Want great travel deals? Join the clubs
Page | 1 | 2 | 3 |

Senior citizens can save too. For $12.50 a year, AARP will sell a membership to anyone over 50. That qualifies you for hotel discounts ranging from 10 percent to 50 percent, which can make the membership pay for itself in one or two nights.

Sometimes, your credit card company has a deal with a travel-club company, or hefty travel discounts of its own. Diner's Club, which costs $95 annually, offers up to 20 percent off at 4,000 restaurants in the United States through its Restaurant Savings Program.

MBNA America has offered its customers a trial with the Encore Discount Card. Most card companies provide rental-car insurance, and many provide car-rental discounts. It's worth a call to see if there are other perks you're not aware of, like hotel or restaurant deals.

Can you be at the airport in an hour, packed and ready to go? If so, you can benefit from a last-minute club. The Moment's-Notice Travel Club, headquartered in Brooklyn, N.Y., offered some of the cheapest deals in this category.

Moment's Notice membership is $25 per family per year. A single membership can include your spouse, children, family members and friends. There's one $15 processing fee for tickets that covers everyone traveling with you. If you're a frequent last-minute traveler, the lifetime membership may be for you. Moment's Notice offers deals like a seven-day southern Caribbean cruise for $349 in November.

Before you rush to shell out cash for a membership, see what other memberships you already have. If you are an AAA or an AARP member, any membership you buy has to top that. Sometimes, your college alumni club membership comes with discounts on particular cities or particular states, so if you plan on traveling to the city where you went to college, you may be able to put off buying a membership. National club memberships often include travel discounts, so check those out before buying a separate travel membership.

The bottom line to consider is how often you travel, or how many days your annual vacation will run. So do the math before agreeing to a card you may not need.

There are plenty of legitimate travel clubs, but if something sounds way too good to be true, it's probably not true.

The best way to avoid a scam is to ask a lot of questions and make some back-up phone calls. Legitimate clubs have good customer service, brochures and detailed policies, and many have been around for decades.

Dream prices for dream vacations do exist, and sometimes a card membership can be the fastest way to snag the getaway you want at the best possible price. So spend some time surfing the Web and calling club representatives. It may make your vacation cheaper, and well, freer than you ever imagined.