.
I will pass – As with previous Daily Getaway casino deals, I will pass. I have no plans to go to Las Vegas anytime soon.
Who should strike: Also similar, I recommend to proceed carefully: Las Vegas is the city of deals and unless this is exactly the hotel and show you were planning to go to anyway, you’ll probably be better of buying it on your own!
Friday: Choice Hotels, 20,000-40,000 point packages from 0.4ct/pt
Choice Hotels is offering four different point packages for their Choice Privileges rewards program. They are described as free nights for certain brands, which is somewhat misleading as they are just point packages of different sizes that you can use at any of there hotels. The prices are slightly different by size (see table).
I will pass – I have tried out Choice Privileges and while I was ok with the experience at their budget hotels, the rewards program is very difficult to use and find value: You can only book award stays 30 nights in advance – a limitation no other rewards program has and that makes it very difficult to find available nights. I also had a hard time finding value in the reward stays, outside some pockets of value for stays in Scandinavia.
Who should strike: If you are planning a trip to Scandinavia off-season, stay frequently at Choice Hotels and don’t mind booking last-minute, you might be able to get some value out of this. Everybody else, I recommend to pass.
You can look at the details and purchase the Daily Getaway’s here!
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