Holidays are better value than ever this year..

So we are off on our holiday. Two weeks of rest in California and the in Las Vegas.

This is likely to be a pampered but value holiday thanks to 3 things that means taking advantage of the current economic situation:

Discounts and offers on airlines
Thanks to the overall downturn in demand for flights and so all of the discounting, we got 2 First Class seats on British Airways for one set of miles. So that was a good start.

I was reading last weekend in The Times about the extent airlines are discounting. As they are trying to avoid a price war as things are so tough as it is with the slump in business travel, they are now trying to be smarter. So deals with miles to then encourage people to upgrade or sell other travel products and bundling upgrades and low fares on packages. So there is a lot around to get to places at best value now.

Hotel deals
Also as travel overall is down, everywhere we stay we managed to book as “three nights for two” in great rooms. This is true for the Cavallo Point at Sausalito (San Francisco), White House Inn (Napa) and the Four Seasons in Las Vegas.

Looking on both hotel sites and booking sites like expedia are rafts of offers and deals. The extra nights seem popular at present as again assume they then will try and sell other services and food.

Strengthening pound
With all the offers from hotels through their sites, we only paid deposits of one night. The discounting by hotels meant less need to book deals that meant paying up front, which is presumably how some hotels part fund discounts. As the pound has now significantly strengthened in last few months versus the dollar making the hotels even cheaper.