How To Cut Travel Costs

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Planning ahead helps here too. One sad example from my own travels: About a month ago, I hosted a dinner for seven in central Amsterdam. We were staying at an airport hotel and I didn't scope out the ground game in advance. So we blithely piled into three cabs. Total cost: 165 euros. At the restaurant, I asked the owner to call for transportation back to the hotel. She suggested a nine-seat mini-bus. Total cost: 50 euros, including the 30 percent tip I gave to the grateful driver.

Hone in on Hotel Costs
Here's a brutal truth: Most business travelers buy too much hotel. After all, when was the last time you used everything a full-service or luxury hotel offered? The restaurants, conference rooms, ballrooms, spa and health club, room service, and valet are all built into the nightly rate and you're paying for them even when you don't use them.

The solution: Take advantage of the many and varied "segments" the hotel industry has created. Just need a good bed and shower for a night? Instead of a Hilton, try the chain's lower-priced Hampton Inn, which throws in free WiFi access and breakfast too. Need to work in your room more than entertain in public rooms? Try Marriott's Courtyard chain rather than a full-service Marriott. If you're staying for three or four nights, try an all-suite operation like Embassy Suites, which offers much larger accommodations, but omits some of the public areas of a traditional hotel. Need to stay a week or more? So-called "extended-stay" chains such as Homewood Suites or Residence Inn charge much less on a per-night basis and offer amenities (full kitchens and grocery shopping) that will help you keep your other costs down.

Chow Down
Eating well may be the best revenge, but paying rapacious prices to dine and entertain at the hot place in town is fiscal poison in these lean times. Doing a little homework is guaranteed to yield a cornucopia of options where you can eat and entertain without breaking the budget. A quick search of the local paper's website may turn up a cool, affordable new place you otherwise might have missed. Zagat is reliable enough in the big cities. But my personal choice is Chowhound. It's where the foodies hang, and you're sure to find excellent alternatives to the city's expense-account joints. Another cost-saving trick: Order from a local place and have it delivered to your hotel room. It's guaranteed to be better and cheaper than the uninspired, overpriced room-service offerings at most hotels.

Sweat the Small Stuff
Business travel is a thicket of annoying and budget-wrecking fees and surcharges. Most airlines charge to check a bag now, so get down to carry-on weight. Hotels charge insane prices for the goodies in the minibars; most everything in there can be purchased at a nearby grocery or liquor store for a small fraction of the price. Car-rental firms add as much as $7 a gallon to refill your tank when you return the vehicle. Do the right thing and fill up at a station near the airport entrance.

All of these little charges might have been annoyances in better days. In today's economy, cutting the cost of these extras might make a critical difference in your T&E budget.

The Fine Print…
It's been overshadowed by last week's horrific events in Mumbai, but there's a travel crisis in Bangkok. Anti-government demonstrators have kept the city's two major airports closed for a week. Thousands of fliers were stranded at the airports; tens of thousands more who use Bangkok as a transit hub have had to change their plans. Even after the demonstrators leave or are dispersed, Bangkok authorities claim they'll need a week to reopen the city's airports.

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