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A bumper crop of travel deals blooms in summer’s heat

The economy may be in a dog-days-of-summer slump, but many travelers are getting a break this season, thanks to a refreshing flurry of deals that cut across the travel spectrum.

Discounts more numerous and more dramatic than last year are popping up from Orlando to Hawaii, on airfares and on vacation packages. And many industry watchers expect them to continue into August.

Big U.S. cities, including New York, Chicago and San Francisco, are awash in hotel discounts that Travelzoo’s Gabe Saglie calls “unprecedented. A year or two ago, if I said you could get a hotel in midtown Manhattan for under $200, people would have laughed at me,” says the discount travel Web site’s senior editor.

Local tourism offices have been more proactive this summer in devising package deals and offering free events, notes Anne Banas of SmarterTravel.com. In Orlando, for example, the Bundles of Free Smiles Deals (www.orlandoinfo.com/smile) has been extended through Aug. 15. The site lists 140 offers ranging from free hotel nights to buy-one, get-one-free admissions.

In areas that typically discount in summer, such as Phoenix and Las Vegas, hotel rates are “dropping with a thud,” says Saglie. For instance, Travelzoo.com lists a $38-$49 midweek rate at the chichi new M Resort in Sin City. (Book by July 24 for stays through August.) In Phoenix, the Wigwam Golf Resort & Spa has summer rates starting at $79.

Domestic airfares are down 10 percent to 15 percent from several summers ago, says Rick Seaney of FareCompare.com. However, despite a notable Southwest Airlines-sparked fare war last week, followed by more price cuts this week, “it’s sort of hit or miss right now.” But trans-oceanic fares, which typically run about $1,000 in summer, have been going for about half that this year, he adds. Best bets now are to Ireland, Spain, Germany and Switzerland, with rates in the $600 to $700 range for August.

Deeply discounted travel packages to the Caribbean and Mexico also are abundant. Demand for Hawaii is down, causing hotel rates to drop 15 percent to 30 percent on Oahu and Maui and up to 40 percent on the Big Island, says Jack Richards, head of Pleasant Holidays. Plus, fuel surcharges have been suspended, making flights more affordable. Sample deal from Pleasant Holidays: three nights in Oahu for two, including airfare from San Francisco, for $810, plus taxes.

Even usually hard-to-get bookings are offering incentives. At Lake Powell on the Utah-Arizona border, late-summer houseboat rentals are still available and the Gas Is On Us promotion gives a $50 to $100 daily gas credit with rentals through 2009 (www.lakepowell.com/gasonus09).

In the vacation home rental arena, a survey of owners who post rentals on HomeAway showed 66 percent planned to offer a special of some sort, ranging from discounts on rent, to suspending minimum-stay requirements. “The economy has created new flexibility in the way they market their homes,” says Eileen Buesing of HomeAway.

As always, flexibility is the key to snagging a great deal.

“I think travelers are much more impulse-driven,” Travelzoo’s Saglie says. “The idea of investing in a vacation six months down the road when you don’t know how you’ll being doing financially isn’t appealing.”