Nothing strange about odd discounts

Even though she dialed mostly toll-free numbers from her hotel room, Kepi Peterson thought her phone bill would be outrageously high.

After all, the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island, Bahamas, warned that a $3 connection fee applied to “800″ numbers, too. So you can imagine the Mesa, AZ, homemaker’s surprise when the charges mysteriously disappeared from her account at checkout time. “Without us even asking, the desk clerk removed all fees incurred when we used an 800 number,” she remembers. “We didn’t even ask why.”

Good thing, since she probably wouldn’t have gotten a straight answer. Unusual discounts like hers are everywhere these days, as the travel industry tries to make nice with customers who stopped vacationing last fall. The deals are difficult to classify but easy to quantify. If you stumble upon one of these surprise reductions, you could save a significant amount of money on your hotel or restaurant bill.

One of my favorite “odd discount” stories comes from Sharon Wingler, a flight attendant who wrote a book called Travel Alone & Love It. “I was in shop that sold lace linens on the Greek island of Santorini,” she told me. “I selected a tablecloth, and when I paid with my First Chicago Visa card, the young salesman grinned and pointed to a poster on his wall of Michael Jordan, who was then with the Chicago Bulls. He said, ‘You get a Michael Jordan discount’.”

In the Florida Keys, where I live, restaurants often surprise patrons with a “local” discount. If you eat at the establishment several times, you’ll get a card that entitles you to 10 or 20 percent off all future meals. But more often than not, the discounts are informal. An employee will size you up as local and quietly reduce your bill when you get ready to pay. It’s happened to me numerous times, especially during the “off” season.

How do you find an odd discount? You don’t; they find you. But you can turn yourself into a discount magnet by observing a few rules:

* Don’t stand out. Odd discounts often aren’t given to people who look like tourists. Loud clothes and a sunburn are a tip-off in the Keys. If you don’t seem to belong, you’ll get charged full price for everything, because shopkeepers, restaurateurs, and hoteliers correctly assume you’ve got a budget for your vacation and are planning to spend it all, and if they don’t get your money, then someone else will. There’s another, more practical reason for trying to fit in: You’re less likely to be a target of a crime. That could save you a lot of money in the end.

* Be friendly. Discounts are often left to the discretion of front-desk clerks or salespeople. Treating these front-line employees with respect and a little friendliness will often yield surprising results. In some travel businesses, workers are allowed to adjust a bill at their discretion, and they’re more likely to make a downward revision when you’re pleasant than if you’re disagreeable.

* Ask, ask, ask. Are there any additional discounts that you qualify for? If you don’t ask, you may not get them. Some salespeople clip coupons out of the newspaper and keep them under their desks. If they want to lower a price, they pull a coupon out of an envelope, scan it, and-there you go-instant discount. I’ve heard hotel clerks advise customers to stop by a local chamber of commerce before check-out to pick up a “Save 15 percent” coupon from one of the brochure racks. It’s almost always worth the detour.

The important thing to remember when you secure one of these discounts is to reward the discount-giver. Offer a generous tip or send a thank-you note. It’s not only the right thing to do, but it ensures that these odd discounts will be there on your next trip.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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