Audra Lowe: And speaking of taking a break, why not turn this Valentine’s Day
into a romantic rendezvous? Gabe Saglie is the Senior Editor of
TravelZoo.com, the online guy to the world’s best travel deals.
And Gabe recently stopped by Better to tell me about the three
hottest trip ideas for Valentine’s Day.

Alright Gabe this year, we can stay at a fancy hotel. Not you and I
necessarily but couples can stay at a fancy hotel for Valentine’s
Day. It’s affordable this time around right?

Gabe Saglie: Well, yes. If you’re looking for something to do on Valentine’s
Day, stay at a fancy hotel. Four, five star hotels have become more
affordable these days than ever before because they’ve seen
business travel go down, leisure travel go down. Valentine’s Day
this year is on a Sunday and then it’s combined with President’s
Day Weekend so there’s a greater incentive for hotels to entice you
with lower pricing. Make it more of a long weekend.

Audra Lowe: Is there really like really deals though?

Gabe Saglie: Well, I’ve got a couple of examples for you. The Radisson Plaza
Warwick Hotel right in Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia,
historic luxury hotel usually rates begin at $250.99 for travel
through the winter including Valentine’s Day weekend.

On the other side of the county in San Francisco, the Palace Hotel
historic property, for diamond, usually starts at $3109 for the
winter including Valentine’s Day weekend and it puts you near
China Town or Union Square as you can do the dining, romantic
dining thing.

Audra Lowe: Right. So, there is some significant savings there with these hotels.

Gabe Saglie: Yes. Fancy hotels are affordable now.

Audra Lowe: Tens of thousands of people usually use this time of year, January
through March or April they set there, there cruise schedules.

Gabe Saglie: It is wave season. This is one effect to allow these avid cruisers to
set plans to sail the rest of the year. Now, we’re seeing a major
slow down in cruising. And so now we’re even a weekend cruise
or a Valentine’s theme cruise is going to be a lot more affordable
then even one or two years ago.

One example is that of LA. The only trick with these cruises
though is that because it’s on a Sunday, you’ll have to cash in
probably on some vacation days.

So, plan ahead if you’re going to do that. But there’s an eight day,
seven night cruise out of LA on the Princess Sapphire. It set sail on
the 13th of February down to the Mexican Riviera $385.00 per
person. That’s 48 bucks a day and if you wan to go, if you really
want to impress the one you love do the ocean view cabin for
$54.00 a day. So, you’re still saving an amazing amount of money
and there’s something romantic about being out in the Pacific
heading towards somewhere tropical like Cabuz and Marcus.

Audra Lowe: And here she does not have to pay for price. They don’t have to
know. Alright also, catch a show is one of your other tips too
because hundreds of shows use the weekends to increase their sales
and they’re kind of betting on people to come in at that particular
time.

Gabe Saglie: Yes, I mean if you’re in Valentine’s Day, it’s a Sunday night or
you’re doing sort of a weekend thing, these theaters, these stages
want to have you consider a show as supposed it’s just dinner and
the movies. So, on the show front certainly in Vegas and in
Broadway, you’re looking at some amazing savings on all the big
shows. I found a great one in Carnegie Hall here in New York. It’s
called Love, Lust and Light. It’s a matinee on Valentine’s Day.
Ten bucks for this concert. They perform Carmina Burana which
for classical music boxes is an amazing operatic master piece and
then you could do the cocktail and dinner thing after that.

Audra Lowe: Ten dollars even if you don’t like it. You only spent ten bucks.

Gabe Saglie: And then in Vegas at the Mandalay Bay, the Lion King also
reduced for Valentine’s Day weekend from $86.00 to$61.00. You
could do orchestra which is for $80.00 Those are very highly in
demand, usually go for well over a $100.00 but even on a high
profile show like that, affordable for Valentine’s.

Audra Lowe: Never, never gets old to see the Lion King either alright great deals
as always. Thank you so much Gabe. Good to see you.

Gabe Saglie: Yes, Happy Valentine’s.

Audra Lowe: You too. Thank you.