As a cartoonist, I spend a lot of time as my own travel agent. Conventions are part of my business, but that means managing hotels and airfares and rental cars. Some cons bring me in, and that’s wonderful. But not all of them do. And you have to do the math:
CON PROFITS - (TRAVEL EXPENSES + HOTEL EXPENSES) = ACTUAL PROFIT
It’s in your best interest to get your expenses down.
When I fly, I fly almost exclusively Southwest. First, bags fly free and I have to bring a lot of stuff to sell. Second, you can rebook your ticket with no penalties past the change in cost. That’s good for when you want to book something but leave the possibility of changing your mind. If I need to cancel flying to Convention X but I know I’ll be going to Convention Y later, I can take the cost of that first ticket and put it towards the second.
Most of the flights have layovers, which I know not everyone likes. They don’t bother me, and an extra three hours of travel time to save $200 seem worth it, especially when I can work decently in airports.
The math here is complicated. How many people are going? How much stock do you have to bring? Is it driving distance? What’s the cost of gas right now? For me, being in Cleveland, Chicago and New York are definitely driving shows. DragonCon in Atlanta is the far end of my travel time, but I usually go with Amy, which means weighing two plane tickets and bringing freight against a rental car and gas prices. Usually those numbers works in favor of the driving.
Selecting an “official” airline also means you’ll rack up some Frequent Flier miles. (What? You’re not a member of a Frequent Flyer club? Join now!) I usually manage to get a free flight every year or year and a half through my Southwest Rapid Rewards account. [1. Super pro-tip: Here in Ohio we have Giant Eagle, which allows you to buy gift cards and accrue rewards for discount fuel purchases. So, at it's peak, you can buy a $50 Southwest gift card and save 20¢ a gallon on gas. If you know you're going to spend $400 on a flight, this way you'll at least save $1.60 per gallon on your next fill-up. I did this with Best Buy cards to get my new iPad, and I've been driving free gas for the last few weeks. If somewhere near you has a similar program, take advantage of it]
When possible, I book my rooms through Hotels.com. Again, picking a dance partner here has some advantages. After every ten stays, you get a free night, and I’ve used that more than a few times. Cancellations are often free, and they have a price matching program where if you see a better price, you can call and they’ll match that. It can be a hassle to monitor that stuff, but I just dropped my DragonCon hotel down $150 doing it, so it’s worth it.
You may need to stay in the con hotel, so that locks out some choices. And there are places like Comic-Con in San Diego where you’re locked into the Hoteloween system. But not every show has the same nighttime social needs. And maybe you know you’re going to spend your nights in the hotel drawing commissions. So you can look to hotels that are a little farther off-site.
For DragonCon, we stay at a hotel half an hour away. Driving back and forth isn't as easy as walking from the hotel, but for one night at a con hotel we can cover our entire stay at the off-site hotel. And since every dollar I don’t spend on expenses is a dollar profit, it’s the difference between slightly better than breaking even and turning a profit. Add to that free wifi and free breakfast at this hotel, and there’s no question which is better for us.
I rent a fair number of cars, too. You don’t need them for every show, especially if you fly in, but if you’re going to drive to Charlotte, you might want to put those miles on someone else’s car, especially if it has a bigger trunk.
Here I haven’t found a ton of benefit to the frequent renter programs. I am a member of Hertz’s which is free, and allowed me to set myself up as a business. That means I don’t have to pay for extra drivers on the rental if they’re driving for my business. And I do get some free days of rental or free upgrades every now and then.
But, when I’m renting in a convention city, I swear by AutoSlash.com. With AutoSlash, you make your reservation and then they continually price the best offers and send you emails to change. So, if you book a one week rental for $200 at Hertz and then Enterprise offers a lower rate, AutoSlash alerts you and by replying to the email, you switch. Pretty cool!
AutoSlash does great with airport-based rentals, less so with suburban locations.
Past all that, I recommend taking advantage of free cancellation policies. If you want to go to Convention X, book your room, grab your car, as long as you can cancel them without penalty. I booked my MegaCon room a year out this year. You'll get the best prices, and the chance for better prices, that way. Far better than waiting until a couple of weeks before and lamenting the high prices and few choices you have.
More time means more options and better prices. And better prices mean lower expenses!
