Question for people that travel a lot for work

[jeff061]

Couple actually. Basically revolving around wanting to take advantage of the miles/hotel stays. Any recommended airlines? Same for hotels, most people I've spoken to have said Marriot. I've gotten a wide variety of airline suggestions. I'm expecting mostly domestic travel.

Now I have a company card I can charge to. However does it make sense to open a new line of credit dedicated to these expenses and if so what should i look at?

Thanks!

[Rizon]

My wife sometimes travels half the year (she'll be gone for 2 months this summer and has been gone the last 3 weeks). She has a US Airways MasterCard and gets a couple free flights a year from the points. We flew for free to Nova Scotia and Miami last year, and we'll be able to fly free to Hawaii next year.

For her hotel, she does get free stays at the Hyatt, but I think that's just a work perk. I'm pretty sure she has to stay with the rest of the team and they don't get to pick their own hotels.

[digamma]

On the hotel side, I'm very partial to the Starwood Preferred Guest program.

Airlines are more route dependent, so with family in ATL and MSP, we are beholden to Delta.

[MacroGuru]

I travel every other week...

Delta is my main airline (Platinum Status) I also maintain status with United as well.

People hate Delta and others love them...I think it's all dependent on where you fly for them....I have only had issues with Dulles and Delta....although JFK is pretty nasty as far as on time.

United I always get screwed with on time...but they do take care of me.

As for hotel programs Marriott or Starwood programs are my favorites...I love the Starwood lines and if I can get into Westins I do.

[TroyF]

Couple actually. Basically revolving around wanting to take advantage of the miles/hotel stays. Any recommended airlines? Same for hotels, most people I've spoken to have said Marriot. I've gotten a wide variety of airline suggestions. I'm expecting mostly domestic travel.

Now I have a company card I can charge to. However does it make sense to open a new line of credit dedicated to these expenses and if so what should i look at?

Thanks!

For me, it's just hotels, airlines that I've liked and some of it is regional.

I've always liked Frontier (the free TV when you get to Summit is nice) for airlines. (I also fly a lot of Southwest and Delta)

For hotels, I've had the best success with Hampton Inns. Always a comfortable bed and a desk.(the desk can be used for either work or gaming) Reasonable rates for a "business" hotel. I used to use Holiday Inn Express but really soured on them after awhile. The TV listings can be a bit bad at times with Hampton, but I'd rather deal with that and have a clean comfortable room at a decent price than 700 channels of TV.

[TroyF]

Oh, as far as the credit, it all depends on your company. I'm not allowed to use anything other than a company card and must book all travel through our website. If your company pays expense receipts quickly, it could be the way to go. If they take a long time to do it, it's not worth it IMO.

[MacroGuru]

Oh, as far as the credit, it all depends on your company. I'm not allowed to use anything other than a company card and must book all travel through our website. If your company pays expense receipts quickly, it could be the way to go. If they take a long time to do it, it's not worth it IMO.

If you can book your own airfare....it's always good to get a rewards points card towards an airline miles or hotels program.

[Blackadar]

I flew 50k miles last year and spent about 120 days in hotels.

On Airlines: It's all going to depend on where you're flying from (and to). As a Charlotte native, I'm always flying US Air. Therefore, I'm part of their program. If I were flying out of Atlanta, I'd be on Delta's program. That being said, I hate United...I have the worst trouble with their flights being delayed/canceled due to "maintenance" (including 4 in a row last year). Whomever you choose, get signed up for their credit card program immediately. That should get you preferred boarding status, which is a massive help when you have to carry on luggage. It'll also help you accumulate miles and rewards faster. Trust me, it's a small blessing knowing that I can find space in the overhead bins and I'm not getting stuck in the middle seat.

On Booking Airline Flights: If you can, book DIRECTLY through the airline's website. Not only do you avoid the Expedia/Travelocity middleman (which can create problems), there are also sometimes unexpected "perks" that come with booking flights directly with the airline. For example, the First Class upgrades on US Air are normally determined 24 hours in advance, unless you book directly on US Air, in which case they check for upgrades 48 hours in advance. I've been bumped to first class ahead of members with higher status simply because I booked on US Air's website.

On Hotels: I'd strongly suggest you become a Marriott member. That gives you access to Marriott, Renaissance, Courtyard, Fairfield Inn, SpringHill and Residence Inns on the program, so you can almost always find a hotel in their family nearby. Their program is pretty well the top of the line in the industry and their hotels are almost uniformly well-run and clean. Starwood is good, but I believe Marriott is better. You may want to sign up for both rewards programs, but pick your favorite early on and use that chain almost exclusively.

On Rental Cars: Again, it's all personal preference, but I've had good luck with National. They're all mostly the same, though.

[jeff061]

Thanks folks, all has been very helpful. Unfortunately I am forced to book with my company's travel agency. It leaves a lot to be desired, but there are dedicated people I can call.

I'm flying out of Logan, if that's at help at all. Actually going to be in San Jose next week, so need to get things going.

[Ksyrup]

On Booking Airline Flights: If you can, book DIRECTLY through the airline's website. Not only do you avoid the Expedia/Travelocity middleman (which can create problems),

No crap. Several years ago, I booked a 5 flight, 4-stop trip and used Kayak to get a total price of under $700 flying on several different airlines depending on the route. On the last segment of my flight, there was an ice storm that canceled my flights. So I called up American to get re-booked, and their initial response was that they couldn't help me and I needed to call Kayak. And I'm like, "WTF, YOU'RE the airline, not them. You're going to re-book me." The guy finally relented but acted like an ass the entire time.

Up until that point, it never even occurred to me that this would be an issue. I bought my ticket from them, but YOU are providing the transportation, assholes, so you have to deal with all the shit that comes with it.

[Logan]

No love for Hilton's program? I focused on Marriotts for my first couple years traveling but found myself preferring Hiltons when those were what was available. Also found it much easier to redeem free nights at Hiltons than Marriotts. I ended up using a lot of my Marriott points towards merchandise or converting them into miles.

That being said, if you're going to be Gold status or above, Marriott's Concierge Level is hard to beat.

[jeff061]

Leaning towards Delta, since they seem to be so huge at Logan. Course I check prices for San Jose next week and they are $500 more than the other airlines. Company doesn't much look at prices until it's over 1k and Delta was the only one that couldn't stay below it.

[Ksyrup]

Delta's not ideal for traveling west.

[MacroGuru]

Leaning towards Delta, since they seem to be so huge at Logan. Course I check prices for San Jose next week and they are $500 more than the other airlines. Company doesn't much look at prices until it's over 1k and Delta was the only one that couldn't stay below it.

San Jose is a rough airport to get into with Delta, United gets to SFO, Delta gets to SFO if you are willing to make the drive and it might be a little cheaper.

[jeff061]

San Jose is a rough airport to get into with Delta, United gets to SFO, Delta gets to SFO if you are willing to make the drive and it might be a little cheaper.

Thanks for the tip. This is the shit I need to learn :D.

[Desnudo]

I prefer Hilton due to the wide range of hotels (Hampton Inn, Doubletree, Embassy, etc.) available, ease of rewards and cheapness of rewards, plus quickest to Gold, which grants you access to a lounge. Hilton definitely has a wider variety of hotel quality than Marriott and their wifi generally sucks, but you make trade-offs.

Other things equal, I prefer United for one reason - economy plus seats. Once you hit premier, they're free. I fly American now since I live in Dallas and not having the leg room is a real killer. All I remember about Delta is that they seemed to have the worst leg room of any airline by far. Programs are all roughly the same, although American has a Platinum challenge you can sign up for to get Platinum status by flying at least 10K miles in 3 months. I think it costs around $300.

[Logan]

Forgot about Embassy Suites as a great reason to go Hilton. I don't know if all of their properties offer the free daily happy hour (quality may also vary by type), but it's awesome. I used to spend a lot of time in DC and the ones there would have a couple different beers on tap (usually a light domestic and then something local) plus would give strong, strong mixed drinks.

[Ben E Lou]

Yeah, surprised that Embassy Suites took so long to come up. I think the daily happy hour is on all/nearly all of their properties. Plus, if you're on a per diem, the complimentary cooked-to-order breakfast is a significant score. Eat a big breakfast, go light on lunch, and then virtually all of your per diem can be spent on a nice dinner, or just pocket it.

And the rewards are very solid there, as has been mentioned.

[jeff061]

Thanks guys, great help.

For the most part travel will be billed back to a customer. I don't need to go budget, but I'm thinking Embassy Suites may be out of my range, correct?

Really have no familiarity with hotels, never paid any attention before. Just google map'd whatever was close to my destination.

[terpkristin]

Looks like most of the questions have been answered. Only thing I'd add is that if your work allows, use a non-company card where you can take advantage of frequent flier miles, etc.

/tk

[Rizon]

Thanks folks, all has been very helpful. Unfortunately I am forced to book with my company's travel agency. It leaves a lot to be desired, but there are dedicated people I can call.

I'm flying out of Logan, if that's at help at all. Actually going to be in San Jose next week, so need to get things going.

San Jose is one of my most favorite airports.

[terpkristin]

Thanks folks, all has been very helpful. Unfortunately I am forced to book with my company's travel agency. It leaves a lot to be desired, but there are dedicated people I can call.

I'm in this same boat with work. I'm forced to use the travel agents. And then pay the agent fee. Which the company reimburses, but the agents we use are STUPID and I get annoyed when I see that I could have gotten a cheaper or more convenient flight if they'd actually LOOKED.

Case in point, I'm going to London, say I need to be there Thursday. First flight they suggest is one that leaves Wednesday night and lands Thursday at 10 a.m. I say "no go" since I have to be in a meeting on Thursday at 9 a.m. So though there are other flights that leave earlier Wednesday, she automatically books me for the Tuesday night flight, landing Wednesday. Not really a problem but doesn't make a lot of sense.

Luckily I can use my own credit card so I get rewards with United (this agency's airline of choice it seems).

/tk

[jeff061]

I'm in this same boat with work. I'm forced to use the travel agents. And then pay the agent fee. Which the company reimburses, but the agents we use are STUPID and I get annoyed when I see that I could have gotten a cheaper or more convenient flight if they'd actually LOOKED.

Yeah, you know there's trouble when my boss tells me he has better luck going to Kayak and forwarding that info to the agent...

[cartman]

Lemme add to the love for Starwood. When I was traveling overseas all the time, I made it up to quadruple Platinum (200+ nights) with Starwood. They have a wide range of hotels from budget (Aloft, Sheraton Four Points) to midrange (Sheraton, Westin) to high-end (St. Regis, W, etc.). Their benefits are awesome. If you have an AMEX, you might get to start at their Gold level. Once you hit Platinum (25 stays or 50 night), that's when the real good stuff kicks in. I could book the cheapest room, and if the presidential suite was not booked when I checked in, I'd get it.

As for airlines, yep, it does depend on where you need to fly. I made the secret 'Global Services' level with United, and it was awesome. I'd regularly get bumped to first class, even on international flights. I had my own 800 number to call, and never had to worry about rebookings or anything like that. Whenever I'd catch a flight to Heathrow, there would be a person waiting for me at the jetway to take me to a car and drive me to a VIP passport area. It was really sweet, and knowing that exists makes it really hard to travel normally these days. :)

In regards to cars, just pick the chain that has the cars you like to drive and stick with them. I was in the President's 5 Star Club with Hertz, and the made the rental and return as easy as possible.

So traveling for the first few months kind of sucks, but once you stick with your preferred travel programs and build up points, it really does make a huge difference.

[terpkristin]

Yeah, you know there's trouble when my boss tells me he has better luck going to Kayak and forwarding that info to the agent...

I've done that. The agent ignores it and books something else. I gave up.

/tk

[TroyF]

Thanks guys, great help.

For the most part travel will be billed back to a customer. I don't need to go budget, but I'm thinking Embassy Suites may be out of my range, correct?

Really have no familiarity with hotels, never paid any attention before. Just google map'd whatever was close to my destination.

Hampton and Embassy can go from $100 on the low side to $150 in most places. (obviously, it's all going to depend on where you are)

It's always been my experience that there can be a monumental difference in a normal market between $75 and $125. (going from a Comfort Inn to a Hampton Inn for example)

Ben is exactly right on the per diem thing. I don't get to pocket a per diem leftover, but I have a ballpark figure for what I can spend on food each day during a trip. A big breakfast (even if it's just cereal and some fruit) means getting a very light lunch and then being able to eat a good dinner before calling it a night.

I'm traveling 10 of the next 12 weeks for my job. It's going to be a grind, but the destinations for the most part are going to be good. (Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Memphis (ugh), Tampa Bay, Miami, Boise, Northern NY)

I should be able to check the Marlins, Rays, and Giants ballparks off my list. And I'll rack up a ridiculous amount of points.

[Edward64]

I travel alot. For air - go with the one that has the most direct flights. For hotel, I have status with Marriott and Hilton. The Marriott seems to have better rewards than Hilton so I prefer it. For a credit card, I use the Fidelity sponsored ones so I can redirect the cc rewards to my IRA.

[jeff061]

I travel alot. For air - go with the one that has the most direct flights.

I'm having a hell of a time trying to find info like this for Logan. You'd think this internet thing would work well for that, but I'm having trouble.

Also reading various VIP plans for airlines, looks like you have to purchase direct from the airline in order for your miles to count towards a higher status? Going through agencies counts for your points/miles but not Elite status type perks? That would suck. That's all I'm really interested in, a less painful experience during business travel.

I'm going to call one of the other engineers tomorrow morning. See how strict they really are about the agency. My understanding is it's easier to cancel and change flights through the agency, which I don't think is anywhere near worth the pain.

[MacroGuru]

Also reading various VIP plans for airlines, looks like you have to purchase direct from the airline in order for your miles to count towards a higher status? Going through agencies counts for your points/miles but not Elite status type perks? That would suck. That's all I'm really interested in, a less painful experience during business travel.

Nope, my flights are all booked through an agent. The only time my perks don't pan out is when I have flown to Hawaii (Class of ticket didn't allow for upgrades) or others are ahead of me on the upgrade list with higher status (Diamonds with Delta).

[CU Tiger]

I prefer the Hilton family of hotels, but Marriot gives reward stays with much lower nights paid rates