Watch for those travel deals... really

Travel industry is in tough shape. YOU are in luck

A story in The Wall Street Journal of Friday, March 20th, notes that spending on travel and tourism declined last year for the first time since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, this according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Dollars spent fell at an annualized rate of an amazing 22% in the last quarter of 2008.

Cities most hard hit in the U.S. are those whose economies are heavily dependent upon tourism dollars. Unemployment in Las Vegas jumped to 10% in January from 8.7% in December. As noted in an earlier post, MGM Mirage lost $1.14-billion in the fourth quarter, due to a 17% drop in gambling revenue and a 21% drop in room revenue. Nationally, shopping dropped 11.6%, according to the USDOC, spending on food and drink dropped 6%, demand for lodging dropped 10%, and passenger air transportation dropped 13%, down for the third consecutive quarter.

Yesterday (Mar 19) Station Casinos moved to seek bankruptcy protection by April 15th, following their announcement that they had elected to NOT make a $9.9-million interest payment due at the end of the week. Station Casinos owns Red Rock, Green Valley Ranch, Aliante Station, Sunset Station, Santa Fe Station, Place Station, Texas Station, Boulder Station, Fiesta Henderson, Fiesta Rancho, and Wild Wild West. These hotels are already priced in the lower tiers to attract folks who wanted to save a buck or two, and all are excellent values. They are referred to as "off-strip" hotels (something akin to referring to a show in Harrisburg, PA, as being "off-Broadway.")

I am going to make an obvious point shortly, but the history of what is happening is extremely germane.

This past February Boyd Gaming made an offer to buy "a significant portion" of Station Casinos. Sam Boyd purchased most of the "Coast" properties a year or so ago, including Gold Coast and Orleans, two of my favorites, and Barbary Coast across the street from Bally's. (Barbary Coast subsequently became Boyd's Gambling Hall.) So the Station Casinos are very much alive -- viable hotels which at the moment are renting lodging at very reasonable rates.

Further, one airline in particular, JetBlue, announced that it will offer a full refund to people who book flights through June 1, 2009, then lose their jobs, making travel financially infeasible.

This all means that planning ahead can save you a bunch of dollars. (I wish I could go anywhere on JetBlue conveniently. From Phoenix, passengers are basically on a ferry flight to reposition aircraft for the following day.) For the hotels you care about, you MUST watch for "flash sales", which are very short-time offers, perhaps as short as a week, but which may be reserved six to nine months out. Remember that room reservations are secured in most cases by a refundable one-night deposit, and in the event that a hotel or group SHOULD fail, make the booking on credit card, preferably on a virtual number.

Also remember Anthony Curtis' website. If anything is going down, he knows about it. He also always has great hints as to where to find entertainment and meal deals, including a famous 99-cent shrimp cocktail that... nahh, read it in his site.

Good hunting!