Galesnjak, Croatia – This little islet may not immediately spring to mind as an ideal spot for romance, but a bird’s eye view of it will clue you in on why it’s one of the most romantic spots on Earth. This drop of land is perfectly heart-shaped, and no one lives on it, so it may just be the perfect desert island getaway you and your lover are looking for.

New York, USA – The harried pace of life in The Big Apple may not seem conducive to romance, but look closely enough, and you’ll find it in every corner. Whether you’re splashing out for a ride in a horse-drawn carriage or sharing a hotdog in the rain, you’ll be sure to have many moments to remember.

Prague, Czech Republic – The City of a Hundred Spires is an unashamedly romantic city, its endless cobbled streets and many bridges providing lovers with a beautiful backdrop to an unforgettable affair. Steal a kiss under an ancient spire, or wander through its centuries-old streets hand in hand just like countless other couples have done throughout the ages.

Venice, Italy – Venice and romance go together like, well, like a couple just meant for each other. A gondola ride while the sun sets may be too cheesy for words, but you can always hire a boat and explore the canals yourself. This way, you won’t have a noisy gondolier intruding on your romantic moments. Have dinner at a cosy little family-run restaurant by the water to cap off a wonderful day.

Back in the Middle Ages of air travel, airlines used to publish their rates in telephone-book-sized compendiums updated every few weeks, and your trusty travel agent would actually get on the phone to reserve your seat. Nowadays, fares change as often as the weather in New England. The good news? Ever-evolving technology now lets airlines sell unused seats at the last minute at a variety of venues, producing some of the cheapest prices ever. The bad news? With a glut of information out there, finding these fares can be a bewildering, confusing, and downright frustrating experience.

“There is no magic formula for always finding the cheapest fares,” says Terrance Zepke, author of the Encyclopedia of Cheap Travel. “Comparison shopping is the name of the game.” But don’t take that to mean you should spend more time hunting for your vacation airfare than you’ll actually spend on vacation. We won’t lie to you; the world of inexpensive airfares is dog-eat-dog. But follow these efficient steps, learn some simple tricks, and with a little bit of luck, you will excel in sniffing out the best online airfare deals.

SIX STEPS TO CHEAP TICKETS
#1: FIGURE OUT THE BEST TIME TO BUY
Your first step to airfare success is to determine the best time to buy your tickets. If you absolutely must get home to Mom for Thanksgiving—or to Courchevel before Lance passes through—the age-old advice still holds true: Buy your tickets at least three weeks in advance.

“I think most airline sources would agree that anything outside 21 days before takeoff is considered an advance-purchase ticket,” says Brian Ek of Priceline.com. “Airlines are different, but generally, once you hit 15 days before the flight, the price begins to go up, then it goes up again at the seven-day mark. So if you want a retail ticket, buy it at least 21 days out for the best price.” Consider buying retail and buying early for vacation destinations during popular seasons or during high-traffic holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and spring break in March.

However, if your trip to Whistler can wait a weekend or Mom doesn’t mind you arriving on Thanksgiving day rather than the day before, consider changing your strategy. Timing when you fly is just as important as when you buy. Though airfares can be fickle and inconsistent, cheaper flights are typically available on weekdays, as opposed to weekends, and during non-rush hours. If you can’t avoid major holidays, like Christmas, New Year’s, Thanksgiving, national long-weekend holidays, and spring break periods in March, a good rule of thumb is to try to travel when everyone else doesn’t want to. Think Christmas Eve or day, Thanksgiving day or a week ahead of time. Besides, flying on a holiday is typically more relaxed—the airports and planes are usually less crowded, and the “we’re all in this together” atmosphere can lend to an easy-going travel experience.

#2: UNLEASH THE SEARCH ENGINES
You know where you want to go and when. Mouse in hand, you approach the glaring, daunting screen of your computer. Task number one: Do a drive-by of the big search engines like Travelocity, Orbitz, Expedia, and Cheaptickets. Consider this as a fact-finding mission: a survey of these sites will give you a good idea on the average going rate for a retail ticket.

These search engines also offer a variety of search flexibility. Orbitz and Travelocity both allow you to search multiple dates—or even whole months—so you can compare rates and plan on traveling on the least expensive day.

Also keep in mind that ticket prices can vary drastically by airport. If you’re flying out of Boston, try Providence. San Francisco? Think Oakland. How about Charlotte? Consider Greensboro. Cheaptickets and Travelocity both have tools for searching multiple airports to come up with the best rate based on proximity, while Orbitz will automatically search all airports associated with a particular destination (for example, searches for Washington, D.C., yields results on Reagan, Dulles, and Baltimore-Washington airports).

#3: ON TO THE AGGREGATORS
A new breed of search engine has cropped up in the past few years: the aggregator site. Sites like Qixo, Kayak, and SideStep search a whole flock of search engines as well as airline sites themselves. Why go the extra step? Many of the budget airlines that have great inexpensive fares, like Southwest, don’t do business with consolidators like Travelocity, so by searching only those sites, you’re missing half the market. Our favorite is Mobissimo, which on multiple comparisons brought up the lowest fares most quickly.

#4: GO DIRECTLY TO AIRLINE WEBSITES
You’ve found the cheapest dates and the best airport, and now you think you’ve found the cheapest fare. Not so fast—you’ve got one more step. If you’ve found a great deal on an America West flight, check out America West’s website. Why? You’ll often find a better deal directly from the airline. And even if price is the same, buying directly from the airline will save you the search engine’s booking fee—usually around $5—and you’ll have a better chance at changing tickets or refunding your money if something goes wrong. Finally, some airlines guarantee the lowest rates from their own websites, backed up with special offers for those who find cheaper fares elsewhere.

That said, if you found an eye-popping deal on a search engine that utilizes multiple carriers, take it—the hassle of pricing individual flights in a multiple-leg, multiple-carrier itinerary will drive you batty, to say nothing of accidentally landing in New York’s JFK Airport when you fly out of La Guardia in 15 minutes.

#5: PERUSE THE BUDGET AIRLINES’ WEBSITES
To go the extra mile, quickly eyeball the budget airlines’ websites that fly out of the airports nearest you. Often, their rates manage to fly, so to speak, under the radar of the major search engines, so it can pay to target them directly. On a recent check, Airtran posted $76 fares between Philadelphia and Fort Lauderdale, Southwest had fares for $99 or less from more than 30 cities, and JetBlue had fares from numerous cities starting at $39. Frontier, Independence Air, Spirit, and ATA also post web deals. Many of these low-cost airlines also have weekly or monthly newsletters that announce web-only deals, which is a great way to keep abreast of new deals.

#6: TRY BIDDING ON A PRICE
If you still haven’t found an airfare that fits within your budget, try bidding. Yes, Priceline.com is still alive and kicking. In fact, the site now offers retail tickets in addition to the name-your-price game. But there are a few other players out there, like SkyAuction.com, which also posts deals and takes bids eBay-style.

Determining a bid that’s low but not impossible is a fine art elucidated only by date and destination. Aim too low and you’re wasting your time, aim too high and…well, you know. To start, take the lowest price from the industry-standard search engines (step #2) and the aggregators (#3), knock off 15 to 20 percent, and, using the same search criteria, go from there. Keep in mind, each bidding site likely has its own quirks and tricks. To put more than luck on your side, check out Biddingfortravel.com for additional tips on playing the auction game.

Hotwire.com offers a slight twist on the typical bidding game. Rather than asking you to bid, you enter in your trip info and they generate a deeply discounted clearance price, which is often the best deal going. The catch? All you get is the price of the flight—you don’t see the flight schedule or what airline (or airlines) you’re flying until after purchasing the ticket. For people with flexible schedules, this is a manageable hassle, but if you need to put in a half-day before flying off to the Caribbean, Hotwire.com can be gamble.

LET THE EXPERTS DO THE WORK FOR YOU
Along with the other billion (or so it seems) travel-deal websites out there, there is a unique species that monitors the search engines and airline sites and highlights the best deals. SmarterTravel.com continually updates postings on the most outrageous plane ticket, hotel, car, and cruise sales, and has a team of editors that post travel-tip articles for these ever-changing times. Bestfares.com has a search engine and keeps excellent tabs on fare wars between airlines, such as when a particular city might be the center of downward-spiraling fares for a limited period of time.

Some sites, like adventure-centric GORPtravel.com, also specialize in a particular niche of travel, offering package trips that take care of all the details. Costs vary widely, and in some cases airfare isn’t included in the quoted price, but the expertise afforded by working with industry leaders could offer the assurance you need to make your vacation stress free.

THE LOWDOWN ON COURIER FLIGHTS
So many budget travelers have discovered the air courier trick that flights to Sydney for a quarter and a smile are more fiction than fact. However, there is still a nice load of mind-bogglingly cheap ones—provided you’re willing to make a few trade-offs. Here’s the deal: By law, all baggage on commercial flights must be accompanied by a passenger. For many companies, sending goods on commercial flights with a passenger is far faster than shipping, so they look for passengers willing to fly on short notice, with great flexibility, and with no personal baggage other than carry-ons. The upshot as a courier is that all you really have to do is pack frugally, sit on a plane, carry the customs papers, and hook up with the appropriate contacts at the airport, and you’ll get great fares: Think Amsterdam for $125 or Bangkok for $275. Membership to the Air Courier Association or the International Association of Air Travel Couriers costs about $50 and gets you access to detailed information on the courier life and daily flight options. But keep in mind: flexibility is key—if you’re aching for a two-week break from a grueling nine-to-five gig that can’t be left at a moment’s notice, courier flights probably won’t work. But if you’ve got some flex in your schedule, it’s a great way to save cash and see the world.

LAST-MINUTE SEATS FOR SALE
Airtech targets a similarly flexible demographic as courier agencies, but puts passengers on empty or standby seats at the last minute. If you’re flexible with your dates and destinations, you can get pretty sweet deals, like a flight to Europe for about $200. First, buy a FlightPass for travel between certain regions, say the U.S. and Europe, with a departure window of two to four days. When a flight comes up to your preferred destination, you’ll get a call. If it fits you desires and interests, you head to the airport and redeem your pass for the tickets. Think of it as the budget traveler’s way of flying on standby. One intrepid traveler used Airtech to get home to Greece for the 2004 Olympics. She got the call—a flight to Amsterdam from Washington, D.C., for around $200—and headed out that afternoon. After a leisurely day in the Netherlands, she hopped a train south to Athens and reached her destination for half of what it would’ve cost had she flown direct. Plus she got to go to Amsterdam. But if you need to be in a certain city at a certain time, Airtech ain’t for you.

SMALL-SCALE AND CHARTER AIRLINES
Small-scale airlines and some charter services often offer specially scheduled or seasonal flights to high-traffic destinations for low rates. USA 3000 Airlines flies from Midwest and Northeast cities to vacation destinations in Florida, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico for fares 20 to 60 percent cheaper than major carriers’ fares, depending on the city. Sun Country Airlines is another small carrier based in Minnesota with flights to more than 40 domestic, Caribbean, and Mexican destinations. Especially at the last minute, rates can be significantly cheaper than those of Northwest, Sun Country’s biggest competitor. When purchasing tickets, be aware of restrictions on refunds and rescheduling after missed connections with other carriers. To find small carriers, look up a full list of airlines that service your local airport.

ROUND-THE-WORLD TICKETS
Long to follow in Magellan’s footsteps? Do not buy a slew of disparate tickets around the world. You can save thousands of dollars for your on-the-ground travels by purchasing a round-the-world ticket. Several companies, like Airtreks and Air Brokers International can help arrange complicated global itineraries, sometimes for discounted prices. Also try the airlines directly for their latest fares. The One World Alliance, a group of eight airlines, including American, British Airways, and Qantas, offers around-the-world tickets with up to 20 segments (geo-specific regions of travel). SkyTeam, an alliance of nine airlines, including Continental, Delta, Air France, and KLM, offers round-the-world fares with over 650 stops to choose from.

AIR PASSES
Okay, so you’re not planning on circumnavigating the earth anytime soon, but how about a little continental perambulation? There are plenty of smaller-scale deals with specific airlines and alliances that can save you tons on intra-continental travel. For example, the Star Alliance, a group of 16 airlines, including United, Lufthansa, Thai Airways, and Air Canada, offers discounted air passes for Europe, North America, Asia, and the South Pacific, among others. Passengers buy between three and ten coupons starting at $65 each, which are then redeemable for single-segment flights between any of the alliance’s destinations in the given region. Similar deals are also available within certain countries, with deals on international airfare and a set number of intra-country flights. For example, Qantas, in association with Tourism Australia, currently offers international airfare and three domestic flights for prices starting at $999, far cheaper than any other DIY pricing available. The best way to track down packages like this is to check the websites of the national airlines or the country’s tourism website, easily accessible via Google.

If it’s not one thing, it’s another. You think you’ve scored a great airfare to Europe, only to be hit with a fuel surcharge that adds almost a third onto the price. You show up at the airport, packed and ready to go, and discover that second bag you’re checking is going to add an additional $50 round-trip onto the cost of your trip. You’re desperately trying to budget for your big vacation, but every time you research possible airfares, the price has crept up, once again.

While there’s no way to avoid the fuel surcharge, and baggage charges on certain airlines can only be avoided by packing light (a good lesson for us all), airfares are slippery devils that can (sometimes) be tamed. The following tried-and-true methods should help you snag a decent — or possibly free — airfare, a ticket so low in price that — hopefully — those invidious extra charges won’t hurt so much.

Search smart
As creatures of habit, most of us tend to use the same travel sites over and over again. Problem is, there’s no one travel Web site that always provides the best airfare. Just because you once found a terrific fare to London on, say, Expedia, doesn’t guarantee that it won’t be undercut by Travelocity the next time. Or that the fares being sold directly on the sites of American Airlines, Delta, British Airways or what have you, might not offer the best value of all.

But searching multiple sites is not only time-consuming, it’s tedious. The solution? Surf to an “aggregator” site. These are Internet services that don’t sell travel. Instead, they simply “Google” airfares and other types of travel products, scanning all the prices offered by the individual airlines, as well as those from Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz, Opodo, Ebookers, Hotwire and the like. This results in a deeper and more impartial search. If you end up buying an airfare through one of the aggregators, you don’t pay a booking fee (as you will with the “Big Three”); instead, the site you purchased from pays a small finder’s fee to the aggregator site.

Among the many aggregator sites in business, I’ve had the best luck with Sidestep.com and its new owner, Kayak.com, as well as Mobissimo.com and Momondo.com. You’ll see why in the following searches I did recently. The savings range from piddling to impressive, but you’ll note that the aggregator always wins (and no, I didn’t cherry-pick these results):

*Chicago to Rome, Italy round-trip in mid-April
Orbitz price: $855, Sidestep price: $761. Savings: $94

*Cleveland to Houston, round-trip in late May
Travelocity price: $235, Kayak price: $230. Savings: $5

*Minneapolis to Cancun, round-trip in late March
Expedia price: $358, Sidestep price: $345. Savings: $10

*Las Vegas to Honolulu, round-trip in late June
Orbitz price: $492, Mobissimo price (found at Orbitz) $490. Savings: $2

*New York to Hong Kong, round-trip late August
Expedia price: $1,174, Mobissimo price $1,022. Savings: $152

Pretty interesting, huh? The point here is: You generally won’t miss out on a special being offered by the “Big Three” by searching in this fashion. If the price Orbitz, Expedia or Travelocity is offering is the best one, it will usually pop up on the aggregator sites, too.

Book at the right time
It’s no secret that there are seasons in travel, and that going to a destination at a time of year when no one else is going (October for the Caribbean, February for Europe, July for Australia, for example) is a sure way to save money. There are also often less expensive days to fly during the month; all of the Web sites mentioned above offer their users handy-dandy calendars to identify those dates.

But booking travel at the right time can also yield savings. When you book too far in advance, say 10 months before you plan to travel, the airlines know that you really want to travel at that time, and are unlikely to offer any discounts. The same with traveling at the very last minute: Most people who do book in the week or two before their departure have to travel…and so the crafty carriers take ’em for all they can.

Smartest time to purchase is between 24 days and two months of your departure. It’s during this period that the airlines are doing some soul searching … or at least yield management. You see, airfares are based on supply and demand (and, increasingly, fuel costs). If the demand is low on a certain set of flights, the airline execs don’t really start to panic until about six weeks in advance of those flights, and that’s when they throw a sale. Book too early or too late, and you won’t see ’em sweat.

Conversely, weekends are often the worst days of the week to book because a) you’re less likely to hit a new sale (the execs are home watering their lawns) and b) most Americans are off work on the weekend and therefore wait to book their travel until then. The airlines are aware of this pattern, and so prices can rise slightly on weekends.

One word on holiday fares: Throw all rules out the window for these. Fares are rarely discounted around Christmas, New Year’s, Thanksgiving or the Fourth of July, and planes can sell out. For these periods, I recommend booking at least two and a half months in advance, to guarantee you get a seat. If low prices are a priority, book on the holiday itself. You may miss the turkey or the carols, but you’ll pay much less than those who flew in a comfortable day or two before the big event.

Don’t forget frequent-flier miles
I know, I know: Redeeming those “magic miles” can be an exercise in frustration. Ten times as many travelers as a decade ago are competing for a dwindling number of seats. (The airlines have always set aside roughly 11 percent of their inventory for award mileage members. However, most airlines are flying fewer and smaller planes today, in an attempt to maximize profits.) But when you do snag a mileage seat, that bit of good fortune can make the difference between being able to afford that vacation and not.

The keys to using your frequent-flier miles are flexibility and persistence. For most airlines, award mileage seats open up to booking 330 days in advance of departure. If you can, try to go online then to snag a seat. But don’t take a “no” as definitive. Yield management dictates when frequent-flier seats are released, and you may find that a “no” in April has transformed into a “yes” in May.

This is particularly true if you can be flexible about the dates you fly, and the airports you’re flying into. As I said before, flexibility is the secret to getting the most use from your miles.

Believe it or not, you can also be flexible in your choice of airlines; your reward miles won’t only work with the carrier you’re most loyal to, but also with their code-share partners. So if your miles are all with American Airlines, they will also work on Aer Lingus, Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, LAN Airlines, Japan Airlines, Qantas, Iberia and several others. If you’re with Delta, you can use Alaska Airlines, Avianca, China Airlines and Royal Air Maroc. People on the United program should look as well at US Airways, Air Canada, Air China, Lufthansa, SAS, bmi, THAI and a number of other carriers. Because the airlines don’t post the inventory from their partners online, book the old-fashioned way. Pick up a phone to call the reservations center and make it clear that you want to get the lay of the land, not just for the airline you’re calling, but also for its partners. Booking by phone will add about $25 to the cost of your ticket, but you’ll increase your chances of actually finding a flight by a good 30 percent.

Finally, the only way to use frequent-flier miles is to accumulate enough of them. So it’s a good idea to be loyal to one airline when you can and to work the system to build up a large stockpile of miles. This might include getting miles through a credit card, staying at hotels that offer air miles, buying groceries through stores that give miles (yup, you can actually do that), ordering flowers, getting magazine subscriptions … you name it. There are few activities in the inventory of American behavior today that don’t seem to have a mileage value attached! One warning about those mileage credit cards: They often come with significantly higher user fees attached. So if you’re the type of person who has difficulty paying bills on time, these cards may end up being downright dangerous.

However you get there, remember that in this case, it’s the destination and NOT the journey that’s important. Flying is only a means to an end, and that end is a worthy one: Experiencing the world.

TOP 25 EXCLUSIVE DEALS & PERKS

Save 40 percent off Telluride Mountain Lodge, from $71/night
Surrounded by the spectacular San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado, the Mountain Lodge Telluride has spacious accommodations with working gas fireplaces, gourmet kitchens, and private balconies — all with stunning mountain views. Guests of this posh slope-side resort enjoy a prime location midway up Telluride Mountain with ski-in/ski-out facilities.

Deal details: Book three nights or longer by October 31 to enjoy 40 percent off on stays through April 4, 2010. Rates start from $71/night in November and go up to $85/night in February/March with the discount.

Book it: Visit www.mountainlodgetelluride.com and enter special promotional code SHERMANS.

Up to 40 percent off Vail Condos with late checkout, from $150/night
The resort town of Vail is a popular ski destination come winter — and hotel rates tend to be sky-high during the peak months. Luckily, Destination Resorts Vail has a limited-time early-bird special that will save you a bundle at one of their eight condo properties. Each condo unit has a full kitchen, private balcony, and gas fireplace.

Deal details: Simply book by October 31 to receive 20 percent off a 3-night stay, 25 percent off a 4-night stay, or 30 percent off  stays of five nights or longer. Rack rates for 2-bedroom condos in early December start at around $215/night, but you’ll pay as little as $150/night by booking early. This offer is valid for travel   between November 25 and April 18, 2010. Plus, Top 25 subscribers receive a late, noon, check-out  — just in case you want to fit in  a few extra runs   on the morning of your departure.

Book it: Visit www.destinationresortsvail.com or call 970-476-1350 and mention Sherman’s.

Hudson Valley packages with free spa access, from $195/night
Celebrate the arrival of autumn in New York’s Hudson Valley, an area praised for brilliant fall foliage, up-and-coming wineries, and dramatic white stone cliffs. Located on the scenic Shawangunk ridge just 90 miles from New York City, the historic Mohonk Mountain House has over 85 miles of trails tailor-made for hiking or snow-shoeing, along with breathtaking lake views, and a brand-new 30,000-square-foot spa. Choose from two special seasonal packages for an outstanding fall escape with all meals included.

Deal details: The Apple Festival package celebrates the apple harvest with midweek rates as low as $195 per person. Book your stay from September 7-30 for tasty perks like apple pancakes at breakfast and apple cocktails in the evening. Or, visit during the Pumpkin Festival from October 1-November 24 for midweek rates as low as $252 per person. Plus, Top 25 readers receive free access to the spa’s heated mineral pools, sauna, and solarium.

Book it: Visit www.mohonkexclusives.com or call 1-866-666-3146 and mention ShermansTravel to receive free spa access.

Up to 30 percent off at Aspen’s Gant Resort with late checkout, from $195/night
Located at the foot of Aspen Mountain’s powder-packed slopes in Colorado’s picturesque high country, The Gant Resort provides an ideal base for an ultimate winter ski getaway. This posh mountain lodge boasts 140 upscale condominiums with luxurious amenities like wood-burning fireplaces, fully equipped kitchens, and daily housekeeping.

Deal details: Rack rates in December start at around $195/night for a standard 1-bedroom suite, but you’ll save up to 30 percent with the early-bird special. The Summer Snow Saver promotion entitles guests to a 30 percent discount on stays of 4 nights or longer, or 15 percent off a single night’s stay, for travel between November 26 and April 11, 2010. Plus, Top 25 subscribers enjoy perks like guaranteed late check-out and a complimentary bottle of wine upon check-in. Book by November 15.

Book it: visit www.gantaspen.com and enter special promotional code SHERGT.

MORE EARLY-BOOKING MOUNTAIN DEALS

Third night free at Seventh Mountain Resort, Oregon, from $139/night
Experience the stunning scenery of Oregon’s Cascade Mountains with a fall or winter stay at the Seventh Mountain Resort. Bordered by the Deschutes National Forest and Mt. Bachelor, this upscale lodge offers a wide range of seasonal outdoor activities from whitewater rafting trips to high-altitude treks, ice-skating lessons, and guided tours by snowmobile. With the resort’s Two and Free special, you’ll get your third night free and a $50 voucher to use towards activities or dining. Rates for standard 1-bedroom suites start at just $139/night this September 8 through March 31, 2010. To book, visit www.seventhmountain.com or call 1-800-452-6810.

Two-night hiking package in the Catskill Mountains, from $543
Whether you’re an avid hiker or just enjoy taking leisurely strolls, the varied trails of New York’s Catskill Mountains will let you experience nature at its best. The I Like to Hike package available year-round at the Roxbury Motel provides guests with maps and a personalized itinerary for a trek through the forest, including packed gourmet trail lunches for two and a flask of Bordeaux wine. If the hike causes your muscles to ache, don’t worry: This deal also includes complimentary 2-day passes to the hotel’s Shimmer Spa with a relaxing 2-hour couple’s massage. Package rates start at $543 for a 2-night weekend stay in one of the motel’s uniquely furnished studios, and prices are even lower on weekdays. To book, visit www.theroxburymotel.com or call 1-607-326-7200.

The dollars
Based on double occupancy. Taxes and fees are additional.

The catch
Skis and hiking boots aren’t included.

Na Zdravi! (Cheers!)

Especially for them, Austrian Airlines Vacation Center offers a unique vacation package to Prague (Czech Republic). Its “Here For The Beer” vacation package, includes roundtrip air transportation on Austrian Airlines between New York (JFK) or Washington (IAD) and Prague, Czech Republic, three (3) nights hotel accommodation in Prague in a three-star hotel in the city center plus daily buffet breakfast. In addition, travelers will get a Prague beer tour with dinner, a Pilsen and “Pilsner Urquell” brewery tour (full day tour including entrance fee to Pilsner Urquell Brewery, Beer Brewing Museum and lunch in the Spilka Beer Restaurant) and more. The package is valid for travel between November 1 – December 10, 2009, and again between January 4 – March 25, 2010.
In addition to this three-night “Here For The Beer” package, a variety of other vacation packages (called City Steals and Combo City Steals) are offered for travel to Europe by Austrian Airlines Vacation Center this winter. Single supplements, upgrades, additional combinations and extensions are available upon request.

All packages must be paid in full within 7 days after reservations are confirmed, and no later than 14 days prior to departure. Once confirmed, the packages are non-refundable, non-transferable, and cannot be changed. All packages will be booked on Austrian Airlines in economy class and are subject to schedule and space availability. The minimum stay is 3 nights or one Saturday overnight, and the maximum stay in Europe is 30 days. Package prices include fuel surcharges but do not include US Customs / INS / Aphis fees / International Transportation Tax / Passenger Facility Charges / Civil Aviation Security Fee / domestic and foreign Security and Airport Charges of approximately USD $145 per passenger, depending on the itinerary. Additional taxes and fees may be collected by foreign governments. All taxes / fees / surcharges are subject to change and exchange rate fluctuations and may vary on the day of booking.

During the economic crisis, the satisfaction of guests with the performance of the hotels in which they have stayed has risen around the world. Obviously the economic crisis has led to hotel customers believing hotels are offering greater value for money than before. The average of all ratings submitted by customers who had made bookings in the largest 20 major cities of the world has improved from 6.69 points at the end of 2008 to 7.11 points (out of a possible 10) now.

One reason could be the cheaper room prices caused by the recession, since these have fallen by an average of 8-10% since the beginning of the crisis last autumn. After all, the price is an important factor when it comes to assessing the value for money of a hotel. Another factor, however, is that the indicator seems to show that hotels go out of their way to help their guests more in times of crisis – after all, the numbers of travellers have definitely fallen. It is now much more important to fight for every individual customer, in view of the harder competitive environment.

Another interesting aspect is that while the economic crisis has caused many hoteliers to tighten their financial belts, the ensuing job cuts have in no way curtailed the hotels’ levels of customer service.

Given a global comparison, hotel guests regard hotels in Lisbon, Portugal, as providing the best value for money. The Portuguese capital, and its German counterpart, Berlin, pushed the leader from the end of 2008, Tokyo (Japan) back into third place. Major cities such as New York, Moscow and London disappointed in contrast, not even making it into the top 20. Even the major European centres of Paris, Amsterdam and Stockholm in Sweden fell from the top 20, being replaced by Madrid, Helsinki and Dubai. Last year’s UK top two, Bournemouth and Southampton, remained unchanged at the top of the tree.

In the UK, too, the hotel.info Hotel Value for Money Index has returned some unanticipated results. While the winner Bournemouth (7.78) beat competition from Coventry (storming up from 14th to 3rd), Glasgow and Portsmouth to the top spot, Birmingham, Oxford, London and Brighton recorded below-average results and are back in the bottom third of the national ranking. Obviously the hotel trade in these destinations is continuing to offer below-average value for money.

Overall, hotels in major UK cities fared only moderately well at an international level in terms of value for money. In comparison with the 7.33 average score for the major cities from all of the countries represented in the study (including Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, Italy, the USA and China), the UK result, with a value for money index rating of just 6.71, is significantly below the average country score, and is thus only one place above the bottom in a table of 15 comparable countries.

hotel.info Global Top 20 (major cities)
2009 (middle of year)
1. Lisbon 7,83
2. Berlin 7,75
3. Tokyo 7,74
4. Prague 7,73
5. Beijing 7,54
6. Budapest 7,45
7. Warsaw 7,37
8. Dublin 7,31
9. Madrid 7,29
10. Athens 7,25
11. Vienna 7,23
12. Ottawa 7,20
13. Istanbul 7,15
14. Helsinki 7,09
15. Zagreb 7,08
16. Bangkok 7,07
17. Singapore 6,88
18. Rome 6,85
19. Washington 6,56
20. Dubai 6,47

As summertime draws to a close and families begin to switch out suitcases and sand toys for school lunch boxes, people in the travel business take the temperature on how the industry and consumers are faring.

The recession has, no doubt, taken a toll on certain sectors and destinations, not to mention the folks who’ve been unable to pay for leisure.

But for those who’ve not given up on getaways, the options and bargains were — and continue to be — plenty.

One new initiative this summer came from the National Park Service, which publicized three fee-free weekends to would-be visitors. Granted, a $25 park entry fee wasn’t likely to make or break vacation plans, but putting a new spotlight on parks made sense, especially now, said spokeswoman Kathy Kupper.

“National parks are a low-cost alternative to the family vacation,” she said. This program “was a way to open the doors and invite people in” at a time when “there’s a growing movement to reconnect children with nature and the outdoor experience.”

Whether the effort made the difference is hard to tell, but the numbers show that park visitation, and tent-pitching, experienced an upswing. Kupper said that this year, through July, park visitors increased nearly 5 million, or more than 3 percent, from 2008. And camping in July alone, she added, went up about 9.6 percent, compared with last July’s figure.

Not everyone, however, wants to get grungy or be at one with nature.

Another vacation model that’s gotten additional traction is the vacation rental home. HomeAway.com, which lists properties for owners and offers easy shopping for vacationers, has seen demand grow, an increase in available properties and people booking closer to their vacation dates, said Justin Halloran, a vice president with the company.

Though there are over-the-top luxury properties available, the average booking is for a three-bedroom home at $1,500 a week, he said. The option, he continued, works well for families or groups that want to stay together, cook at home and spend less overall.

“I have three children 5 and younger, and another on the way,” Halloran said. “It’s not fun when you have to go out to breakfast, and I don’t want to sleep in the same hotel room as them. I love them dearly, but that’s not a good vacation.”

For those who still prefer jetting off, say to a faraway land, and checking into hotels, the tourism industry has laid out the bait.

“The last-minute deals keep coming in,” for flights and packages in general, said Rich Beattie, executive editor of TravelandLeisure.com. “London, Paris, Rome, there are still great deals for travelers — anyplace where the dollar is still strong.”

And here in the U.S., he pointed out that just this week, JetBlue announced its All-You-Can-Jet Pass. Through August 21, a person can pay $599 for unlimited travel on the airline for an entire month, starting September 8.

“Airlines are not doing well because business travel is so off,” Beattie said. “That’s their bread and butter, and that’s why they’re able to offer these leisure fares. But as fuel prices creep up, airlines are going to have to raise fares.”

Because companies continue to pull back the reins on business travel, hotels are also feeling the pain.

The occupancy numbers have nose-dived by 11 percent just as overall rates have been slashed 10 percent (and oftentimes more) to lure customers, said Jan Freitag, a vice president of Smith Travel Research, which monitors the hotel industry. Making matters even worse is that new hotels, on track to open before the economy tanked, could bring as many as 70,000 more rooms into the already flooded market, he said.

About the only “silver lining” he could point to — and he’ll take what he can get — was an uptick in weekend stays, which matches the growing trend of people taking quick getaways as opposed to weeklong vacations.

“We’re looking for signs of less worse,” Freitag said. “We’re not looking for great.”

To keep customers coming, hotels, resorts and even vacation rentals have offered freebies, in addition to discounts. From spa services, free meals, gift certificates and an additional night at no cost, the consumer is getting accustomed to having more for less.

Enter greed and the expectation that it’ll always be this way. It won’t be, industry insiders promised. It can’t be, they said.

At a recent roundtable meeting of European tourism officials in New York, gatherers swapped stories of wealthy frequent travelers who are demanding perks they never dreamed of asking for before, said Ruthanne Terrero, a vice president at The Travel Group, which puts out publications and Web sites for travel professionals and hosted the roundtable.

We’ve all done it. You look into a specific itinerary, see a great deal and then start making plans — talking to family members, looking into hotels, setting up pet care — and by the time you’re ready to book the actual itinerary, the deal is gone, or, perhaps even worse, just not quite as good. By then, however, you’ve put in some work and generated a bit of excitement about a trip, so have been softened, ripened and enticed into accepting a slightly higher price point.

That is, you took the bait, the hook was set and now you’ve been reeled in. Avoid being thrown into the ice locker and later filleted by the airlines’ aggressive and ever-changing pricing schemes by knowing what you want, and how and where to find it. Following are my tips on finding deals, knowing a good one when you see one, and being in the right place at the right time to let the bargains come to you.

When Is a Deal a Deal?
How can you tell a great deal from a “normal” fare? If you regularly fly the same or similar routes, as might be the case when flying to visit family once or twice a year, you figure this out by experience – you know immediately when you see a great fare. But if you are researching a route for the first time, this can be a trickier proposition.

Here is my personal rule of thumb: If the airfare is less than 10 cents or so per crow-flies mile roundtrip for long-haul trips, it is just about “normal” — which for a lot of folks means slightly on the high side, particularly for non-essential travel. That would be approximately $600 cross-country roundtrip, $700+ New York to London or $1,650 New York to Tokyo. If the airfare is getting anywhere near five cents per crow-flies mile — $300 cross-country, $375 New York to London — that is the rock bottom. The closer you get to five cents, the harder the fares will be to find, and the faster they will disappear. Anything in between is probably going to work for most folks.

For shorter trips under 750 – 1000 miles. the numbers are a little higher, more like 50 to 60 cents per mile for “normal” fares, with the bottom being a little closer to 25 cents. So the 400-mile Newark/Boston round trip would be around $250, with the bottom around $100 and change. For a longer flight such as Boston to Miami, you can split the difference, with the 2,500-mile flight coming in at around $500 for a “normal” flight, and $250 for a bargain fare.

(Here’s an interesting aside: As I did some sample searches on these same routes, I almost invariably found the “cheap” fares if I searched just 21+ days out; we are definitely in a buyer’s market if you are ready to purchase).

Roadmap to Airfare Deals: How to Suss Out the Market
When you are ready to buy, you will want to understand the full panoply of available flights and fares as thoroughly as possible before purchasing — no one wants to find a better fare just seconds or hours after confirming a flight. Here is my turn-by-turn roadmap to finding and ultimately booking the best fares.

The first and easiest thing to do is a standard search on one of the booking engine sites like Expedia or Travelocity. I would recommend starting with your preferred travel dates and times — that is, have a look at what it costs to travel on your ideal flights before you start looking for deals. If the fare works for you and meets some of the lowest per-mile formulas above, my recommendation is to do another search or two to make sure you are getting the right price, and purchase on the spot if you can.

Subsequently, check fares on aggregator and discounter sites, including Kayak.com and Hotwire.com. Personally, this is my first step, for a couple of reasons. First, I have the luxury of being equidistant from two major airports, and I regularly fly into places that also have multiple airport options — so doing a search on these sites, which allow the inclusion of neighboring alternate airports, makes a lot of sense. (Kayak even shows the distance in miles of each airport from your primary airport.) Second, I have become very comfortable with manipulating all the available flight options. If these conditions describe you as well, I would start here (with Kayak in particular).

Use search options to check alternate airports, allow connections, permit very early and very late flights, and even search alternate days of travel. While this step may not always produce the exact flight you want, it will give you a broad overview of what fares are like on multiple airlines at multiple airports on multiple days and times. You’ll pretty much understand the market after a few of these searches.

Next, surf to (or subscribe to) last-minute or weekend getaway fares for those airlines that fly your route — you will know what these airlines are based on the searches you have already done. These will show you the absolute rock-bottom fares available to and from many cities, and you will quickly understand how low fares can go. You might even find a fare you like to boot — note that these fares don’t always show up on the major search engines.

Don’t Hesitate
If you see a great fare and are ready to go, buy it. Right there, right then. Airfares change every few seconds, and as the saying goes, fortes fortuna adjuvat — fortune favors the bold.

I can’t emphasize enough how important this is going to be if you find one of these golden airfares down around five cents a mile. I have seen fares like these disappear in the time it takes to complete the booking process — when you do the search, they’re available, but by the time you make your seat choices, type in your address and credit card, and click through a confirmation screen or three, they’re gone.

In these cases, the fares may only edge up by a few dollars, or maybe a few 10′s of dollars — but by then the hook is set and you have to follow the line into the boat, the very scenario we are trying to avoid.

I Can’t Find Any Great Fares; What Now?
What do you do if you see a good — but not great — fare? Should you buy or should you wait? My recommendation would be to have a look at Farecast.com and see what they think is likely to happen to that fare as your travel date approaches. If it looks like your current price is as good as it is going to get, you probably want to buy.

The airlines do, of course, have policies that offer refunds if fares go down for the same seats on the same flight that you have already purchased. Unfortunately, in one of the most insidious of the new and nasty surcharges we saw crop up in 2008, they will hit you with a “change fee,” which for most airlines is in the $75 – $100 range. So unless the fare goes down by at least that much, you will be better off just keeping the tickets you have. Not much of a price guarantee, eh?

Too Good to Be True? Maybe
Without question, go in with your eyes open. As surcharges and fees are often deliberately hidden from your review at the time of purchase, now more than ever this is a critical piece of being an informed and successful consumer of travel products and services.

Perhaps even before you start your search, you will want to know what your checked bags will cost you on domestic flights (on international flights you can still check bags for free — at least for now), as this will become a fixed cost that you will have to pay later at the airport. See our roundup of airline baggage fees for the latest prices.

You will want to look at your itinerary very closely, as some details can defy quick scanning. Some examples:

• Tight connections; airline on-time ratings have not improved dramatically as capacity has dwindled, and tight connections are more risky than ever.
• Direct flights that are not nonstop.
• Odd connections; when researching my trip to China for the Olympics last year, I wanted to fly from the East Coast to China, stop in San Diego on the way home and then fly back to the East Coast. I saw a great fare that indicated “nonstop flights only on two of the three legs,” and almost fell in love — until I saw that the flight back to the U.S. took me all the way back to Newark before putting me on a direct flight to San Diego. Looked great until I looked more closely at the details of that middle leg, which appeared on the main search screen only as “one connection.” But what a connection it was!
• On an international itinerary, a connection or layover that will require you to clear customs — which means you have to collect your bags, go through customs, recheck your bags, owwwww….

Additionally, many search engines show you only the base fare, not including any fees or surcharges. As you click through the booking process, watch as these fees are added on and check the final payment screen carefully, as this may be the only time you actually see the real cost of your ticket. I don’t care how the airlines want to package this, what really matters is what shows up on your credit card statement. By reading carefully, you can also usually see whether meals are included.

Sign Up
Almost every travel outfit of any size has some sort of fare notification system these days, including discounter and auction sites like Hotwire and Priceline, as well as the booking engines and the major airlines. In most cases, once you are signed up, you don’t have to do a thing — the deals arrive in your e-mail inbox. Particularly if you fly the same routes often, these notifications can pay off your time investment at signup several times over.