Cyber Monday Great For Travel Deals, Too

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- It turns out Cyber Monday is a good time to shop for vacations. Combine a slow week at the hotels, with some Thanksgiving dinner conversations and you have a hot week for travel deals.

Sandy Anderson has been in the travel business for 25 years. She's seen plenty of changes, but never expected to run online shopping deals.

"We do coupons," she said, describing the deals she ran on the website for the travel agency she owns in Coon Rapids, Riverdale Travel Leaders. "This weekend for Black Friday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we gave our customers $100 off, just to shop at our store."

Discount deals are all over the web this week, tapping into the holiday sale concept, and trying to fill empty hotel rooms. After all, there isn't much travel, for business or pleasure, the week after Thanksgiving.

"If you want to pick up and go this weekend," she said, "we've got some good sales."

Online, coupon site Yuupon.com has huge discounts on some hotel rooms. Carnival Cruise Lines has fares as low as $66 a day. And Orbitz.com and Travelocity.com have special Cyber Monday discount codes.

And Southwest.com is advertising fares as low as $59 one way.

If you're looking ahead for winter vacations, Anderson said Mexico is still the best value, and that more families are planning something called intergenerational travel, with grandparents joining the rest of the family at the same destination.

"When they get together for Thanksgiving or Christmas they start talking about where should we go this summer as a family, where should we go for spring break, should we rent a house on the beach at Hilton Head Island?" she said, "because they want to start experiencing being all together."

Anderson said there's one more reason to shop for your winter vacations right now. If you wait too long, your favorite hotels may not be available anymore.