| Travel
clubs, in general, offer members their most significant savings
on hotel and condominium accommodations, cruises, car rentals,
sightseeing, and entertainment. They also offer extra benefits
such as travel insurance, emergency medical/legal assistance,
"bargain hotlines" for last-minute travel updates, frequent-traveler
programs, and periodic newsletters and magazines outlining their
latest offers. Some even offer credit card privileges with extensive
credit lines, which like most consumer credit cards, charge
hefty interest rates on unpaid balances. The bigger discounts
tend to be limited to times when airlines, hotels, or cruises
don't expect to be full. Dues for travel clubs vary, but average
$60 or less per family per year.
It is almost impossible to get a big discount
on a domestic airline ticket through a members-only travel
club. For international travel, you are better off buying
your tickets through a ticket consolidator and use the travel
club for the rest of your travel arrangements. However, some
clubs do offer discounts on a limited range of consolidator
airfares; so as always, check and compare prices before buying.
In addition to the discounts for their travel
services, some travel clubs, which basically function as cut-rate
travel agents, also work on a rebate system. In this case,
the agents arrange for a discount from their suppliers and
in turn rebate some of their commission to their members,
in effect discounting the "list" price. These rebates average
between 4 and 8 percent of the cost of each trip a member
takes through the club. The rebates can take the form of cash
or credit toward free travel on future trips taken with the
club. Clubs that offer rebates are competing with the very
large discount travel clubs and booking services. Since their
discounts tend to be somewhat more modest, they offer the
added incentive of a rebate.
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