Karen Patterson lives for dead week.
The San Diego, CA, computer analyst waits until the holidays are over to find the best bargains. Her patience pays: The week immediately after New Year’s Day, also known as “dead week,” offers some of the most irresistible deals.
Patterson snagged a $39 one-way fare on Southwest Airlines from San Diego to San Antonio, Texas during dead week. Room rates at the Westin Riverwalk in San Antonio are $99 a night, which is $60 less than they were for the last week in December.
It’s such a steal that she’s taking the whole family to Texas for three days. “This is the kind of vacation that won’t cost us a fortune in air or hotel,” she says.
Just to get an idea of how dead it gets, consider what happens to the airline business during the first month of the year. The average plane flew less than two-thirds full last January, according to the Air Transport Association, an industry trade group for the U.S. airline business. In June, about 75 percent of available seats were taken.
This year’s dead week is widely expected to be deader than ever, as other parts of the travel industry struggle to attract tourists who were frightened into staying home last fall. The average plane could very well fly less than half full. Hotel occupancies will almost certainly be off from year-ago levels. Same for cars and cruises.
How to take advantage of these early January doldrums? Wait until the last minute and then strike when travel is at its cheapest:
* Spontaneous people will find that it’s a buyer’s market for anything and everything travel-related. During dead week I’ve negotiated upgrades from subcompact cars to convertibles, single rooms to suites, and yes, I’ve even scored an upgrade or two to business class. Sometimes all you have to do is ask. Other times, if you’re feeling risky, you can show up and make the hotel or car rental company an offer it can’t refuse. If there’s any time of the year when they’ll wheel and deal, it’s during dead week.
* Some airlines and hotels will offer attractive discounts for travelers who book in advance. But the closer it gets to dead week, the more desperate they’ll become. The usual suspects, including Priceline.com and SmarterLiving.com (which distributes this column) will feature a lot of what’s called “distressed” inventory-deep-discounted seats, rooms, and cars that would otherwise go unsold.
* If you’re serious about making the most of this one-week window of bargain opportunity, then don’t forget to look carefully for the best prices. You’ll find some of these deals online, through your airline or hotel website, but don’t overlook offline sources as well. Travel agents sometimes get broadcast faxes from hotel chains that offer discounts only to travel counselors. Even the Sunday newspaper can offer dead-week deals that you might not find on the Web.
Remember, even the most accomplished last-minute travelers don’t leave anything to chance. While they may be spontaneous, they’re not stupid. If they’re planning to show up at a hotel to negotiate a favorable rate, they always have a backup plan in the highly unlikely event that the property is full (hey, conventions happen). They also wouldn’t try to find a bargain at a resort where the first week of January is high season-like a ski area.
But if you practice safe travel planning, then dead week can be a rewarding experience for the contrarian traveler.
With prices to die for, how can it not be?
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