Vegas - Next Monday. Crazy Cheap!

Sometimes the last minute bargains are amazing!  Here's one from Westjet, just in case you need one more quick getaway before back to school.

These deals have direct flights to/from Winnipeg. (I checked the Brandon prices and they are 3x as much in this case). It's definitely worth the drive to Winnipeg for this one.

$209 & taxes ($360 total per person) Gets you round trip flights and 3 nights hotel, tax etc.  The Linq is centre strip, while the Tropicana is at the MGM/New York corner.  Both are decent hotels. But if you want to splurge a bit on an amazing hotel, stay at the Cosmopolitan ($448 tax in) or the Aria ($505 tax in). Cromwell, Vdara and the Venetian are all similarly priced.

These are Canadian prices, and considering our low dollar vs the US, I would definitely recommend buying the package rather than booking a flight and paying at the hotel in US dollars. You would have to book a US package (like from Allegiant) for $275 or less to beat this deal. See why I called it amazing! The real value is in the superior Westjet service and reliability.

Prices are subject to change. Book on-line or give Selloffvacations.com a call ((204) 571-4570) and tell them you saw the deal on my blog.

Air Canada: 1 Day Fail

Air Canada advertised and flaunted an exciting one day sale, to take place February 20th.

Then Feb 20th came and their grand surprise was: a $25 gift card to Hudson Bay Company. Pardon?

I thought they were kidding. I thought this was some sort of teaser? Nope. That was it. $25 to an aging, shrinking retailer.  GRRRRRRR. I wasted my time and yours "reporting" on an upcoming sale.

You'd get better swag from listening to a 20 minute time share presentation in Idaho.

Hudson Bay. Hudson Bay?  Once was a Canadian icon...once had stores in communities across the country. Now, its Zellers brand has disappeared. This "special" reeks of something popular in the 70s. It might have worked then. But now?? No.

Dear Air Canada: There's this thing called the Internet. Travel is a multi, multi BILLION dollar industry. Do not cry wolf again. The 2012 Olympic specials you ran were disappointing at best. This is worse. For a minute I had to check my calendar....nope, it's not April 1st.

----
Ok, that all sounds uncharacteristically bitter of me. But when other suppliers regularly offer hundreds of dollars in savings.... For example, a quick check of today's Expedia.ca packages nets a 4 day stay in a 4 star hotel in downtown Vancouver for Under $700 with return Westjet airfare included.  (Infact, flight and hotel included for 4 nights was as low as $493 for a budget hotel.) The dates shown here are March 19-23rd. It's even a direct flight from Winnipeg, to Vancouver on departure. (The return flight has a connection.)

I even found the hotel at the Lonsdale Quay Market for $576. In my opinion, that's like paying regular price for the flight and getting the hotel for free.

This is the amazing market that I visited in November. I can only imagine how great the market would be in the spring sunshine. It's very much like the Forks. It's near a harbour, great downtown shopping and nightlife.  I think this would be a superb getaway.

Anyways, packages like this can be found regularly at expedia.ca . Just scroll down to the bottom right corner and look for package deals.

Thank you expedia and westjet, for saving the day.

Airmiles on Expedia

Did you know that you can collect Airmiles when booking a trip with Expedia.ca?  Now what if you paid for it using your travel bonus/miles credit card? That's like getting a sundae with sprinkles and a cherry on top!

www.airmiles.ca
www.airmilesshops.ca
www.expedia.ca
www.capitalone.ca


Then, once you've gathered your Airmiles, cash them in on hotel or car rental certificates for your trip. Or... Disney Park Passes. That's even better!

Flexible Dates

What a difference a day can make! This has always been one of my best travel bargain tips... search the dates around your first choice travel date. Be flexible where ever possible and use the on-line search travel tools available to you. There can be several hundreds of dollars difference between two consecutive departure days. See this chart for evidence.