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Posted by on Jul 21, 2008 in Marketing, Real Life |

Travel blog update

What can trying to cash in on travel coupons teach us about perishable commodities?

Not much if you’re depending on night auditor types, I suppose.

I just drove over to Tuscaloosa. For the benefit of my out-of-state fans, the trip from the Montgomery area to Tuscaloosa is single-handedly responsible for the preponderance of Auburn fans in the area. You’ll find most of the Alabama fans in Montgomery are too poor to attend games, so it doesn’t matter. It’s not a bad drive, it’s just that you can’t get there from here.

Anyway, when making last-minute overnight travel plans, I turn to reliable sources like www.travelcoupons.com, and print out their coupons. Hotels.com and their ilk may have the major cities covered, but in smaller burgs you’re not going to find much. And I’m not looking for a conference center and plush bathrobes, I’m looking for someplace to sleep where I won’t get robbed or kept up by truckers who can’t sleep without their TV blaring.

So at 9 p.m. I’m calling LaQuinta from the cell phone. Got room? Check, except they only have King singles. Fine. Accept a coupon (all of $10 off)? Well, no. Give me your standard single rate? Well, no. Expect to sell out tonight? It’s already 9 p.m., and you’re in Tuscaloosa. And it’s not a game night or anything.

Apparently, he did, so I moved on to the next place, where they honored the coupon. The front desk person had to call a manager and give and get the 3rd degree over whether the coupon was okay, since it was a computer printout (from a website they advertise on).

Tomorrow I hope to be out of here and touring the Mercedes plant as part of an Alabama Auto Manufacturer’s Association meeting. For those who notice internet suffixes, no, they’re not based in the Tonga. I guess they wanted the aama domain really bad…