How not to be a thrifty Spender save yourself the aggravation

Don’t left thrifty spending murder your Myrtle Beach Vacation

Years ago, my wife and I were planning a trip to Myrtle Beach South Carolina. This trip was going to be jammed packed. I had a job interview to go to on Monday morning and we needed to find housing because we were moving from another state.  We were on a tight budget because all our extra money had to go to the large expense of moving out of state. We had to check out the local schools and the area during our short trip in addition to finding housing.

Wanting to save money we decided we were going to book ourselves a hotel room at the beach. Our first mistake since we did not know the area. We booked in Myrtle Beach is a 40 min drive from where we needed to be in North Myrtle Beach. Our second mistake was we did not want to call a travel agent because this is a domestic trip that was not a vacation in our eyes. Travel agents only book all-inclusive resorts anyway, right? Mistake number three we went through a third-party vendor instead of booking directly through the hotel or using a travel agent. You know the one they can save you tons of money on your hotel by booking through them. They can even take care of airfare, car rentals, and so on. What we saw they can save money.

When to not be thrifty on vacation

We found a hotel on the beach for this impromptu trip during the height of vacation season through this third party. The reviews looked good online. The pictures of the hotel looked good so with only one room left we booked it in a hurry. We did not want to be sleeping in our car the night before the interview. (Which almost happened anyway) So, with this don’t miss out book this second for the deeply discounted rate because there are 103 other people looking at this room right now, we were happy to get the reservation.

A week later we packed the car with everything you could need for a road trip and a lot of other things you don’t need. You know what I am talking about. The I have never needed this up to this point in your life but you pack it just in case. You never know what may happen when you are away from home. That is a separate blog for another time. We had a 13-hour trip ahead of us. So, in the middle of the night, we decide to head out so we can beat some of the traffic and get down there early to start checking the place out.

When to be thrifty on vacation at Myrtle Beach

We were filled with adrenaline so excited for our future and living our dream. We always wanted to live at the beach and with this opportunity my work was a 5 min drive from North Myrtle Beach. Nothing could rain on our parade. Until it did.

We checked into the hotel which looked nice. The pictures did not misrepresent. After unpacking we walked down to the beach and checked out the amenities of the hotel. Then after driving for the past 13 hours, we drove some more and checked out the local area.

We decided to turn in around 10 pm that night by this point we had been up for the past 24 hours. (We were too excited to get any rest before the midnight drive start time) and had now been in a car for about 18 of those 24 hours. The adrenaline had worn of and we had another busy day of scouting for a house to rent on quick notice if I got the job.

Little did we know there are no quite hours after 10 pm at this hotel. (If there was, they were not enforced.)  Our front door had a long walkway that connected every room on our floor. On the opposite side of that walk way was the parking lot and parking garage to the hotel. Our room was laid out that as soon as you opened the front door there as a 5-foot space and then the bed was on the left-hand side right beside a huge picture window. Then there was a hall that connected the bathroom and kitchenette area that had sliders opening to a balcony. This balcony overlooked the pool area to the right then a courtyard straight Infront. Infront of the court yard was the beach. The reason it is important to know all of this is what happened for the rest of the night.

All night long there was a parade of people on the walk way 5 feet from the bed. These people were not quite. You could hear their conversations the whole walk and their footsteps.

 Then fireworks are legal in South Carolina. There are stores everywhere that sell them. Somebody must have spent their whole months’ pay check on these boomers. I am not taking small little fireworks like you have with the kids. These are the professional grade boomers that were set off all night long.

Then remember the parking lot/ garage outside my bed well car alarms don’t like loud noises. So, every car alarm went off each time a firework was lit. I am just setting the stage it gets so much worse. The neighbors beside us apparently could sleep through a hurricane because they fell asleep and the snoring was so loud, I heard it like they were in bed with me. Their head rest to their bed was directly on the paper-thin wall behind the headrest to my bed. The neighbors above us were in a fight. Not a normal fight a screaming match. They were saying unspeakable things to each other. In addition, I bet they paid damage fees because things were being thrown at each other and breaking against the walls. At one point I thought they shot each other but it turned out it was a M80 firework that went off. The neighbor on the other wall must have been not able to sleep either because at 2 am they made popcorn. I know this because I heard the microwave ding and could smell it in my room. Then they proceeded to turn the Tv up to full blast to drown out the noise. 

In a strange place and not knowing the area along with-it being height of travel season we did not think we would get a room in the middle of the night somewhere else so we endured the night. 

The next morning, we took our bags and went to check out. We explained the situation to the concierge they were less than empathetic. We now have not slept in 48 hours and were getting quite agitated. 

Then once they found out we booked through that wonderful discounted third party it was like talking to a wall. They said they would not refund us for the rest of our money since we were checking out early. On top of that they were going to charge us early cancellation fees. They said all refunds would have to go through the third party.

After a half hour of getting nowhere and realizing we lost this war we moved on. We now were out all our money and potentially more if they made good on their threats of extra fees. We had no idea where to go for that night that would take us on such short notice and the next day was the interview.

We got in the car and left. Now its 90 degrees out and were in a parking lot because we have no where to go and need to figure this out. We start with calling the third party to get a refund so we then have the money to book a new hotel.  The third party was not sympathetic to our plight either. After 3 disconnected (on purpose?) phone calls to them, four hours of trying to get someone to give us back our money and multiple supervisors we were told we were eligible for a partial refund but it would take 14 days to give us our money back.

We found a hotel after another three hours of calling around that would take us for that night so we could have the interview the next day. Now it’s been 48 hours since we slept and we just spent about 7 hours of our day in a sweltering car. We were defeated. Not knowing what else to do we accepted the offer they gave us. At this point we were worn out, stressed to the max, and deflated. In addition to being sweat soaked through, hungry, and thirsty.

Knowing now what I did not know then if I would have booked our week hotel through a travel agent, I could have called the travel agent and arrangements would have been made on my behalf. I would not have wasted 4 hours trying to get my money back and another three calling every hotel in an hour radius trying to get another place to stay. I could have done what I came to do while all this was being taken care of for me.

What we have learned about being thrifty on vacation in Myrtle Beach

Travel agents do not cost the customer extra money to use their services. They also can find the same or better rates than you can find on your own. They take care of all the planning for you. There is travel insurance incase problems do arise. Travel agents book more that just exotic destinations. They can also book hotels and resorts domestically as well.

Travel agents commission is already built into the price. When you think you’re getting a better price by doing it yourself the money that would have gone to the agent from where ever you are booking from goes right back into the hotels pocket. Now you are liable to take care of all the arrangements and take on the third-party vendors and hotels when things go awry.

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I wish you the best in your travel journeys and I hope you have learned from my experience so you never have to go through it on your own.

Bob Porter -Personalized travel planning made easy