July 5, 2006
Last minute hotels and Australia vacation planning
I've been thinking about a last minute trip somewhere, but I've never been inspired by those "last minute deals". However, I did just find a good Australia travel deals site that has a big focus on last minute hotel reservations.
So what did I find for last minute hotels in Australia? Some excellent deals, starting at 56 dollars / night in Sydney and remember these prices are Australian dollars (currently 1 Australian dollar is about 75 cents).
I went to the page for last minute Sydney hotels and didn't immediately see that deal. Instead I set the results to July 10-15 and to show only available hotels and to display prices in US dollars. With hotels sorted by which came recommended, the best price was $70/night. When I switched to price I saw what must be a hostel or something at $12/night. I like how they show you the normal rate as well so that you know if you're getting a last minute discount or not. With this Bernly Private Hotel Sydney dorm, the normal rate was 16.00 so there was a discount. However the double room was normally 31.00 and still 31.00, meaning there was no last minute discount.
Of course, I could do the same searching for every city but maybe I should talk to my wife first... Instead I went to the Australia destination guides and had fun reading about Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, The Gold Coast, The Sunshine Coast, Cairns & the Barrier Reef, Perth, Adelaide, Uluru (Ayers Rock), Canberra, Alice Springs, Broome, Darwin, and Hobart. I'm sure they are all great places to visit, but I concentrated on the Sydney guide because I don't feel I need to get to adventurous the first time I visit a country. Plus I really want to go to Sydney Opera House, though last minute travel might be tricky when it comes to getting tickets for a show.
