I bang my head against the wall when I need to make a booking and find out that there was a great deal that I just barely missed out on. Travel providers often dump inventory cheap online, but there’s so much information out there that it’s often overload.

I have a Twitter account, I enjoy tweeting and engaging, and following me on Twitter is one good way to keep up with this blog. But following a bunch of folks, I often don’t see many of the tweets even by folks or companies I follow.

I lucked out with a summer deep discount deal from the Intercontinental Montelucia, a $99 rate that included a $25 room credit and as a Royal Ambassador member my upgrade was confirmed in advance. Sadly the property has no lounge, but the rate encouraged me to go. That’s one they promoted on their Facebook page, but that I read about on Flyertalk.

One of the more frustrating deals to miss, though they’re not always worth not missing are United Twares, discount Twitter fares. They’re generally only available for a few hours and if you’re not on Twitter all the time or if you follow many people you could easily miss them.

They recently had US West Coast to Buenos Aires for about $700, under $400 fares to Anchorage, and 40% off Australia (priced under $800 from Washington-Dulles).

Fortunately there’s a thread on Flyertalk where people post when there are good United Twitter fares. And if you’re a registered member of Flyertalk you can ‘subscribe to the thread’ to get an email whenever someone posts there. I want to make sure I see Twares asap, since they won’t be around long, and this way I get ’em in my inbox. Not what United intends, but a handy workaround.

Another good place for discounts, especially I find for discounted hotels, is TravelZoo. I often don’t find the deals listed in their weekly ‘Top 20’ e-mail to be all that useful, but TravelZoo is pretty good at compiling hotel offers – usually good prices that also include various throw-ins and book via a hotel provider’s own website so the rates are eligible for points accrual and elite benefits independent of whether the chain offers those on third-party bookings. Sometimes these providers are paying TravelZoo for the promotion, sometimes not, but it’s a good place to go that even I can often forget to check before a trip.