The Concierge is usually someone you speak with after you have arrived. What about when you are planning you trip? Calling ahead of your arrival will give you and added edge when it comes to making reservations for that amazing (and usually sold out) show or that uber chic-hard-to-get-into restaurant that is in all the magazines.

One important issue you might not think of, which the concierge can inform you about, is whether there are any local holidays or festivals that could impact your visit.  Particularly is some Asian countries, you could be surprised by closings or prohibitions about which the concierge can give you that all-important warning.

You’ve probably asked a hotel concierge to help you get restaurant and/or theater reservations, but don’t forget that he or she can also be your best resource for information about local customs, sights you wouldn’t normally see, and places the locals love to eat.

Most of us don’t think about asking the concierge what he would suggest. And because of that we may be missing out on some fabulous possibilities.

And please do remember to compensate him or her generously for the services he/she provides.

Wanderfly is a brand new website designed to inspire exploration and provide undecided travelers with options for vacation destinations that fall within their time and budget constraints while also offering all the amenities and activities that are most important to them.

Just sign into the site (it’s free), enter your point of departure, budget parameters, if any, approximate travel dates, and length of stay. Then choose the options that are most important to you—shopping, beach, food, culture, night life, eco-friendly, etc.—and click Go.

You’ll immediately receive several destinations that satisfy your requirements, including recommended hotels and flights. You can then book your trip immediately, customize your options even further, or take some time to decide and book later. It’s actually fun to do, with a bit of suspense—like watching the ball roll around a roulette wheel and waiting to see where it lands.

This is a great way to generate new ideas and discover possibilities you might never have come up with on your own, and the site itself is both aesthetically appealing and easy to navigate.

Anyone who’s tried to book a plane ticket online knows how frustrating the process can be—clicking through different carriers, departure and arrival times, and prices can literally take hours.

Until now! Hipmunk is a brand new site that actually streamlines the process and eliminates the stress. Just enter the place you’re leaving from and where you want to go, select a date, and—bingo!—you see a clear, easy-to-follow one-page display of every flight leaving that day, the price of the ticket, departure and arrival times, and any intermediate stops along with their location and time on the ground. Additional great features include:

• You have the ability to do multi-hop searches (e.g. JFK-SFO, SFO-LAX, LAX-JFK)
• You can also hover over a flight to see its departure and arrival time
• The black triangles at the top of the results page are draggable
• You can use the pop-up menu in the upper-right corner to do the filtering

Would you rather pay less and be in transit longer? Is departure time important to you? You can sort by time, cost, or preferred carrier, and then go to Orbitz to buy your ticket. And Hipmunk’s service is free!

If you already know about Andrew Harper’s fabulous service, just take this as a reminder to check it out the next time you’re planning a vacation, and if you’re not already a member, I urge you to discover the many benefits of joining.

Harper (a pseudonym because he always travels incognito and at his own expense) not only provides up-to-date insider information on the most exclusive hotels, resorts, spas, cruise ships, and other venues around the world, he also offers personalized expert planning for trips of any length to virtually any location.

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We are all in the same spot. Businesses are trying to cut back and keep track of travel expenses without limiting the revenue generated by having representatives on the road. To streamline the process of filing expense reports as well as to allow both managers and travelers to see exactly where their expense money is going, American Express has partnered with a number of leading hotel companies to make itemized breakdowns of costs available to corporate clients.

Participating hotels include Carlson Hotels Worldwide, Choice Hotels, Marriott International, Hilton International, Radisson Edwardian, Thistle Hotels, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, and most recently The Ritz-Carlton.

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I’ve happily been a member of American Express for more years than I’d like to divulge and I’ve always been incredibly impressed by their efficiency and level of service. Although there are many practical and enjoyable perks that come with Amex cards of any color or type, the Platinum card offers special services no traveler would want to be without—including 24-hour access to their Concierge service.

The Platinum Card Concierge is just a phone call away and at your service for anything from buying gifts to making reservations. Just recently a friend of mine needed to rent a car at the last minute for Thanksgiving and couldn’t find one available anywhere in or around New York City—until she put in a call to the Platinum Concierge. She received a return call within thirty minutes saying they’d found her a car!

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When it comes to travel companies, there’s no doubt that Abercrombie & Kent is one of the best. You can join a small and select group of travelers with a preplanned itinerary or ask them to create a trip based on your personal specifications to virtually anywhere in the world.

Wherever you choose to go, the company’s unique “insider access” will provide you with experiences you couldn’t have had on your own or under the auspices of any other travel agency. And with round-the-clock support available from 62 local offices worldwide, you’ll never feel disconnected or be left to “figure things out” on your own. In fact, my mother just returned from 3 week trip to Antarctica (with A&K) and she had a spectacular adventure!

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