I fly a lot and am considered a heavyweight among people who claim to know corporate travel. I have flown so much that I have known the birthdays of pilots on some regular flights.

One time when I was taking a couple of months off and trying to stay home more I actually received calls from the airlines asking where I was and if everything was alright. That is too much. That is too much because of the wear and tear it places on your body and family life but also because of the dent it places in your wallet. I have found a way to fix all of that, at least the expense part anyway.

I received a cold call from a funny salesperson asking if he could have the honor of booking my next set of travel arrangements for me. During a quick phone call he asked me where I typically went, how frequently I left home, where I liked to sit on airplanes, which airlines I preferred, how much I was typically spending per flight to different locations, what hotel accommodations I liked to have I stayed in needed to have for me to be happy, what size and type of rental cars I preferred, all about my frequent traveler programs and away he went. I tucked it in the back of my mind and forgot about it.

Within a few days I had a need to book a trip. I sent a quick communication outlining the details about the trip and gave him a few hours to go to work. In the meantime I also went to work to check out what I would be able to book on my own.

After spending about 45 minutes of my time I had a held itinerary for a flight, rental car and hotel room. The reservations were made all with my regular frequent flier and member numbers and all discounts were applied. The total trip was going to cost $1,620.00 over 3 days for air fare, rental car and a hotel stay.

I received an e-mail from the corporate travel agents a couple of hours later telling me that I could save $200 off of my flight if I would be willing to make one-stop (I wasn’t), $30 a day off my rental car if I would use a different company (I would gladly for a $90 savings) and that a nice upgrade over my original lodging plans would cost me $69 per night and not $199 per night (a savings of $130 per night and $420 for the trip). I fell in love with this guy who had called me out of the blue a week ago. He had saved me and my company exactly $510. At that point I loved corporate discount travel.

Our department participates in a margin sharing plan that rewards our team of sales people for the margin that we bring in. Travel has been a sore spot for the corporation and the department as the expenses have gone up for travel and we have struggled with ways to cut back. We sell a product that is almost impossible to sell over the phone, typically requiring a couple of multiple day visits on-site to get a new project started. My next call was to our corporate team to let them know about how we can all save money on our corporate travel. Many thanks to the man who made the cold call.

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Spontaneity Needed For Last Minute Travel Packages

If you are spontaneous and love to go on trips to different places, you just might be able to find some last minute travel packages. When you do not have a destination in mind and you just like to get up and go there will be no problems finding a great price for last minute excursions. You just have to know where to look to find these last minute travel packages that can save you hundreds of dollars.

Check The Airlines For Deals

Living within driving distance of an airport, you likely have a good idea of the most popular airlines that fly in and out of your city. If you hop online and visit their individual websites, be sure to sign up for their email newsletters that will send you notices of last minute travel packages, often before they publicize them on their website! The packages are not always just for airfare but also for hotel and rental car and in some instances, admission to some attractions.

With these last minute travel packages, you will likely find a few weekend trips that leave on a Friday and return on Sunday or leave Saturday and come back Monday. However, the cheapest packages will likely leave mid-week, usually on the airline?s slowest days, and return on another slow day for the airline. If you have a flexible work schedule and can make allowances for some of your daily commitments, last minute travel packages like these can be taken advantage of.

Travel Agency Deals

Last minute travel packages are available through travel agencies as well and you will find a variety of options like cruises, honeymoon packages and more. Sometimes, travel agents will have a client who cannot go on a trip at the last minute and perhaps they need a way to recoup some of their cost. Some of these agencies will offer last minute package deals that have airfare, rental car and hotel and others may have cruise packages.

You may even find travel agencies who specialize specifically in last minute travel packages at a discounted rate. Sometimes, these agencies will purchase surplus airfare, hotel or cruise cabins and then resell them to people like you who are looking for a great deal. Check the agency website or even the Sunday newspaper travel section for some of these deals.

Cruise The Internet

The Internet offers a plethora of opportunities to nab last minute travel packages and all it takes are a few search parameters to find them. In fact, there are quite a few travel consolidator websites which scan the internet for you based on your search parameters for last minute travel packages and will give you a number of options to peruse. These websites can vary in price by several hundred dollars so always check at least three of them to compare similar last minute travel packages in order to get the best price.

A seven day Caribbean cruise, a package deal for hotel and admission to Disneyworld, a trip for two to Paris ? there are a ton of last minute travel packages to choose from as long as you know where to look.

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