Weather or Not You Like It, There May Be RAIN
Get it? Weather or not? It’s a play on words, but there is no FUN in the cold, hard reality that sometimes it rains (or worse yet STORMS!) on weekends. I’ve often wondered what crafter among us would take issue with the plan I call out for Mother Nature to agree to: inclement weather only Monday through Thursday for the duration of the summer, leaving the weekends beautiful and sun-shiny or even cool and overcast. Just NO precipitation, please! But until the universe gets on board with that plan, we are left to our own devices on how to deal.
Oh, pardon me. Did I wreck something nice?
No matter what the weather forecasters tell you, you should always come prepared to protect all of your hard work from any eventualities, including but not limited to a crazy, unexpected burst of rain. You’ve worked hard to make all of this wonderful stuff, so think of it like this: having the sidewalls and other things you need JUST IN CASE is like having insurance. Insurance that you don’t have to pay for every month!
If your shows so far this year are like ours then each and every one has *some* amount of rain. (Unless, of course, your show is indoors, in that case the weather has been fabulash!) If it’s a two day show, one of the days it was drizzling non-stop. Or if it was a one day show, how about a 15 minute torrential downpour thrown in for good measure?
Anyway, I will stop complaining about it, but I know most craft show veterans can relate. So what are the tools we need, then, to weather these storms?
1) Patience. There is truly nothing you can do to change what is happening. Try to breathe in, count to ten and accept that this is what is happening. Sure, it won’t keep you or your stuff from getting soaked, but it can help bring a little zen, maybe.
Hmm, not sure this is what we had in mind.
2) A Tent. Please, please, please have a tent. Being serious enough to pay a booth fee but NOT serious enough to bring a tent is seriously silly. Besides creating a nice, shady spot for customers on a sunny day, tents help you define your 10×10 empire. It also prevents scalp sun burns. And shelter from rain, obviously.
3) Sidewalls. As Matt always so wisely points out – rain never falls straight down. (At least at a craft show, ha ha.) So it is a necessity to plan out some form of water-resistant (better yet – water PROOF) wall for your tent. We’ve seen all kinds of solutions and varying degrees of success. The worst of all was a roll of cling wrap being wrapped around the back legs of the tent. I only wish I was kidding.
Nicer (ie more expensive) tents come with sidewalls and most of those are sufficient for short bursts of foul weather. We’ve learned the hard way that these are not water-proof, just water resistant and water will definitely start beading up on the inside of the tent after an hour or so of steady rain. It could be just us, but we NEVER successfully attached the sidewalls in the proper manner – which, of course, you don’t find out until it comes time to ‘make it work!’ The sides are not user friendly enough to figure out without a 10 point diagram. Needless to say, when it came time to zip our tent up, one side was almost always attached upside down or inside out. So if you have this solution, practice at home if you can!
After a full season of bad luck with the walls that came with our old tent, we opted to switch to waterproof white tarps which we secure with amazing little bungee balls. It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s 99% there. When it is nice out, we simply and easily roll up the sides and add more bungees to affix them to the tent bones. When it gets dark and ominous, unbungee from the top, drop the tarps down and use more bungees to tie them to the legs. Matt will write a post about this set up in greater detail, including photos and tips. It’s important with this plan to buy the right tools, it makes your life way easier in the event of the unfortunate monsoon or two.
4) Tent Weights Tent weights, like people, come in all shapes and sizes. Regardless the forecast, it is considered proper craft show etiquette to choose *at least one* type of tent weight to show your neighbors that you care; that the idea of your tent setting sail into their priceless pottery or hand sewn haberdashery is one that you detest. If you’ve ever been to an art or craft fair where it has gotten all (shall-we-say) tempesty, then the fear of flying tents is a very justified one. Wanna read some first hand accounts of one particularly bad day? There are pictures, too! Here’s one from Lavender Hill. And here’s a co-vendor at the same very blustery show, the Jonesy Files.
These two stories are in the top percentile of extreme craft show weather, so I guess my point in posting them is this: be aware that it really CAN be that bad for everyone, but also – be thankful that 99% of the time it’s usually just wet and sometimes gusty. And 99% of the time, unlike in these tales of treachery, your chosen tent weights WILL actually make a marked difference.
5) Clear Plastic Sheeting This one isn’t even a necessity, but you know what? We always have a roll or two with us just in case something weird pops up. You could use it to cover a display temporarily if wind is blowing rain inside your tent and you don’t wish to lower your front wall. You could use it to stand on if your booth gets muddy and gross. You could cover up boxes or things that are not a part of your display but you still don’t want getting wet. You could find a hundred other good uses for it IF YOU HAVE IT! They are super cheapy and disposable, so why not get a couple and leave them rolled up amongst your tools of the trade? Worst case scenario, you have it for the next 10 years. And hey, isn’t that a good thing?!
6) Paper Towels I admit it, we usually forget to bring paper towels, unless it’s the last thing we see as we are leaving for the show. But DANG, are they useful no matter what the skies decide to do! So next time you are down to a 1/3 of a roll, why not just chuck that in with your craft show doing supplies and you will never have to worry.
Why, I would be *honored* to crush your crafts without your permission.
7) A PLAN, MAN! This last one is just mostly food for thought. Having done more rainy shows than sunny ones (This may be an exaggeration, I’m jaded!) I have seen a lot of thoughtless behavior from visitors to our tent. We deal in paper goods, so if someone comes into our tent even just a little bit and they don’t put their bleepity-bleeping umbrellas down prior to entering, suddenly their tent turns into a wondrous, magical slide for rain drops! ‘Weeeeeee!’ the little rain drops say, splashing down onto all of our sadly, super-absorbent papery goodness. And I know that the bearer of the brolly does not intend to ruin our hard work, but by golly, they are! So if your work can be easily annihilated by a few drops of H20, just be vigilant in asking/reminding everyone to put their gear away while they shop.
Another thing that very wet shoppers will do if the downpour turns torrential is to crowd into the nearest tent. Unfortunately, in cases like these, you can be fairly certain that these folks are not really there because they enjoy your personal artistic ability, but that they are quite fond indeed of your tent’s ability to keep them from getting any wetter. ‘Okay?’ I hear you ask. ‘What’s so wrong with that?’ My answer is this. Hopefully nothing! But one time, we so desperately needed to get from behind our table to move things that were right up front towards the aisle further into the tent. EVERYTHING was getting soaking wet, our packaging was getting completely destroyed. We had left ourselves plenty of room to maneuver our stuff back by about a foot in case of rain, but because our tent now played home to a crowd of 5 or 6 friends, there was no way for us to get to the front to put our plan into action. So a bunch of stuff got drenched as if it were on a log-ride and the people in our booth didn’t even pretend to be interested in anything we had for sale. Sad face, indeed.
So in the end, what can you do? Rain is the enemy. Wind is not our friend. But with a little preparation, we can hopefully do our best to keep our stuff from being swept away. Sanity included.
What are your worst weather at a show experiences? If you’ve blogged about them, let us know!
Selling crafts on the surface of the sun.
Sorry for the short hiatus here at CSE! We are in the midst of our July rotation, of which this weekend is the only one we have off!
It has been miserably hot here on the east coast. It’s so hard to stay looking fresh and pretty (read:clean) when you have to set up in the blistering sun or when it is already in the 90s at 9 am. I don’t believe that there’s a way to do it. Our last show was in Baltimore (ArtScape, great show!) and the tents were provided and set up for us, but even just unloading our vehicle right in front of the tent got us all *sweaty* and for those of you who haven’t yet figured it out, the equation is this:
Heat + Manual Labor = Sweat + Uncomfortableness,
Sweat + Uncomfortableness = Grumpy + Overheated Crafters
So how do you keep from becoming a Grumpy + Overheated Crafter when you can’t do anything at all about the heat or the manual labor? The number one answer? STAY HYDRATED!! I know, I sound like your mother, but this time, she was right!
My other tip? DON’T MOVE unless you have to! (Not even joking. But I don’t do well in the heat.)
Invest in a nice rolling cooler, a bag or two of ice and a giant carton of bottled water. Yes, I know some of you are anti-bottled water, so if this is you, get one of those big cooler jugs (the kind with a spout) and fill it to the brim with ice and water, just don’t forget to bring cups! If you can stomach the taste of Gatorade types of drinks, those are great for replenishing your electrolytes, which is also not a bad idea. As much as you might prefer to drink a crisp, refreshing soft drink or beer, it is best to skip these during the hottest hours of the day. Lots of sodas contain sodium which just saps hydration. And adding caffeine to the mix while your body is already working overtime to keep itself cooled isn’t logical. Give your ticker a break!
You might think that you can forgo the cooler because they’ll be selling refreshments at the show. In Baltimore, we were less than a half a block away from a drink stand, but it was so brutally hot out that just standing in the sun for 3 minutes made me feel like I was going to get a terrible sunburn, so I avoided walking around during the hottest hours of the day, bathroom breaks be damned!
Honestly, and for real: HEAT STROKE IS SERIOUS BUSINESS! Symptoms include confusion, nausea, light-headedness, clammy skin despite feeling overheated and irregular heart beat. Being carted off in an ambulance is not good at any time, but while you’re vending at a craft show is an incredibly lousy time for it, wouldn’t you agree?
Here are some other things you can bring along with you to help allay the Grumpy Crafter Syndrome:
- A battery operated fan. We used to bring misting fans with us, which was a big hit with our customers, too. We joked “Free mist with any purchase!” but really it was free mist for anyone who needed it! If you are lucky enough to have electricity in your booth, get a nice box fan.
- A cooling neck wrap. Yes, admittedly, these can look dorky, but when the sun is blistering your very flesh from your very skull, dorkiness worries should go flying out that window of pride. (Look, I even chose an ultra-dorky photo of one to illustrate the point!)
BUT, all is not lost, for if you are handy with a sewing machine, A Small Object has a great tutorial for making your own much more cute version! - Baby wipes! This isn’t just a must-have for heat, it is a must-have for any craft show experience, because you never know what the bathroom/porta-potty situation will be. We always go flushable, because you never know! How will this help in the heat? Well, the wipes (by nature) are not cooling at all, but here’s what you can do for a fantastic blast of coldness (ie joy). Take a wipe and dip it in the cold, icy water inside the cooler. Then take that freezing nappy and lay it gently about your bod. Anywhere at all. It will bring you the chills which shall delight, albeit briefly. But one wipe can last you quite some time and through multiple dunks because they are sturdy little things. Here’s a cute package, since I’m on a roll, here:
Beyond having these essentials, obviously dressing in lightweight clothes will help. Try to avoid wearing jeans. Just say ‘no’ to long sleeves. And to all my ladies out there; I can honestly tell you that no one will judge you if you are wearing a strappy sun dress EVEN if you have bingo wings. Trust me, I know it from experience. I decided long ago that I would rather be comfortable and cool than to spend my time sweating (literally) over hiding my arm pudge! There are lots of shoppers at a craft show to see and buy kick-ass things. The last thing on their minds is whether or not you need to work out more. So if you are body-conscious at all, try using the 99 degree heat to practice letting go!
What are your tips for dealing with the heat?
A Brand New Bag
I very briefly mentioned this in an earlier post, but in my opinion, having bags to offer your paying customers is A MUST!
What are common reasons that vendors don’t do this? Let’s discuss (in bold) and stab those reasons with a barb (not in bold)!
- I don’t want the extra expense. Yes, it is an extra expense, but with a little extra effort, you can stamp your logo onto any paper bag or stick stickers onto any paper OR plastic bag. You can also buy bags in many colors which may tie in with your branding.
- The show organizers are giving out goodie bags, so they can put stuff they buy into those. Another valid point, BUT eventually those bags will get filled up with other purchases and business cards. Don’t rely on every customer having a goodie bag, either! Most shows give out a limited supply and those usually get distributed within the first hour.
- People should know by now to bring their own bags. Tried and true shoppers do. Trust me, they do. But the number of casual craft show shoppers far outnumbers the old pros, so just pretend everyone just stumbled upon the show with nary a satchel in sight.
- I don’t want to add to landfills with more things that will probably end up in the garbage. I can’t think of a single person that wants to add to the landfills. No one wants to. Your customer won’t want to, either, so keep in mind that not every person that gets offered a bag takes one. Just the ones who really need one. And occasionally, some old dude that just bought cheese fries will come up and ask you for a bag. You don’t have to give him one. We didn’t. Sorry old dude!
- My stuff is too big for a bag! Oh, no. They actually sell really big bags. If your thing is super giant, you probably charge enough money for it to make its buyer want to protect it from any elements the weather might throw at it or to keep it from getting dirty if they need to set it down somewhere. So think of your customer! You should want them to enjoy your goods for years to come, so give them a bag. Please!
- I didn’t even think of it! You can only play this card ONE TIME, my pal. One time!!
Beyond just your customer, it is a courtesy to your fellow vendors to offer shoppers a bag. You may wonder how this is so. Well, imagine that someone comes into your booth with a big plush monster in one hand and a rolled up poster in the other. In order to really dig through the things you’re selling, that customer now has to find a comfortable way to hold the other things he or she’s bought without ruining them. They’ve already paid for the poster and the monster guy, so those are their main priorities now. Doesn’t that suck for you? I say, yes, it does suck, very much! Maybe they were offered bags and refused, but let’s just assume for this scenario that they weren’t given the option. So now maybe this shopper won’t spend as much time in your booth because it’s become difficult for them to shop with ease. Or maybe they’ll just call it a day and go home. Or maybe they will ask you for a bag and not buy anything from you. Sad face, indeed.
You don’t need to have a ton of bags with you at all times, because not every customer will even want one. If I am selling something small (and inexpensive) that can easily fit in someone’s purse or pocket, I usually won’t even offer a bag. If we are selling a journal, I offer everyone the chance at one. If a person is spending $50 or so, I will sometimes just slide their purchase right in a sack unless I notice that they’ve come prepared with their own reusable totes or if they already have something of a suitable size to carry them in. And definitely feel free to ask customers things like “Do you want to just put this in your purse/other bag/backpack” – making the suggestion to them usually works.
So where should you get bags, then? Sure, you can buy them at any craft store, but you’ll pay a higher price for the instant (or last minute) gratification. There are plenty of online retailers of all kinds of baggy goodness. Here are a few links to pop on:
I know there are others out there, but we’ve bought from all of the above in the past and have had good experiences with each.
Other fun links to help you jazz up your must-have bags:
- Custom rubber stamps: Rubberstamps.net has a lot of options (and you can preview the designs right there!) or try JLMould on Etsy for truly custom art/logo style.
- Stickers: Sticker Guy to have them made for you or try Online Labels (to make your own!)
Do you have a favorite stamp or sticker maker? Where do you buy your bags?
Bookmark this!
We just love Craftzine.com and in case you didn’t know about it already, they post a weekly craft-show round up.
Peep this week’s here! Be sure to ‘like’ them over on Facebook to get the link every week!
Say, say, say
(Cue montage music) You’ve applied to a craft show, got accepted, made a bunch of product, went to the bank for change, filled a cooler with ice and drinks, showed up to the event, set up your tent, displays, merchandise – and (music comes to screeching halt!) finally 11AM rolls around, a shopper walks into your booth, cash in pocket and goodie bag in hand: What do you say them?
I know that this may not be something you’ve given a ton of thought to as you’re prepping for a craft show, but talking to customers is really important. Have you figured out what you’re going to SAY?
Dealing with customers can be both rewarding and confounding - occasionally at the same time! The good news is that the vast majority of craft show shoppers are super-duper nice people. More than 99% of the customers we meet are awesome and totally appreciate handmade goods and their creators.
Eventually, you’ve got to say something to that shopper that decides to buy your goods, so why not start early? Make them feel welcome in your booth. Even if it’s something as simple as “Hello” or “Good morning!” – breaking the ice and engaging shoppers will help put them at ease. Also, if you’re friendly and open customers will feel comfortable asking you a question about something you’ve got for sale.
There are many schools of thought regarding this subject, but perhaps the easiest answer, and the one that will work for you is to simply treat shoppers the way you would like to be treated. Pretty simple!
My goal – at every single craft show we do – is to greet every customer that comes into our booth and to make sure they understand what we’re selling. It may surprise you how often first impressions are wrong. When we sold pocket mirrors, lots of people would ask us how much our buttons were (yes, even though we had signs everywhere saying MIRRORS – $5) Now, with our journals, we will get the occasional person who thinks we have just taken old books and rebound them. They might not see that there are blank journal pages inside unless they examine them. So I invite them to pick up our products and let them know I’m there to answer any of their questions. Giving permission to touch may seem strange, but a lot of times, there’s a little invisible wall there. If you can break it down and get them to touch + feel, it’s so much easier for the customer to imagine the item being theirs. Try it!
The hard part about trying to get all of that out is making it effortless and conversational. In a case like a craft show, where there are eleventy billion distractions, brevity is your friend. Practice helps too. Don’t worry if you consider yourself to be a “shy” or “reserved” person – these shoppers have never met you before. They don’t know that you’re shy - for all they know you could be a Broadway Star. The point is: they’re at this craft show to see cool new stuff – YOUR STUFF! Say hello, explain what you do (if applicable) and go from there.
Once you’ve said your sentence or two – the best thing to do is hang back. Let the customer check out what you’ve got, if they fire off some questions, smile and answer them. If they float away out of your booth, no problem. After 20 or so times this will become second nature. In fact, I feel bad for the people that have a booth next to Kellee and I sometimes, because they have to hear me say the same thing over and over and over again all day long!
But no matter your take on what to say and when to say it, it’s important to remember that shoppers at craft shows want to buy neat stuff as much as you want to sell neat stuff. So being present is key. When I mention being present – I’m talking about being available to help customers. I know that I’m much more apt to spend my money in a booth where I’ve had a nice conversation with an artist than a booth manned by a person with their nose buried in a book – or pressed against the screen of their iPhone. It all comes back to treating shoppers the same way you’d like to be treated.
Occasionally you’ll get a customer that just wants to take in your booth without any conversation at all. These are the people that answer every question with one syllable words. I find that the best thing to do is say hello, give your mini-pitch, then let them look through your goods at their own pace. Hopefully this will put them in their comfort zone.
So, our advice is to smile, talk to shoppers, say “Hi!”, be outgoing and have fun. Crafty customers are really nice people – Hey you might even make a new friend!
What’s your personal opinion? What works best for you as a seller? Or as a shopper?
Holiday Craft Shows? Yay or nay?
We spent a good chunk of our holiday weekend bobbing about in various South Jersey swimming pools, which we were plenty happy to do. There were a few craft shows this weekend that were on our radar. Did any of you do one? How did it go?
We opted not to do any shows over the holiday weekend for a couple of reasons:
- Holiday weekend traffic usually SUCKS!
- Lots of people have annual 4th of July parties
- We’ve got 3 other major shows in July, so we’re in the midst of prepping for those
But for those of you who either ‘did’ a show this past weekend or shopped one, how were they?
Make Your Booth Tell a Story
No one knows your product like you do.
I’m going to say it again (now with an exclamation point for added verve!) - and say it with me this time! – No one knows your product like you do!
What is your inspiration? What is special about what you make? Who is your dream customer?
Let’s suppose that some lucky fool out there had the ability to freeze everything in its place, including people, including YOU (!) and for some strange reason they chose to go to a craft show (but not to steal cool things, just to look!) Let’s say this person walked into your booth. You aren’t able to interact with this super-hero shopper, so your product AND your booth need to tell the story when you can’t.
When you walk into a discount chain store, not much is done to highlight products or to put them into meaningful setting. The sheer volume of items that they have really almost requires that they just be shelved in a classifiable order (medicines here, stationery there, candy over thatta way, etc.) It certainly doesn’t repel shoppers, but it’s probably also a safe bet that it doesn’t inspire them, either.
Then, step inside of an Apple Store. The minimalist design immerses you, the products are out for everyone to caress, play with, drool on. It doesn’t look like you would expect an electronics store to look. It looks sleek and cool and exciting – just like their products. Exactly like their products.
We, as crafters, have this same advantage. We don’t have thousands or even hundreds of items to show off, just a handful. So it benefits us to create an exciting display – something that tells the customer who we are even when we can’t tell them ourselves.
I’ve just spent the last few hours putting together a gallery of what I consider to be successful story-telling booths. Check them out by clicking here or on the photo below:
Hooray Banner by Nice (online at nice.etsy.com)
What are some of your favorite booths? Do you use anything unusual in your own display? We’d love to see them!
Last call for Crafty Bastards apps!
Wait! Before you head out for your weekend of debauchery and fireworks, don’t forget to apply for DC’s finest indie craft extravaganza!
Here’s what you need to know:
What: Crafty Bastards
When: October 2nd, 2010 (Saturday) from 10 am to 5pm
Where: In the hip Adams Morgan district of Washington, DC (Marie Reed Learning Center at 18th & Wyoming)
Application Fee: $10, non-refundable
Booth Fee: $165 if accepted (also non-refundable)
Deadline to Apply: July 4th, 2010
Acceptances go out by: July 26th, 2010
Other things to know about this show:
How long has this been going on?: This marks their 7th year.
Parking: Street parking available (if you’re lucky) and a parking deck (if you’re not, but it’s less than a block away!)
Rain Date: None, event goes on no matter the weather.
Admission: Nope, it’s FREE for attendees!
Swag Bags: Yes, for shoppers! A staggering number, in fact.
Past vendors include:
My Paper Crane, Rebound Designs, Berkley Illustrations, Endless Hats, Cotton Monster, Sardine Clothing Company, Bright Lights Little City, My Favorite Mirror, Miss Alison, We are Brainstorm, Giant Dwarf and Girlscantell.
Flickr pix: tagged with Crafty Bastards, tagged with craftybastards
But do you ‘LIKE’ like us?
Just wanted to mention that you can ‘like’ us on Facebook now, in case you haven’t already! Hopefully we can get ourselves into some fun and insightful interactions over there, too!
Click the icon below to visit our Facebook page and of course, click Like to join us!
Hit the Road, Jack
You’ve decided to take on a craft show far enough away from your home base to require a hotel stay. Congratulations! Unless you live in a big metro area like Chicago or New York city chances are good that the awesome Indie Craft Show you got accepted to is a couple of hours away. Even if you are a resident of a big city – traveling for a craft show means meeting new people and getting your product in front of a whole new crop of customers. One of the first things I like to do immediately after getting word we’ve been accepted to a show is book our hotel. First stop – the INTERNET!
Everyone knows that there are plenty of websites that can assist in booking travel at discounted rates. Sites like Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz have discounted room rates at selected hotel properties. If you use one of these travel websites you’ll know the exact name and location of the hotel you’re booking before you make your reservation. Slightly different are Priceline and Hotwire which offer even lower prices but withhold the name of the hotel and exact location until after the room has been paid for.
When using a discount travel site like Priceline or Expedia it’s worth noting that you’ve got to pay for the room in full at the time of booking. It’s also important to look at their cancellation policy. Many of these sites will not offer refunds if your plans change or if you have some sort of emergency and need to cancel your reservation. Also, if you make a request for a non-smoking room with a king bed and the hotel claims they only have a queen smoking room when you check in – you’ve got to contact the travel website’s customer service department for any claim or compensation.
What if you get to the hotel and the water is brown, the (very important!) hot tub is closed, there’s multiple high school wrestling teams staying there and the internet doesn’t work? It’s happened to us! In cases like this – it’s WAY easier dealing with the hotel itself than trying to navigate through the customer service department at a discount travel website.
With all of the stress of getting ready for a craft show and traveling don’t you want to minimize your hotel stress? I definitely do! Thankfully, I stumbled upon a site called Kayak.com a couple of years ago. Their site is similar to the discount travel sites in that you specify a date and location of your stay and results are returned and can be sorted by location, price, star rating etc. The difference is you don’t make your payment through Kayak, they just search the web for hotel properties and prices then point you to a site where you can make your reservation.
Now, if that’s all Kayak did – it wouldn’t be *so* special. What is super handy to crafty people like ourselves is their filter tools and their highly interactive mapping system. Using the map search and filters you can find the perfect hotel, in your price range, in the exact area where you need to be, with all of the amenities you need. Awesome!
So I’ll take you through a typical Kayak search for one of our upcoming craft adventures: The 40th Annual Syracuse Arts & Crafts Festival in Syracuse, NY July 30 – August 1st:
First I start out with the location and dates at the homepage.
After you’ve entered that information in you’re presented with a results screen that’s not too different from what you see at Expedia or Orbitz. The thing I need to do from here is click on the word “Map” next to “View Results:”
Hey! Now we’re talking! This is something I can work with. Since most craft shows have you loading in early and leaving late – I want to make sure our hotel is as close to the craft show venue as possible – while still having the most important amenities that we need: internet & secure parking. So my next step is to click to “add my pin” from the bar underneath the map.
Once I’ve clicked to add the pin to the map, I zoom in using the zoom tools (of course), and drop the pin on the exact location of the craft fair. The show we’re doing is in downtown Syracuse in the Columbus Circle area, so I’ll drop the pin there.
Now that the pin is in place I head over to the filters on the left hand side of the page. My default settings for the filters are to search within 5 miles of “my pin”, look for hotels with parking and internet, and I scale the price slider down to weed out the expensive places. Nice!
You can see that a shaded circle appears showing a 5 mile radius around the pin I dropped:
From this point, I mouse over the flags on the map, note the hotel name and price, then click anything that looks interesting. When I click on a property, Kayak shows the rates for that hotel from all of the different online travel vendors. There’s usually a price if you book through the hotel itself – and interestingly, it can be cheaper than the “discount” sites. Click on “Go” next to the price that looks good and it takes you to a site where you can make your reservation.
I almost always book through the actual hotel brand’s website. The prices are usually competitive, or lower, and I don’t have to prepay the balance in advance. If something comes up, plans change, I have a question or concern – it’s an easy call to the hotel’s front desk or central reservation number to get things sorted out.
Some other things to keep in mind: when you’re booking in a huge city that’s got traffic, construction, parades, etc. it’s worth it, in our experience, to be as close to the craft show as possible – within the budget of course! Also see what the parking situation is like – is it free parking? is it secure? valet or self parking? These are all things to figure out before you arrive. Another thing we always look for is a hotel with high speed internet – and honestly, almost every place has that these days, but some hotels still charge a nominal fee for the service. Having access to the web is really useful when traveling for business. You can use it to enter in credit card transactions, look at weather forecasts, check out live traffic, watch videos of kittens eating ice cream or harvest your fake farm before bed. You know, all the really important things.
To recap: Kayak.com is our personal travel guru. It’s like having a tiny little all-knowing travel agent at your command. What do ya’ll do? Any tips or tricks? Secret websites with great deals?
