Summer Travel Deals: Where Prices Are Dropping and How to Book Luxury for Less

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Sally, it's been a couple of weeks since we did our episode on summer travel.

What do you think has changed since then?

Megan, I have to say, I was in Chicago for a conference this past week, and there were crowds everywhere from the Shed Aquarium to the TSA precheck line at O'Hare.

So I think it is safe to say summer travel is in full force.

I think we've got more evidence now that despite everything going on in the world, people still want to get away this summer.

We saw tons of people fly the Friday before Memorial Day.

In fact, that was one of just three days in history when the number of travelers passing through U.S.

airports crossed the 3 million mark that's based on TSA checkpoint data.

And I'm expecting big crowds for 4th of July too.

Travelers might be dialing back their budget, but they are still going places.

And luckily, there are still travel deals to be found for this summer if you're waiting to book.

And today we'll share some of them.

Welcome to Smart Travel, a deep dive into the tips, tools, and tactics to maximize your travel dollars.

I'm Sally French, and I'm Megan Coyle.

And we're the travel nerds ready to to help you plan your next big trip.

Today we have two guests, one from Bank of America and the other from Hotels.com to share how you can score great deals even with summer already upon us.

Plus an update on how this summer travel season is shaking out so far.

And as we do in pretty much every episode, we'll talk about some credit card companies that are nerd wallet partners.

That does not influence how we discuss them.

The benefits, terms, and fees mentioned today were accurate at the time we posted this, but things can change.

Some offers may have expired by the time you're listening, so for the latest details, just follow the links in the episode description.

I feel like I still have all the Chase Sapphire Reserve changes burned onto my brain.

Points, booze!

No, no, no, that was last week's show.

Oh, you don't want to do another deep dive into the great Chase Sapphire Reserve coupon book?

No, not really.

But I did want to do a few follow-ups to last week's episode.

Number one, the new Chase Sapphire Reserve officially became available as of Monday, June 23rd, and the sign-up bonus was officially revealed.

Yes, and it is a big one.

It is 100,000 bonus points plus a $500 credit for Chase travel purchases after spending $5,000 in the first three months.

But as Sally and I talked about last episode, don't get starstruck by the 100,000 bonus points and $500.

You still have to make sure the benefits and annual fee will work for you long term.

I say listen to last week's episode if you need an analysis of what I am calling a $795 coupon book.

We'll also link to NerdWallet's review of this card and this new sign-up bonus in the episode description.

And one last thing, we also confirmed that Chase is changing its rules and is now allowing you to hold both the Chase Sapphire Reserve and the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

And we will call the people who have both of these cards the Chase Sapphire Preserves.

It sounds like a jam.

Blueberry jam, Nancy?

Expensive jam, considering having both would cost almost $900 in annual fees.

I know.

Speaking of which, I don't think these annual fee hikes are over.

In fact, American Express wanted to steal some of Chase's thunder.

So it announced, wait for it, a coming announcement.

Megan, it was nothing but a big tease.

Essentially, Amex issued a press release revealing that the biggest ever refresh to its Platinum card is coming later this year.

And we are likely not just talking about a shinier metal finish.

Yeah, we basically have no other details except that changes are expected on both the Amex Platinum and the Amex Platinum business card.

I will say though, Sally, I'm scared.

I can't do another higher annual fee if that's what it is.

I can't either.

You know, we both have this card, and I'm very scared of an annual fee increase.

We will be standing by.

Very likely, we will do a whole show dedicated to these changes when we have more info.

By the way, I wanted to give a quick plug that there are a ton of new credit card signup bonuses available right now, not just on the Chase Sapphire Reserve.

So, check out that page that I update for the latest offers.

It's in the episode description.

Okay, not any more card news.

This time, we have news coming out of Disney.

Now, Megan, it is not even July 4th, but it is time to start thinking about Halloween.

That's right.

Tickets for Disney's Oogie Boogie Bash go on sale to the general public tomorrow.

That's June 26th.

It's the Halloween After Hours party at Disney California Adventure.

Yes, and with this, you get to go trick-or-treating in the park after it closes.

Sally, have you been before?

So not Oogie Boogie, but I have been to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party over at Disney World in Orlando.

I have to say, as a lifelong Disney fan, it is surreal to go trick-or-treating in the tiki room.

Tickets for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party are already on sale.

And these things sell out super fast, right?

Yes, which is wild because these tickets cost more than $100.

Prices vary depending on the night.

In fact, more than $200 on Halloween night.

And get this, you want to sign up fast if you want to go to Oogie Boogie in California Adventure because tickets for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party on Halloween night at Disney World are already sold out.

So was Mickey's not so scary Halloween party worth it?

Megan, for the candy alone, Save What Sally says that this was like an oddly good deal because they hand out candy by the bucket full all over the park.

So my fiancé and I went a few years ago and we were not even trying to get candy.

We're like, if we walk by someone who hands out candy, we will take it, but we are not like walking out of our way.

We ended up with so much candy.

We weighed it and it was eight pounds of candy.

We weren't even trying.

I was like, we should have brought a backpack if we wanted more.

I calculated the cost to buy the same candy on Amazon and it was $80.

Oh my goodness.

But how can you eat eight pounds of candy though?

You're tiny.

Well, actually, we just gave this out on Halloween ourselves.

So instead of having to buy Halloween candy for all the neighborhood kids, I was like, you are getting our Disney candy.

Honestly, so smart.

Very safe with Sally move.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And I know you had a very Miles with Megan Co.

trip this week, too.

Oh, yeah.

I just went to preview the new Delta Sky Club and Delta One lounge in Seattle yesterday.

It was just a quick day trip up there from LA for the day, but I didn't even leave the airport.

That's what we do here at the Smart Travel Podcast.

Go check out lounges.

I want to know what was it like.

Ah, so much space.

24,000 square feet, two floors.

The Delta One lounge is reserved for people flying Delta One, which is like first class or a premium class on a Delta partner.

And that space has this awesome outdoor terrace with views of Mount Rainier.

It was beautiful.

And it was summer.

So.

Oh, okay.

Well, it's nice in summer.

Maybe not so nice in the Seattle rainy season, which is all the other days.

Yeah, seriously.

I do have to say, I love this trend of outdoor spaces in airport lounges.

Way different than the cave-like lounge.

You know what we're talking about, LAX Centurion Lounge.

Yeah, cough, cough.

I think the new Delta Sky Clubs have the nicest designs of all the lounge networks.

For our Seattle-based listeners, you have an excellent option there now.

And if you fly Delta often, it would be worth checking out which credit cards can get you access.

We will link to that list of cards for Delta Sky Club access in the episode description.

And Megan, tell us when does this lounge open?

The Delta Sky Club opened today, the 25th of June, and the Delta One Lounge opens tomorrow on June 26th.

And where can people see videos and photos of that?

You can see a video of it on my Instagram, Miles with Megan Co.

And that's Megan with an H, just in time for summer.

And then over in Cruise News, Carnival Cruise Line is finally giving its loyalty program a glow up.

Megan, they are ditching the very important fun person program.

Yes, that is a real thing.

That is a real name.

They are replacing it with Carnival Rewards in 2026.

I can't believe it was called Very Important Fun Person.

That sounds like a joke.

I did not name it.

Okay, I'm glad they're ditching it.

That's iconic.

I just feel like Carnival Rewards is a little boring and forgettable.

Yeah, it kind of is.

I also have to say, with this new program, it seems like Carnival cares less about how important and fun you are and more just about how much money you spend.

Oh no, I see where this rewards program change is going.

Yes.

So instead of only counting how many nights you've sailed with them, this new program rewards you for how much you spend, which includes spending on not just cabins, but those other onboard extras like drinks.

That's a pretty major shift and a big devaluation for the maximizers who cruise often, but on the low-cost sailings.

So they earned elite status without spending a ton.

Big bummer for them.

This puts Carnival in the ranks of other airline and hotel-based loyalty programs that have been pivoting the same way.

They're judging your elite status based on spending rather than night stayed or miles flown with them.

People are going to be so sad to hear this.

Megan, they're not sad.

They are angry.

I have actually never done a carnival cruise, but I was browsing Reddit to see what the people say about it.

The top post is someone pointing out that with gold status, the only extras now that you get are, wait for it, one complimentary 1.5 liter bottle of water and one other complimentary beverage, but they're still fine print.

You only get that complimentary beverage.

if you do a sailing that's five days or more.

So those people who are taking a bunch of short cruises, they get basically nothing.

It's very sad for for them.

Well, they get the bottle of water.

Right.

Stay hydrated.

At least one piece of silver lining.

Current members won't lose their status.

They will be rolled into the new tiers.

So at least current members can hang on to their status a little longer.

They can keep cruising into summer.

More on that in today's episode.

We've been seeing some big shifts in travel pricing so far in 2025.

Airfare prices are dropping, hotel rates are cooling off, and yet consumer sentiment is still a little shaky.

I think uncertainty is the word of the year when it comes to the economy and we're in the middle of the busy summer travel season when you're usually expecting higher demand and higher prices.

We wanted to know what people are spending on when it comes to travel.

Well, I brought in some backup to answer that question today.

We've got two guests to walk us through what some of the data says.

Our first guest is Mary Drosch, head of product for consumer business and wealth management banking and lending at Bank of America.

Woo!

Mary breaks down some of Bank of America's real transaction data, like where people are booking, how they're budgeting, and why cruises are having a moment right now.

Oh, really?

I feel like I called that when we did our cruise episode a few weeks ago.

You sure did.

Let's get into it.

Here's my conversation with Mary Drosch.

Welcome to the show, Mary.

We are so happy to have you here.

Great to be here.

So, travel spending has gone off to a slow start in 2025.

How significant is the decrease from last year, and what are the factors driving that?

Travel spending is a little soft, primarily driven by air, which is down 3% year over year.

There are some bright spots.

Cruising is up year over year, and seeing a little bit of pullback in hotels as well.

And why do we think people are spending less on travel in the first couple of months of 2025?

Earlier on the year, January, February, there were a lot of weather-related issues, which reduced travel.

storms, the wildfires in California.

And now we're faced with a lot of uncertainty given impending tariffs.

Overall, our consumers are still very healthy, but they're pulling back in those more discretionary items.

They're also faced with some increases in necessities like insurance, rent.

So they're making trade-offs.

So you can see even in travel, they're making choices to do it in a more affordable way.

When consumer sentiment is low, how does that affect travel spending generally?

Do people pull back completely and cancel their trips?

Are they spending less on the trips they are taking?

What's happening there?

Yeah, it's really a combination, but what we're seeing in our actual data at Bank of America is that people are making responsible choices.

And even in a recent Bank of America summer travel survey that we did, what we're finding is they're just going to pull back a little bit.

So less international, more domestic, more road trips instead of flying.

So things that enable you to still take a great trip, make memories with your family and and friends, but at a more affordable place.

One thing I really like about Bank of America's survey is that it uses real credit card and debit card transaction data as opposed to just what people say they're going to do.

Because as we all know, we have great intentions to save money, but it doesn't always happen in reality.

Were there any discrepancies that you noticed between what people were saying they were going to do financially and what the data shows about their spending?

It's a little soon to see how it actually plays out with our most recent survey on how people intend to do it.

But we're already starting to see in our data that people are pulling back on things like airline purchases and hotels.

And as a result, those are also things that are the prices are going down because demand is decreasing.

But they're not 100% pulling back.

So I think there's a concern, and that's what the consumer sentiment is showing, is people are a little uncertain on the future.

But we're not seeing pullback in year-over-year spend.

We're actually seeing spend growth.

So one of those categories that people are spending more on is cruises.

Can you tell us what the data says about that?

Cruise spend was up 7% in the first quarter.

And when you think about a cruise, it's a very affordable way to see a lot of places and it's generally all-inclusive.

And so we've continued to see post-pandemic an increase in cruising amongst Bank of America debit and credit.

holders.

And there just doesn't seem to be an end in sight.

Even as we've seen travel spend go down, cruising continues to be up year over year.

And a lot of our cruise companies out there are adding ships and destinations given its popularity.

You mentioned that prices have gone down recently for lodging and airfare, kind of in response to the lower demand.

We're seeing like hotel room rates and car rentals are down 2%.

Airfares are down almost 8%.

Those are compared to last year.

Are these price changes allowing more people to travel for the summer?

Well, they still are faced with those other expenses that they can't really offset, which is rent, utilities, insurance.

So they're not necessarily able to take those trips.

So we're seeing other things like road tripping is becoming very popular.

We saw that in our data.

63% of the people we surveyed who are going to have a summer vacation plan to do it.

And their own car are one that they rent because it's so much more affordable.

So if these people are road tripping, they're probably staying within the U.S.

Where are they going?

A lot of things like national parks, amusement parks.

And what they love about it is the flexibility when you're on a road trip.

You don't have to be at the airport an hour early.

Your agenda is a little bit more come as you go.

If you want to stop and see a beautiful destination, you can and stay as long as you want and then move on.

You also have the journey together that people really enjoy.

Over 40% of the people that we surveyed said it's about the journey.

Play games in the car.

You can't help but talk to each other because there's no other distraction.

So it's a good way to create a memory, whether it's with friends or family.

I thought it was really interesting in the data to see this switch that when you look at higher income earners as opposed to middle and low income earners, the majority of those high income earners are flying this summer as opposed to driving and taking these road trips.

Where are the high income earners going on vacation this summer?

Well, they're traveling both domestically and internationally.

Mexico and Canada, the highest percent are going there, followed by European countries.

But where we're seeing the most year-over-year growth is with Asia.

It's up 9%

over the previous year.

And Japan is a particular favorite.

That's actually where I'm planning on taking my family, though I have not made actually any arrangements, but somehow by August, we're going to figure it out.

How does entertainment spending play into all of this?

This is the kind of spending that people do on theme parks, on concerts, on sporting events.

Are people traveling for those types of events and how much are they spending on it?

We found that half of Americans have traveled out of state or even internationally to attend a concert or a sporting event or festival.

Many, including myself, traveled to attend the ARS tour as an example.

When we surveyed our people asking, Do you intend to do more of that?

Over a third said they're going to spend even more on entertainment and really plan trips around it than they did in 2024.

And live events is just really such a memorable way to encapsulate a vacation.

And then one strategy for saving this year is going to destination dupes.

Can you give me an example of what that is?

Yeah, I'll talk about my own destination dupe, but it's a way of going to a place that is less crowded, less known, and therefore less expensive to still get the same sort of experience.

I went to Greece last last summer and we went to Santorini, which was amazing, super, super crowded and incredibly expensive.

And I live in New York City and it was incredibly expensive.

We then went to Paros, which is another Greek island less known, less populated, and a fraction of the cost.

I had the most amazing villa for...

an entire extended family it was 11 of us for less than what i was paying for just my kids and my husband to be in a a hotel in Santorini.

Wow.

Plus, when we would go out to eat, it would be a fraction of the cost, but it was the same Greek experience, in some ways more authentic.

So there's many places, whether you're going to the Caribbean or you want to go to Europe, if you go to a place that's less known, it's going to be more affordable and sometimes more culturally immersive.

Well, Mary, thank you so much for sharing all of your insights with us.

Thank you for having me.

I hope you have a wonderful summer vacation.

Very cool.

I like the concept of destination dupes, alliteration, and saving money.

I also want to zoom in on hotel pricing for the summer.

So we're in June, but according to our next guest, it's not too late to book something.

By the way, Sally, did you get your 4th of July lodging squared away?

You know, I actually have not booked that part yet.

Oh my gosh, you're stressing me out.

Okay, thank you for the reminder.

Do that next.

Excellent.

Our next guest is Christy Hudson, head of global PR for hotels.com.

We teased a little bit about this in the news last week, but hotels.com just released their 2025 hotel price index, and there are some really great tips in there about where the cheapest five-star hotels are and how to get the best value when you're booking hotels.

And I hope she says something about free breakfast.

You know, I'm a sucker for free food.

Yes, we definitely are talking about getting free food and expensive cocktails.

We'll have more in a moment.

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Christy Hudson, welcome to Smart Travel.

Thanks for having me.

Excited to be here.

So summer travel is here.

What trends are you seeing so far for this summer?

What does demand look like?

Is it difficult to find availability for hotels later this summer?

So it really depends on where you're going.

People tend to book hotels a little bit closer to their travel date, right?

So they get their airfare a couple months out, usually, and then they wait until a little later to get their hotels.

I'm an early booker in general, and I always advise people to book early, especially with hotels.

If you're going to New York City, you're going to have a ton of options.

If you're going to Charleston, you're going to have a lot fewer.

It really depends on the market you're going to and what kind of condensed hotel landscape you're looking at.

But you can always choose things like free cancellation as as an option, and then just keep an eye out to see if any better deals pop up.

So my advice is to get those travel dates on the calendar to get things booked.

And how can travelers save money on hotels this summer in the U.S.?

Hotels.com just released their hotel price index, which is a pretty massive analysis of global booking data that hotels.com put together to basically serve as a bit of a cheat sheet to show where and how to get more value for your money.

It shows where are hotel prices rising, where are they dropping, where travelers can find the best value globally, depending on star rating, which is super interesting.

People are being very intentional about their discretionary spending right now, but when it comes to travel, it doesn't necessarily mean they're looking for the bottom of the barrel cheapest option every time.

Rather, we all want to feel like we got a good bang for our buck.

We want to feel like we got a good value.

So you want to know where is my dollar going to go further?

If I'm price conscious, is there a place where I can get a bit more luxury for less?

So those are some of the tips that are in this report.

And hotel rates are slightly lower this year than they were last year.

Where are some of the cities in the U.S.

that you are seeing that price dropping more significantly?

In the U.S., Some of the destinations where we're seeing prices have fallen year over year are San Francisco down about 9% compared to the year prior.

Austin, Texas is down about 7%.

Atlanta, Nashville, Portland, Oregon, all around down around 6%.

Anaheim, even, which is where you would stay if you were going to Disneyland, is down about 5%.

So some really good deals there.

On the flip side, some of the places that have seen a little bit of an increase year over year, the top three are Chicago, Houston, and New York.

but ranging from 4% to 7% up year over year.

So not too crazy of a jump.

How can travelers find good value on hotel prices abroad?

If they are flying overseas or maybe to the Caribbean or Mexico or Canada, what can they do to get better value from their stays there?

If you want a luxury experience, traveling internationally is actually going to be a really great value for you.

So, five-star hotels abroad, according to the analysis, are around 32% cheaper than five-star hotels in the US.

So, some of the top places for those inexpensive five-star stays, even under like $200, under 300

cities like bangkok hanoi auckland thailand and vietnam tend to pop up and come top of mind if you're thinking cheap five star stays but also in europe so prague porto copenhagen which i always thought was a very expensive city five star stays are averaging under 300 in those cities as well On the flip side, some of the more expensive places to stay at a five-star hotel are Paris and Rome, two incredibly popular destinations with some really, really luxurious five-star accommodations.

And then in the States, Orlando and New York City are the top places for prices for five stars.

Another way to think about it when you're choosing a hotel is to look at kind of value between stars.

So the analysis found that four stars are really the sweet spot when it comes to bang for your buck.

They're the great balance of comfort and cost because if you're looking at upstarring, upgrading from a three to four star only costs about 38% more in the U.S., whereas upgrading from a four to five star comes with an 118% increase in average price.

So when you're looking at kind of like, I want something a little nicer, that four star is really going to be worth it.

And there is no universal star rating system.

So what are the differences between like staying at a four star and a five star hotel?

Yeah, it's super interesting and something I didn't know until I started working in the travel industry about a decade ago.

But like you said, there's no single global standard for hotel star rating.

It's actually determined by a number of independent organizations, government agencies, tourism boards, and it does vary by country.

There's no official checklist of amenities that have to be met in order to receive a certain star rating.

So not every five-star hotel is going to be required to have a pool.

And many four-star hotels may have spas.

So there is some nuance to it.

Generally speaking, star rating reflects a hotel's level of luxury, comfort, amenities, and service.

And in some countries, you might see sustainability practices or even verified guest feedback be factored into the star ratings.

I always recommend using the star rating as a starting point.

And then you really want to be on the sites digging through guest reviews, digging through photos.

Those are going to give you a much better sense of how is a traveler's actual experience at this property recently, right?

You can see a month ago, someone stayed there and is raving about the concierge and is raving about the room updates and the view.

That's going to give you a lot more than just a star rating by itself.

I love a good rooftop cocktail.

Like if the four or five star hotel has a rooftop bar, I love a poolside drink.

I know that hotels.com has also done some research into some of these fancy drinks at hotels.

Can you tell us a little bit about that data?

Yeah, well, when you're thinking about what my vacation is going to cost me, you got to factor in the food and beverage, of course.

So we took a look at the average cost of having a poolside cocktail at hotels around the United States, and we found a little bit of a difference.

So we have 10.

And they range from about $21 per poolside cocktail to about $15.

So can you, do you have any guesses on where the most expensive cocktail in the U.S.

can be found by the pool?

Okay, so I'm between New York and L.A.

because they're like the most expensive cities and they have those poolside cocktails.

I'm going to go with New York.

I feel like it's a little less common.

New York is number three.

No.

But L.A.

is number one.

Los Angeles has on average a cocktail at the price of $21.20.

New York is right behind it at $20.

Maui is actually number two.

Wow.

So all those Mai Ties really add up i know that they have for me in my life the cheapest cocktail do you have any guesses on that one hmm the cheapest cocktail i'm gonna go with phoenix oh great guess we did scottsdale we did look at scottsdale it's third from last okay all right i'm in the right ballpark yeah you're on the right like side of the spectrum

Nashville at $15 has the cheapest poolside cocktails.

Oh, I believe that.

New Orleans was second cheapest at 15.

They tied for cheapest at $15.

So that's $6 cheaper to have that poolside cocktail in New Orleans or Nashville.

Well, this is why I live in LA.

I make my own poolside cocktails just without the pool.

I just

have to make it myself.

Backyard cocktails, almost as good.

So when you're trying to get the best value, it's not just about the hotel stars or the poolside drinks.

What are some of the extra perks that travelers should look for when they're trying to increase the value of their stay?

I think it's really important when you're talking about travel and value to talk about loyalty and rewards programs.

In travel, these are the best ways to get more out of your dollars.

Even if you're not 100% loyal to one airline or one brand, you're really leaving money on the table if you don't utilize these.

So, credit cards that give you points and miles are fantastic, but they do come with a pretty hefty annual fee that's not insignificant.

So, those aren't always accessible to everybody or something you want to invest in.

There are a lot of ways to get free benefits, though.

So hotels.com has a free loyalty program and it unlocks member discounts of 20% or more off of hotels.

You also earn rewards for every stay.

But within that program, they also have a curated list of thousands of hotels called VIP Access.

And the reason I bring these up is because when you're talking about getting more out of your stay, these VIP access properties, in order to be part of the program, they have to offer free perks.

So you can get perks like free parking.

They also offer things like free food and beverage credits, free spa treatments, bottles of wine when you arrive.

Some of these perks equal more than $250 at some of these properties, which is the average cost of a four-star stay.

I think that's a great point you brought up that this program is free.

I just want to mention some of the other programs that are similar that offer extra hotel perks.

You might get them through your travel credit card, like the Amex Find Hotels and Resorts collection is kind of similar.

They have a list of hotels that will give you extra perks, things like late checkout, property credits, free breakfast, that kind of thing.

It's amazing how much that stuff can make your trip feel special.

Not every part of the travel process is going to be pleasant, right?

There's like lots of waiting in lines.

There's a lot of getting from airport to in the taxi to the hotel.

But when you have little things waiting for you, it makes you feel a little special.

Helps you like turn off the grind mode and go into vacation mode.

So that stuff means a lot to me too.

So Christy, what is your advice for summer travelers who are still looking for savings in the next few months?

Like I said, I'm a big fan of getting those things on the calendar.

Now, one thing to remember about summer is it's no shocker here, it's peak time, right?

So July in particular is an extremely expensive and busy time to travel.

August is kind of the shoulder season of the summer, especially late August between the last two weeks of August and Labor Day weekend.

So that's a great shoulder season time because the weather gets a little cooler and travel really cools off.

So you don't have as many crowds.

Well, you can start looking for those shoulder season deals right now.

Christy, thank you so much for joining us on Smart Travel.

Thanks for having me.

Okay, good tips in there.

I do want to throw in some caution though.

Booking with an online travel agency like hotels.com means you usually won't earn loyalty points with that hotel.

If you're not trying to earn status or you don't often stay with that brand, maybe it doesn't matter that much to you, but something to keep in mind if it does.

Good call out.

You'll definitely want to compare the perks you get through something like hotels.com's VIP access program with the opportunity cost of booking directly and earning loyalty points.

I just stayed at the Santa Monica proper hotel, courtesyofhotels.com to try out that VIP access program and the perks were worth a couple of hundred dollars.

Ooh, interesting.

There's a proper hotel near my house.

I need to check it out.

Yes, definitely.

Okay, time for our favorite segment, hot takeoffs.

I've got one.

Okay, let's hear it.

This is related to the Capital One Venture X guest policy changes.

Oh, yes.

I knew we were going to talk about this.

Yes, I think there are maybe 10 things they could have done before taking away all of that guest access.

You used to be able to bring in two guests.

Your authorized users used to bring in two guests.

So that's like eliminating guest access for so many people.

I think we could have done this, you know, more gradually, like maybe have a reservation system and maybe like limit it to one guest.

No, no.

I hate reservation systems.

I just want to walk in when I walk in.

No way.

No guests.

If there are no guests, I just won't use the lounge at all.

So now this is a perk that does not work for me at all.

But it works for the people who are paying the annual fee on the card.

And that's really who the lounges are for, not for your five besties.

I understand that.

But if you are paying the annual fee and your friend does not have the same card, we're just going to eat like some random airport food outside.

We can pay a guest entry fee, but neither of us eat $45 worth of those small plates.

See you at the airport McDonald's, Megan.

That's our hot takeoffs and that was our show.

If you guys have any takes of your own, including feedback on our hot takeoffs, feedback on the state of summer travel, please email us.

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This episode was produced by Tess Bigland and Hilary Georgie and edited by Nick Chrisme.

Claire Soci helped with fact-checking.

And here's our brief disclaimer.

We are not financial or investment advisors.

This info is provided for general educational and entertainment purposes and may not apply to your specific circumstances.

We hope you're inspired to keep your passport full and your wallet even fuller.

Thanks, everyone.

We'll see you next week.

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