Breaking Down Week 2 Of 2015 Daily Getaways
With week 1 in the books, we head into a lukewarm week 2 of the 2015 Daily Getaways. There’s some value to be had here, but other than maxing out one of the Vegas packages, not much in the way of hidden gold.
In case you’re not familiar, Daily Getaways are daily deals sponsored by the US Travel Association. Some are better than others, so you need to think about whether you can take full advantage of the offer before buying.
For the more popular offers, they will sell out quickly, which means being around right when they go on sale each day at 1:00 pm EDT. Some offers will sell out in hours, some in minutes. It’s also important to be patient. If you click shortly after an offer becomes available and it shows sold out, keep trying. Someone may have an offer in their shopping cart but change their mind or have their computer crash. When that happens, their bad luck or change of heart can be your good fortune.
There’s no 10% discount this year for paying with an AMEX card. However, it doesn’t seem to make a difference in the pricing of most deals, with some being slightly better (and others the same or slightly worse) than last year.
Here are the offers:
Monday, March 30th: 10,000 Best Western points for $55
This is slightly cheaper than last year’s price of .585 cents per point. At that rate, though, it’s still not a very good value unless you do some research.
You can see my research from the deal last year here. I did a couple quick searches just now and didn’t see anything overwhelming. If you were going to tackle this deal, the gameplan should be to pick the property and the dates of travel that you think you’re booking before buying points.
You can buy up to 5 packages and there are almost 1,000 available. I see no reason this will sell out before you can get the maximum amount, if that’s what your plan is.
Tuesday, March 31st: Palazzo and Venetian Deals
Two Nights At Palazzo For $608
This a two nights in a roughly 1300 sf suite (Siena Suite) at Palazzo. Nice room, decent rate for what you get, but obviously Vegas room rates for a regular room are a lot less. So, unless you value a suite, let this one pass.
Two Nights In A Piazza View Suite For $495
You can see all the details for the Piazza Suite here. It’s about double the size of a normal room at 1400 sf. The normal rooms are a pretty decent 650 sf already. This gives you a living room, dining room, bedroom and spacious bathroom. Again, great price for this room type, but regular rooms can be had much cheaper.
Wednesday, April 1st: Caesars Deals In Las Vegas and Atlantic City
I’ll cover these in more detail on Wednesday, but the Caesars offers are really just okay. You can get value if you plan to use most or all of the benefits included. Here are the offers:
2-night package at the Cromwell for $590 (this is a new deal in 2015).
3-night suite package at Caesars Palace for $1,400.
Two nights at Paris Las Vegas for $350.
2-night package at LINQ hotel for $350 (this is a new deal in 2015).
2-night Bally’s package for $315.
2-night package at Harrah’s Atlantic City for $650
Thursday, April 2nd: Universal Studios Hollywood 4 pack of 2-day tickets for $313
This is a repeat from last year (my breakdown from last year is here). Last year’s price with the AMEX discount was $302, so pricing is also very similar. A 2-day ticket is now $119, so you’re getting over $150 in savings if you buy this for 4 adults ($10 cheaper for kids 2-day passes).
This doesn’t include front of the line passes or the VIP experience, just general admission to the park.
Most importantly, this is only for the Hollywood, California location.
Slightly more packages than last year, but I suspect this one will sell out again.
Friday, April 3rd: Choice Privileges Points Packages For Sale
40,000 points for $160
32,000 points for $132
36,000 points for $155
20,000 points for $90
You can see my full breakdown from last year, which is still pretty accurate(though the Southwest Rapid Rewards math has changed since their devaluation last year). The prices are closer to .4 cents a piece this time around, a bit cheaper on some packages, though the most expensive 40,000 point package is a bit more than last year. You’re limited to 2 of each package and a total of 8 packages per Choice Privileges account.
There’s value to be had here if you follow the program (I don’t). A quick perusal of rates again this year shows that you can save 20-30% without trying too hard.
Bottom Line It For Me, Ed
Another week of “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. Some of these deals are better than others, but a lot will depend on the properties you’re targeting. Good luck!
The post Breaking Down Week 2 Of 2015 Daily Getaways was published first on Pizza In Motion.
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