Plan a Trip to a Luxury Hotel of Your Choice -- Luxury Link

Looking to visit a luxury hotel in the near future? If you have flexible travel dates or if you are willing to take a trip on somewhat short notice, check out Luxury Link.  The site offers various packages at luxury hotels around the world in two different ways.  First, you can participate in an auction for an extra discounted package or you can choose the 'Buy Now' option at a higher price if you're not up for the suspense of waiting to find out if you won the auction.  Honestly, the latter option does not appear to cost too much more, so if that's what you feel comfortable with, you're talking a difference of a few hundred dollars, but still at a discounted rate from what you are likely to see on the actual hotel website.

You can search on Luxury Link in a variety of ways, including destination, interests (e.g. beach, golf, spa, etc.), or property type, but I think the best ways to search are the auctions that are closing soon and the best deals categories.  Auctions that are closing soon allow you to jump in late in the game and have a better idea of whether or not you might get the reservation.  You also don't have to wait for days and possibly weeks to finalize your vacation.  Obviously the best deals section is something you want to check out because you could find a real steal, but these are likely to be pretty popular for auctions.  The Buy Now option could be a pretty good choice for these items, but you can always play the auction and see if you can get under the Buy Now price.  If you're flexible, then you won't ruin your plans by taking a chance with the auction.

Finally, if you like a little suspense and you're more of the free spirit type, there are also mystery auctions where you can bid for a stay at a luxury hotel at a given destination.  These auctions have a lot of potential because the bids appear to be pretty low, and they do post clues as to where the destination is as the auction proceeds so it's not a total risk.  If anyone out there has won a mystery option on Luxury Link, please share!

If you're skeptical and are wondering how they can offer these deals, there are constraints on the dates of travel, which are probably limited to off-peak times.  However, if you're really interested in the hotel like I am and all it has to offer, this seems like a better time to go anyway.  Also, there is a $40 handling fee that I guess is the price you pay for the site managing the auction.  In the end, you should probably still come out way on top compared to the retail prices, but you should definitely do your pricing research before you throw out a bid.  This site was rated one of the best travel websites by Travel and Leisure, so it's probably been vetted pretty thoroughly if you're wondering about being scammed.  I plan on using Luxury Link for one of my next trips so I'll let you all know how it goes.  Also, for those more family oriented travelers out there, Luxury Link has a partner site called Family Getaway that offers the same opportunities for more family friendly places.

More tips, resources, and hotels coming soon as well as my first Hotel Hopper review.  Check back soon.

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