Rachelle's Reading List, Tuesday February 7th, 2012

5 Ways to Find Travel Deals Using Social Media [Mashable] Who doesn't like a good deal? Want to go way beyond Kayak and Orbitz? These days you can, with your social media friends: From Mashable: 1) Stay on Top of Twitter Deals Wanderlisting is a great resource for finding not only airlines and hotels on Twitter, but also travel bloggers, publications and tips. Just a heads-up, JetBlue and Virgin Atlantic are known to tweet out some pretty sweet deals, too. Also consider following aggregators that focus on tweeting out the latest travel deals. Two well-cited resources are @airfarewatchdog and @cheapestairfare. For city-specific alerts, you can also check out Fly.com’s Twitter list of city accounts. 2) Use Facebook for Loyalty Rewards Programs Facebook does come in handy when you’re a member of a hotel or airline’s loyalty membership program. If you are a Hilton HHonors member or Starwood Preferred Guest, for example, it’s a great idea to “like” the program’s Facebook Page and sit back while offers roll in. If you’re seriously addicted to Facebook, though, you should try out Airbnb’s Facebook app, which enables users to find and rent homes around the world. 3) Get Social Recommendations There are a number of apps — such as Gogobot — that enable users to pull travel advice from their social graphs. Check out the latest on the block, Trippy. It lets you get your friends’ recommendations for places to visit and things to do when you’re planning a trip. Once a trip is planned, the user can even check rates or book the trip right from Trippy’s platform. 4) Forums Still Count For all the latest news and gossip regarding loyalty reward programs and travel deals, check out FlyerTalk, which deems itself “the world’s most popular frequent flyer community.” This savvy group of travelers will have you snatching up great deals in no time. 5) Last Minute Lodging Deals For starters, check out HotelTonight, an app that enables you to book a room at discounts of up to 70%. Likewise, you could try using Airbnb’s iPhone app, which has a button appropriately labeled “Help! I need a place tonight!” You could also try the standby feature if you can’t find an Airbnb spot — this prompts local homeowners to send offers your way, usually at lower rates than they usually charge. And lastly, don’t forget Foursquare. While it’s unlikely that you’ll find discounted hotel prices, you could discover some other sweet perks. I did a quick search for on Foursquare for hotels within 10 miles, and I found a special for 1,000 Priority Club Rewards Bonus Points for checking in three times at the Crowne Plaza in Times Square.