My Newest (and Best?) Giveaway Yet? Actual Money Courtesy of Bing Travel!

by Gary Leff

Bing travel wants to get your (and my) attention.

I’ll admit, I hadn’t paid them much mind before, I’m used to searching with ITA Software and with Kayak, booking directly through an airline site or with Expedia or Orbitz if need be. I often find that Orbitz is good for putting together complex multi-carrier itienraries, and depending on the carrier they may be updating inventory at a lag from other sites, so Expedia or Orbitz might be cheaper on any given itinerary on occasion.

So I was surprised to find that Bing seemed very much in the tradition of Kayak, the site I’ve recommended most often to non-experts for search for travel. Very good to know!

So how did they get my attention and now yours?

They’ve laid out their summer travel forecast and have quite an offer to promote it.

Here’s what they say about overall air and hotel pricing:

The average airfare to domestic destinations is up 22% from 2009 and 4% higher than 2008 fares, averaging $303 per ticket. But don’t kill the messenger – you can still save big with your hotel stay!

On average, premium hotel rates in domestic destinations are down 10% over 2009, averaging $166 per night. Choosing the right destination this summer could allow you to make up for higher airfares. Some destinations we recommend considering are Las Vegas, Seattle, San Francisco, Honolulu, San Diego, and New York City, where hotel rates are down considerably and can help reduce your overall trip cost.

And they actually provide some reasonable advice on booking summer travel, not the fanciful made up stuff that you get out of most commentators but advice on using alternate airports (and an implication would be add a train or European discounter segment if you need it) and to book the best deal you can now rather than waiting. Nothing new for the expert, but sound nonetheless for general guidance.

So what are they offering exactly? Money. Serioously. Bing-branded prepaid Mastercards. They’ve sent me 100 $15 cards. I’m going to package them as (20) prizes of 5 cards apiece. Which means there will be (20) winners receiving $75 each.

These prepaid Mastercards say “15 Dollars / Bag Fee on Bing.com” but I know many of my readers are elites whose baggage fees are waived. Use the cash for whatever you’d like.

Personally, I love keeping low-dollar prepaid cards around, for (1) free trial signup offers that require a credit card and (2) for testing out bidding on Priceline when I don’t want to play the incorrect security code trick. And I’ve also been known link debit cards to my Paypal account and shoot the balance over to my wife. Or just load up my Starbucks card.

There are (2) ways to enter:

  • Visit Bing’s summer travel forecast and post a comment here on this blog post answering the question where will you go this summer?. 15 winners will be chosen at random from these entries. Only one entry per person.

  • Follow @garyleff and @Fareologist on twitter and tweet
      RT this and follow @garyleff and @fareologist to win actual CA$H http://tinyurl.com/vftw-bing

    5 winners will be chosen at random from these entries. Only one entry per person.

Enter once using either or both methods no later than Tuesday, May 11 at noon Eastern time.

Very generous of the folks at Bing Travel, and as always I pass the goodies on to you!

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  3. I plan to head out to Hawaii in the first week of July splitting my time between Waikiki and Kauai.

  12. My family will be going to Disney World and then the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas.

  16. Just took our summer trip, though it wasn’t in the summer. We went to Bhutan. Thank you!

  17. Going to Vegas with friends from work for UFC 114 and Rehab party. Might go visit friends in California or meet them in Hawaii. Will head to New Orleans starting in September for some Saints games. I need to plan an international trip again sometime but I am single so it is more complicated to coordinate with a bunch of friends.

  19. Going to the UK in 3 weeks. Starting the trip with my Stag Do (Batchelor Party), then lunch at the Fat Duck and then getting married!

  22. Going to Phoenix to visit a long lost high school friend then heading to Milwaukee to visit dear ol mom.

  25. In Honolulu right now for pleasure, Raleigh NC, D.C, San Diego and Nashville in the fall; all for work.

  28. Summer? I have many trips planned.
    Mid-May: Seoul and Ulan Bataar
    Early-June: Iqaluit
    Late June/Early July: RTW, Zurich, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Seoul, Jeju, New York
    Late July/Early August: Tokyo, Sapporo
    Late August/Early September: Hong Kong, Vietnam, Hokkaido, Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai
    All pleasure trips. May plan more!

  29. Off to California at the end of the month, to the UK in September and then (as I will be unemployed by then and looking to work) off to Asia to try and find some!

  30. I am planning on trying to go out to LAS to get my teeth cleaned. I lived there for 7 years and have a good dentisit out there!! 🙂

    Would also like to make a trip to Europe at some point!!

  36. Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and San Diego so far. I’m still waiting for some good fares to Europe!

  37. I’m off to San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego during the first part of the summer. Then I’m off to the great Pacific Northwest for time in Seattle and Vancouver, BC just before summer turns to autumn.

  44. Hong Kong: 18-24MAY
    Shanghai: 24-31MAY
    Orlando: 3-8JUN
    New York: 24-29JUN
    Toronto: 1-6JUL
    San Diego: 15-20JUL
    Madrid: 24-28JUL
    Seville: 28-31JUL
    Barcelona: 1-6AUG
    Amsterdam: 6-10AUG

  49. I will be going to Virginia, Maine, California, Chicago, and hopefully someplace exotic!

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