My Successful (I Think) Experience With Daily Getaways
For those that aren’t familiar, Daily Getaways are a month-long list of opportunities to score great deals on travel, sponsored by American Express and the US Travel Association. I tried to jump in on one offer last year but showed up 4 minutes after it went on sale. That was too late.
The offers are all over the board. There are some pre-packaged Vegas vacations and simpler items like Marriott gift cards at a 20% discount.
Yesterday’s offer was one I had eyeballed from the first week that seemed like a great value for our family. These were Busch Gardens tickets over 50% off the list price of $90. AAA members wouldn’t pay list, but that’s the best previous discount I’ve seen on Busch Gardens at just under $70. The Daily Getaway price was $45 ($41 if you used an AMEX card to pay).
For those that don’t want to do the research themselves Mommy Points has been doing an awesome job detailing the daily offers.
I had a timer set for a few minutes before 1pm EDT today but for some reason it never went off (let’s not rule out I was too tired from pushing a double stroller around Hershey Park to set it correctly). I logged on at 1:16 and the offer was showing that all the tickets were claimed by others at the moment. But, here’s the thing with the Daily Getaways. If someone doesn’t complete their sale, those tickets go back into inventory on a first-come, first-served basis. So, I started hitting the “try again” button like a mad man, and also reduced my quantity of tickets to see if I could grab a few. Moments later, success #1! The system showed me a payment page for 4 tickets (I needed a total of 6). I quickly completed the payment process and went back to the home page.
1:20 now and tickets still not sold out. Another minute or two of refreshing and I was able to get our remaining two tickets.
I think.
I only received one confirmation e-mail, but my credit card has been authorized for both charges. So, we’ll see.
But, overall, I think the 7 or 8 minutes invested was worth the savings (somewhere between $200 and $300 depending on how you would normally purchase these tickets).
I’ll be angling for another deal next week to buy Avis Chairman status. I’ve heard great things but never gotten the chance to try it out.
I’ll also be eyeballing the future weeks of offers (they run through July 12th and haven’t all been announced yet) for other good value opportunities.
Yeah I keep looking at these and not seeing any great options (for me). Even stuff like the Best Western 10,000 points deals coming up in week three (for $67), or the IHG points (50,000 for $325) just don’t seem that amazing to me. I don’t have any specific use for 10,000 Best Western Points, and turning them into miles produces just 2,000 miles for $67 which doesn’t make sense. I can get 2,000 miles by churning the dining programs a couple of times. And the IGH points are only worth about 0.6 cents, which is about what they’re selling them for.
Meh. Waiting for week four I guess. Where’s Hyatt?
Yeah, not much me either, Glenn. I’ve loosely debated the Priority Club points since I have an upcoming stay in an area with no SPG or Hyatt properties. I’m hoping that I’ll have something to be excited about when they release the next couple of weeks’ worth of deals.
How long did it take for you to get the tickets? Just wondering coz I bought choice hotel points today and I need to use them asap.
My tickets showed up about 5 business days later, but they were sent directly by SeaWorld/Busch Gardens, not the US Travel folks. My understanding is that the Daily Getaways folks will transfer your info to Choice who will ultimately load your account. Not sure how fast ASAP is for you, but I suspect you’ll have them fairly soon.