I'm trying to reserve a room for April in North Carolina when Scott returns from Afghanistan. I wonder if belonging to AAA is worth it for hotel stays, in addition to getting the government rate. Do they give you an even better rate if you have both?

By Emily7 on Wednesday, January 10, 2007 - 09:26 pm:

I used to manage a motel & we only allowed one discount to be used, for military & AAA it was 10%.

By Hol on Wednesday, January 10, 2007 - 09:31 pm:

Ditto, Emily! I use AAA mostly for road service. If you use it once a year, it's worth it. I have had a few flat tires, and this past November, my battery died. It's very reasurring to know that someone is coming. I always make sure that my kids have it, too, when they start driving.

By Cat on Wednesday, January 10, 2007 - 10:35 pm:

Most hotels will only let you use one discount anyway. Check with the hotel and if that's the case it wouldn't be worth it.

By Karen~admin on Thursday, January 11, 2007 - 07:30 am:

We have AAA and AARP, you can normally only use one discount. Ask for a room rate, then ask for the rate with whatever discount you have. They aren't supposed to do this, but we have had them quote us a *discount* rate, which ended up being the normal rate anyway.

By Breann on Thursday, January 11, 2007 - 12:32 pm:

We joined AAA mostly for the hotel discounts. We save $10-$30 per hotel room. We probably stay in a hotel about once a month. It's been really worth it for us. On top of that, the roadside peace of mind is great. We also saved money off of amusement parks on our vacation last summer.

In my experience, you can only use one discount per visit.

By Hol on Thursday, January 11, 2007 - 01:16 pm:

We still qualify for a military discount, being retired, and we have AAA and AARP. It has been our experience that we could only use one. For us, AARP is the best.

By Mrsheidi on Thursday, January 11, 2007 - 01:46 pm:

Gotcha! We'll just use our military discount. I'm going to reserve with a credit card from April 1-15th. If I just reserve it, they won't charge me right? I think Hilton has a cancellation fee if I don't give them 24 hrs notice. It's hard bc the army only gives us a week notice or so when they are supposed to arrive. I don't want to call and not have any rooms available.

By Ginny~moderator on Thursday, January 11, 2007 - 07:18 pm:

Heidi, I book hotels for my bosses all the time. Yes, use your credit card to hold the reservation. If you have to cancel (hope not), as long as you cancel according to the rules, you won't be charged. If you forget to cancel or don't cancel in time, you will be charged for one night's stay at least.