Are you ready for winter?

So the 13 inches of snow outside my house got me thinking yesterday, I need to get the car packed with all the winter essentials! I know that we have all been told over and over about what to have on hand during these wonderful and unpredictable winter months, however I thought I would send out a reminder of these items!

According to the National Weather Service, it is important to be prepared. The following are items that they suggest for you home or office during winter weather: Flashlights, portable radio, extra food and water, medicine and baby items, first aid supplies, heating source, fire extinsuisher and smoke detectors.

Also suggested, should you have to travel, are the following items to be kept in your vehicle should it become impossible for you to drive due to white out conditions or the like, winter storm survival kit, items included are: sleeping bags/blankets, flashlight, first aid kit, knife, non perishable food, extra clothing, empty can and plastic cover with tissues and paper towels, smaller can and waterproof matches, water, sand, shovel, windshield scraper, tool kit, tow rope, booster cables, water container, and road maps. In addition they suggest keeping your gas tank near full, carrying your cell phone and always being sure that someone knows your itinerary.

By following these tips we can all be safer whether we are at home or on the roads during the long cold months of winter! Stay safe and warm! And of course Happy Holidays to you and your loved ones!

Credit Cards vs. Debit Cards

We all know that debit cards are wonderful, easy to use and accepted pretty much anywhere. But did you know that by using your debit card at a hotel you could be placing your funds on a freeze that can take days to be released?

It is common practice for hotels to put a "hold" on a card used for incidentals and ensure payment of the final bill at check out. However, using a debit card does more than put a "hold" on your account, it essentially freezes funds in your checking account. Now, I am sure you can see where this can be a problem. You have checked into a hotel and have put down your debit card for incidentals. Due to the freeze that the authorization puts on your account - your card, now being used for dinner, comes up declined with insufficient funds. How can that be? That freeze on your account basically makes that money inaccessible.

Hotels are increasingly looking for credit cards these days to cover these incidentals since most of us have higher limits on a credit card than we have balances in our checkbooks. In addition many hotels are putting up signage discouraging guests from using their debit cards for this reason. Credit card companies quickly release these holds, where with a debit card it can take days or even a week to release the freeze on your checking account. So next time you check into a hotel, look for signage that the hotel may have posted about this, talk to the front desk about practices being used for authorizations before you slap down that debit card. The old trustworthy credit card may just be the way to go.

True or False

So you just checked into your hotel and as you head onto the elevator and reach your guestroom you grab your little credit card sized hotel room key. As you slide it into the lock (magnetic strip to the back, and arrow pointing down of course) you wonder what exactly is on that little key. This brings me to our true or false of the day..........

Hotel room key cards contain personal information including credit card information.

This statement is in fact false. Hotel key cards do not contain personal information at all, in fact the only information stored on your room key is the activation code, room number, and the expiration date of the key. The activation code is simply the code that tells your guestroom's lock that this key is authorized to open you room. Hotel's have databases in which they store credit card, and other personal information about a guest, this information is simply not needed on the key card. Even in hotels where purchases can be made directly from your key card, the key simply lets the staff know that the guest has a credit card on file with the front desk and that the purchase is authorized, no personal information relating to that guest.

So next time you reach your hotel room and grab that key, do it with confidence that there is no personal information being stored on that card. And should you still have any concerns ask the front desk to clear that key or even take it with you.

Tip: Negotiating corporate rates

Kids are back to school and parents are back to business as usual. For many that means business trips, maybe for just a day and some for a couple of days. Do you work for a company that makes frequent trips to the same location? Do you have someone responsible for working with hotels to determine if special corporate rates are possible for you? Instead of looking at cutting travel all together why not consider contacting hotels and working out negotiated rates as a way to save on travel expenses?

And for those that already do this, did you know that by contracting with just one hotel and guaranteeing all room nights will go to that hotel you hold more negotiating power than spreading the rooms out over several hotels? If the hotel knows you allow travelers to stay at any of four hotels your room night production potential decreases and your rate increases!