Money Making Travel Tips

I've been really neglecting this blog lately - and this week I have been out of town on business, so I once again thought I would not get around to posting about the great deals I have picked up lately. However, I discovered something on this trip that really surprised me and I just had to share it.

You can literally make money on business trips... without lying or cheating on your expense report!

1. Earn $5 per day by making your own bed. Starwood hotels (like Westin, Sheraton, W, Four Points, etc) have a program called "You Tidy - We Treat." They way it works is that if you decline housekeeping service for the day (by hanging their special tag on your door the night before), they give you a $5 coupon good towards any of the hotel's dining services. You can do it for each day, except the day you check out, so I managed to rack up $15 in savings this week, which I used to buy my breakfast yesterday.

Of course, a free or nearly-free meal is great, but what's even better is that because I am on a business trip, my employer will reimburse the cost of my meals. So, I will actually get paid back the $15. It's like getting a mail in rebate for an item that was free w/ coupon :)

I'm afraid that some could argue that it is a moral dilemma: if the meal is $20, and I have $15 in coupons, and put only the remaining $5 charge on my credit card, what should I ask my company to pay back? $20 or $5? For me it's easy, and I offer this as a counter example: If I were to pay for my meal with say $15 in cash and $5 credit, I would certainly expect the company to pay me back for the whole $20. What if I had a gift card for $15, and used that? I still consider that to be my money, and if my employer is going to pay me back for the total cost of the meal, then my method of payment is irrelevant.

Not to mention, I had to make my own bed everyday! So I really feel I earned the $15 ;)


2. Vendor Giveaways. If you are going to a trade show or a conference, you know that vendors will be giving away swag: pens, candy, stress relief balls, hats, etc. And all this stuff is great, but I can tell you that my favorite vendor at this conference was the one who was giving out $10 Starbucks Gift Cards! Of course it was limited to 1 per person, and the catch was that you were supposed to watch a demo of their product, but when I stopped by, their booth was so swamped they just handed me the gift card. Needless to say, I will be keeping my eye on this vendor at future shows. And hopefully more vendors will wake up to the fact that I have already enough pens and key-chain-flashlights :)


Well, that's all for right now, I certainly plan to share some more travel tips in the future, but it is Sunday morning, so right now I have some coupon collecting to do! I'm excited to see what coupons Charlotte, NC has to offer today.

- Mister Deals