Assessing AARP’s travel deals
AARP has featured travel discounts as a member benefit for many years, and those travel deals remain an ongoing focus. Most longstanding deals carry over each year, with only minor changes, so there are few surprises this year.
Hotels: AARP offers modest discounts at four large multinational hotel brand “families” plus Best Western and two independent brands.
Choice Hotels: Up to
10% discount at most Ascend, Cambria, Clarion, Comfort, EconoLodge, MainStay, Quality, Rodeway, Sleep Inn and Suburban units.
Hilton Hotels: Up to 10% discount at most Conrad, Curio, DoubleTree, Embassy Suites, Garden Inn, Grand Vacations, Hampton, Hilton, Homewood, Home2, Tru and Waldorf Astoria units.
Radisson: Ten percent discount at Blu, Collection, Country Inn, Park Inn, Park Plaza, Radisson and Red.
Wyndham: Ten percent discount at most Baymont, Days Inn, Dazzler, Dolce, Esplendor, Hawthorn Suites, Howard Johnson,
Knights Inn, La Quinta, Microtel, Ramada, Super 8, Trademark, Travelodge, Tryp, Wingate, and Wyndham units. Plus, TripBeat vacation rentals, “up to” 25%.— Best Western: Five percent to 15% discount at most locations, covering 10 BW sub-brands.
Independent: Extra Holidays 20% discount; Motel 6, 10% discount; and Studio 6, 10% discount.
Airlines: For years, the only useful AARP airline deal has been for round-trips on British Airways, renewed again for 2021: discounts remain at $65 in economy and in premium economy; $200 in business class. Although $65 isn’t a big discount, it applies to any economy fare, including the lowest flash sale fares, and $200 off a flash-sale business class fare can be attractive if you’re trying to escape the cattle car.
AARP continues to offer various discounts on rental cars, mainly from the Avis family. On Avis and Budget rentals, members receive discounts of 10% to 30%, a no-fee additional driver, discounted GPS at $6.99/ day, a $5,000 collision
Rental cars:
damage liability cap, and slightly above average liability coverage. The deal at Payless is a 5% discount and a no-fee extra driver. AARP also offers Zipcar annual membership at a 43% discount plus a $40 credit.
Others: AARP continues to offer various percentoff, dollars-off and other promotions on tour packages and cruises with Collette, Grand European, and Vacations by Rail. It also provides up to 20% off Medjet enrollment and 12% discounts at Park Ride Fly airport hotels.
You can book AARP deals through the AARP website, at aarp.org/ benefits-discounts, where you link through to special AARP pages on each supplier’s website. You retain whatever loyalty program benefits you’re due for booking “direct.”
Overall, you can often do better. But when you can’t find anything better, use an AARP deal as a reliable fallback position.
With hotels, these days booking direct gives some important benefits, but you don’t have to give up the AARP discount when you book direct: Most chain websites show AARP rates.
Use the BA discount when BA offers a competitive fare and schedule.
It’s especially useful when you can knock $200 off a highly reduced business class fare. Although BA’s current business class product lags its big competitors, you can get the deal on an American flight code-shared as BA.
The parking discount lets you knock a few bucks off of a service you’d probably buy at the regular price, anyway. Ditto the membership discounts on Medjet.
The tour/cruise discounts are good when the package you’re considering is a competitive deal without the discount, which then becomes pure gravy.
You don’t have to belong to AARP to get some of the deals it features. Many are available through other sources, including individual company loyalty programs, AAA and other large organizations, and senior discounts that don’t require any membership. But at the current “flash sale” rate of $9 per year on a five-year term, AARP is an easy way to get a useful range of deals.
Andrew Stern and Laura Arias said that not being able to tour to support their latest album, “Long Rider,” has been disappointing, but keeping themselves and their fans safe during this pandemic is more important. The husband-and-wife duo make up the group 3 Pairs of Boots and said they have made great use of their time at home.
“We have spent our time writing and recording a new album, for either a fall 2021 or January 2022 release and sharpening our skill set for livestream performances,” said the
San Francisco-based couple. “And we created a video series called ‘Cookin’N’Country’, which we shot in our kitchen, mixing cooking and music together.”
Q: Many actors and musicians have told me they won’t complain about having to travel for work. How do you feel about not being able to just hop on a plane for your projects?
Laura: We agree. It’s a bummer not having the freedom to travel when we want to play music.
Not complaining, everyone’s going through it. Just grateful to be healthy.
Q: If you had travel plans for 2020 and had to cancel, where were they to?
Andrew: We were scheduled to do a photo shoot for the current album, “Long Rider,” with our video director in Nashville. Between the pandemic and tornado in Nashville, we had to cancel. United
Airlines did not refund our money for the plane fares, instead giving us a credit that we had to use within one year, which we will be unable to use given the current environment. We were planning on visiting family and friends in Northern California and Oregon over the summer, but the fires got in the way. (But) we are lucky to live close to Golden Gate Park and the beach, so it’s good walking here. And we have discovered local neighborhood stores that we hadn’t visited. Now we walk sometimes to the local co-op for groceries — a great way to get some exercise and keep the kitchen stocked up.
Q: What was the first trip you took as a child?
Andrew: Unfortunately, my parents never took us on vacation. Instead, my father rented the family a summer house with a pool when we were younger. Then as we got older, (they) sent us off to a great summer camp up near Yosemite. Loved camping.
Laura: First vacation was Lake Tahoe. Memories are a little vague, but I remember floating on a raft (and) had a good time.
Q: What’s the most important thing you’ve learned from your travels?
Andrew: There is a song on the new album “Long Rider” called “Everywhere I Go,” which speaks to feeling at home no matter where you are — to feel comfortable in your surroundings, even if they are new to you and take in
the sights and sounds and people you are experiencing for the first time.
Q: Where is the most romantic destination?
Andrew: Could be Hawaii or New York City. Both have such great vibes for couples. When we went to Paris, that was exciting, too.
Q: Do you go away for any holidays?
Laura: We try to avoid the well-traveled holidays when the masses flock to the overpriced destinations. We grew up in the Bay
Area, so family is here (and it’s) nice to spend time with them during the holidays.
Q: What are your five favorite cities?
Both: New York City, Washington D.C., Santa Fe, Chicago, Paris.
Q: Where would you like to go that you have never been to before?
Andrew: Portugal and Italy.
Laura: Spain, London, and the United Kingdom.
Q: What would be your dream trip?
Andrew: Touring the U.S. and Europe, playing music while enjoying the food, culture and all the cool people we meet.
Q: What is your guilty pleasure when you’re on the road?
Laura: Food (and) farmers markets. Food is such an insight into the local flavor, the local scene and it gets one quickly into the vibe of a place.