Mail and Parcel Center Stores' Article: Tips for Convention Travel Planning

View List of All Articles

• Orbitz.com
• Expedia.com
• Travelocity.com
• CheapTickets.com
• There are many others when you do a search for "flights."

• Plan to get to the airport two hours before your flight is scheduled to leave. Depending on the airport and the date, this may just give you enough time to check-in, go through security, and get to your gate in time to board.
• All carry-on luggage and yourself will go through security, so prepare to have on socks with no holes! Laptops will be checked individually, so plan on a few extra minutes for these.
• Don't carry any sharp instruments on the plane, including nail files or scissors. I once lost a nice $15 pair of small nail scissors due to my negligence.
• No lighters or matches are allowed on your person or in checked baggage.
• Security will vary by airport. Listen to the agents. Once in Texas, a security agent asked Rutledge whether or not he had firearms in his luggage. Rut was shocked, since he thought that the agent asked him if he had a bomb in his luggage. Rut laughed and said, "What?!" I thought that the security agent asked us if we had a "thong" in our suitcase. It was a funny situation this time, but the point is that one has to be careful on what they say in response to questions that are not clearly understood.
• Since you may have an hour before boarding, depending on the time and flights, carry a magazine or other entertainment. I love the Logic Puzzles, but others prefer to work on laptops, read magazines, or sleep on the plane.
• If you are on a long flight (3 or more hours), you can buy good ear phones from Radio Shack or other electronic merchants to watch the movies or to listen to music. The stewards or stewardesses will sell you inexpensive ones on the plane, too, if you want to watch the featured movie.
• Now the only nourishment that one experiences on most flights is a tiny bag of pretzels and a small cup of liquid (soda drink or water, in many cases). Carry on a bottle of water with you, or eat food before you board. Check to see if a long flight of 3 hours or more offers an option for buying food, if you think that you will need it.

• Flights normally start boarding 30 minutes before the flight is schedule to depart.
• Turn off your cell phone.
• Go to the bathroom right before your flight starts boarding, unless you want to go into a teensy tiny bathroom during a flight.
• Grab a pillow or blanket, if you think that you might need these, as you board the plane. Pillows and blankets most times can be seen in overhead compartments as you board the plane. My experience is that the plane if freezing during the warm months of the year. If you have a weak back, a pillow placed behind the small of your back may make those airline seats more comfortable.
• See "The Suitcase" for items allowed while boarding a plane.

• Flight arrangements
• Transportation arrangements
• Hotel arrangements
• Maps
• Contact Numbers

• One pair of nice casual pants for each day of meetings
• One nice casual shirt to coordinate with each pair of pants, in the polo style
• Many wear shirts that show their company logo or the NPC logo.
• Bring something to wear for one or more evening outings in a casual style for those nights that we all get together and go out on our own one night before the meetings start or after they end.
• Annual national conventions may have more formal events, so bring clothes accordingly.
• NPC Shirts can be purchased at the vendor show, and city t-shirts can be purchased, usually, at the gift shop in the hotel.
• Pack separates (tops with pants and skirts) that can be interchanged for the lightest suitcase possible. For example, you might be able to wear a black pair of pants for three hours one evening and two hours the next evening with a different shirt.

• Know that the hotels offer an iron and ironing board.
• Put all toiletries that can leak into a sealed bag, since the air pressure of a flight can affect product seals and cause these to leak. If you don't have a toiletry bag, a food zip-lock bag works great, as does a plastic bag with a "twist tie."
• Clothes pack best when folded and laid flat or when rolled neatly.
• Keep in mind that your luggage is going to be tossed. Pack any fragile items in your luggage accordingly. Clothing can serve as a packing material for any fragile items. We know of someone who won a franchise award, and their award was damaged in their luggage because they didn't protect it in their suitcase!

• Persons normally are permitted to carry on one personal item, such as a purse or a briefcase, and a "carry-on" bag. A "carry-on" is a piece of luggage that normally doesn't exceed 22" X 14" X 9" as a rule, but check with your airline to be certain.
• A suitcase on wheels with a handle is so nice to use for a trip. Small ones with wheels that may last one to two trips can be bought for $25. Ones that can hold items for two persons and that will last for about one to three years of heavy travel can be purchased for approximately $100 to $150.
• It is so funny how so many suitcases look the same at the baggage claim area in airports. Mark your suitcase, so that you can notice it easily. We wrap iridescent tape around the handle with children's dinosaur stickers in plain view. Others use colored ribbon. Don't use the anything that may be torn, such as hanging yarn pom-poms wrapped around the handle.
• Don't lock your suitcase, unless you want to lose your lock. Security needs to be able to open your suitcase.

• A special that we saw on television recently discussed how unclean hotels can be, even the highest-rated hotels. It suggested that one clean the phone and remote control upon arrival.
• The hotel phone pad will list extensions to call different hotel departments. When in doubt, call the front desk for assistance.
• Wake-up calls are great, but don't depend on these. I've had a few wake-up calls that didn't happen. Use the alarm clock as a back-up.
• Housekeeping or Guest Services is the department to call for burned-out light bulbs or other repairs needed in your room.
• Check-out times vary by hotel, and usually this is 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. If you aren't out by the stated check-out time, you may be charged for a half day. If needed, call the front desk to request a late check-out time to determine if late check-out is an option.
• The bell staff or front desk will be able to store luggage for you before you check-in or after you check-out, if needed. Most of us do this on the last day of an AMPC meeting, since we want to go to all the events of the day before we depart.

• $1 per passenger
• $1 per bag, if the hotel shuttle person loads and unloads your bags.
  ¢ Tip an extra dollar or more for trips longer than 30 minutes or for assistance given to handicapped persons in your group.
• If the driver performs extra services, tip accordingly. Once we had a hotel shuttle person at an AMPC convention in Orlando who went out of his way to help us with our trip. He scheduled a reasonably-priced rental car, and he went out of his way to take two of us to a rental car destination, along with giving us directions for our outing. A big group of us AMPC Disney lovers came in early to go to Disney World. The hotel shuttle driver got a $20 tip for 30 minutes worth of work, but he saved us time and money with his knowledge and attention.

• Tip a taxi driver $2 in San Diego, when the fare is only $10.
• If a cab driver is willing to wait for you while you go run into a drugstore or convenience store, tip an extra buck or two for his or her patience. The taxi driver could be on the way to make that extra buck that incurs in the first minute of a ride, and you don't have to call another taxi.
• If the cabbie loads or unloads bags, tip $1 to $2 per bag for assisting you, depending on your luggage.
• Some cabbies are smart and will give you information on your tourist ventures. This calls for a bump in the tip.

• If the service person gives you some recommendations and a map, and it takes a three minutes or more for them to do this, tip $1.
• If the concierge makes phone calls for you to assist you with your outing, tip an extra $1 for this.
• It the concierge goes into detail, tip for each step of the way. For example, if the concierge helps you to decide on different restaurants, arranges for transportation, gives maps, and helps you to arrange your group outing, we say that the concierge should get $1 per person.

• Check room service times in the book in the service book in your room.
• With most major hotels, you can put a hanger on your door in the evening to have a pre-ordered breakfast delivered at a certain time in the morning.
  Tips: Check that hotel service book again. Almost all hotels already include a tip for room service in your tab, and sometimes this is as much as 17% to 20%. Don't tip more, unless you want to tip more than the stated percentage on your tab.

• If you are sleeping late, just place that door hanger provided on the outside of your room's door knob until you leave. If you don't want service, call housekeeping or the front desk. These is the department to call for any room needs, such as a hairdryer that doesn't work (check this before the next morning). If you have any valuables, place these in the safe, if one is provided in the room. Otherwise, carry these with you, since most hotels say that they are not responsible for theft.
• Check room service times in the book in the service book in your room.
• With most major hotels, you can put a hanger on your door in the evening to have a pre-ordered breakfast delivered at a certain time in the morning.

Tips: Tip $1 to $3, depending on the hotel and the economy of the area.

• Tip $1 in lower-priced hotels, such as Red Roof Inns, which are good but are priced economically.
• $2 in the great hotels that we visit with AMPC, such as Sheratons, Westins, etc.
• $3 to $10 (or more) in luxury hotels and resorts.
• Tip more, if you are exceptionally messy.
• Typically, the tip can be left on the end of the dresser or desk for the housekeeper. Don't leave clutter around it, so that he or she knows that it is their tip. The housekeeper needs to know that the money left is for her or him. Sometimes I leave the tip on the unmade bed or pillow.
• Most hotels now leave a card from the housekeeper in your room that tells you who your housekeeper is. Bull hockey, since the housekeepers change day to day. This card translated means, "Put my tip under this card, and I know that it is my tip." This is their way of letting you know where to leave a tip.
• If you want to make sure that the housekeeper gets your tip, and you don't have a card from the housekeeping staff, just put a note on top of the tip that says, "For the Housekeeper."
• If you ask for an extra service, such as a note that reads, "Housekeeper, please leave an extra shampoo and lotion, along with one extra bath towel," then leave an extra dollar.
• If you held a small party in your room, or if you trashed your room personally, leave a note of gratitude to the housekeeper with a tip of $10 or more.

• 15% is a tip for normal service.
• 20% is a tip for good service.
• If you are in a group of people, and the waiter or waitress has to work on splitting bills and attending to us as a rowdy crowd, tip him or her at least 20% or more.

• Tip 10% to 15% on regular service, but use good judgment. If a bartender charges you $1 for a Diet Coke, it would be an insult to leave a dime. We normally just use the 15% or higher rule, but many resources have said that 10% is okay.
• Tip more, if you gave the bartender a difficult time with who bought drinks for what persons.
• Tip at least a $1 per drink, if you are paying by the drink. If the bar is crowded, you may consider tipping generously after each round.
• If you are at an AMPC function and got a free drink ticket, tip the bartender $1 for each drink that you order.

• Understand that a service worker depends on tips for income.
• Never tip in advance for promised services.
• If you are waiting for a service worker, such as a skycap, and people aren't in line but just standing around the area, it helps to hold the tip in your hand to catch their attention.

• Tip more for great service.
• Understand a service worker's task when waiting on many parties at once, and when we as a group give a restaurant server a lot of questions and try to be comedians. Tip extra to the detailed and patient server.
• Tip a lot extra if a service worker helps you in a bad circumstance. For example, tip a taxi driver $1 if he got you to your location on a cold winter night in Detroit and gave you some tips on the casinos (which is your destination), but the fare was only $4.

• If you wait at a bar or restaurant to get service, consider the circumstances first. Are they short-staffed with one person waiting on 30 people or ten tables? Don't get upset at the service person who is trying to wait on many people. Instead, tip the service person, then write a letter to the management.
• If a paid shuttle driver makes you late for your flight because they are not competent, don't pay. We once had a shuttle driver who drove 20 to 40 miles an hour for over an hour because he was more interested in talking to passengers about his life story than getting us to the airport. Yes, I told him to put the metal to the pedal, but he was "being safe." He made three groups of passengers delayed in getting to the airport. The other two groups ran to catch their flights, and this guy wondered why he wasn't tipped. We gave him $5 for an hour and half trip for two people because we felt sorry for him. The trip should have taken thirty minutes!

• If a service person promises you a service, don't tip until you get the service. Once we had great bellhop service, and the service person said that he would bring us a free refrigerator to our room. Once he got the tip, that fellow was off the clock and gone from the hotel!
• If an airport shuttle driver didn't help you load or unload your luggage, or if he or she didn't even care if you knew what parking section the shuttle was stopped at the current moment, don't tip, in our opinion.

To Top of Page

View List of All Articles

© Copyright 2004 - 2005, Vision Alliance Network, Inc.
All Rights Reserved