It all began when Jonathan Tallman started his first internship in Jacksonville, Florida, when he was 18. The Niceville-based financial advisor and leader of the Tallman Group spent the Summer in the east coast city for his work. Too short to get a rental. But hotel stays were pretty expensive, too.
So, like any other 18-year-old, he looked up what he could afford and booked that. He ended up at a hotel called the Suburban Inn.
It wasn’t great.
“I stayed there for like two weeks. It was the worst hotel experience ever,” Tallman said, “fights outside, people drunk wandering through the hallways at night. I was like, ‘I gotta find something else, because this isn’t working. I can’t stay here – it isn’t safe.”
His resolution to get a safe place to stay instead of a dump he thought he’d be robbed in when he got back from work every night started him on a wild adventure that ended up at some of the city’s best hotels.
Tallman ended up moving from hotel to hotel night-to-night to take advantage of last-minute vacancies – which meant he got the room at a steeply discounted rate while staying at places like the Hyatt and the Grand Regency in downtown Jacksonville.
He’d pay about the same price as the Suburban Inn.
“So that’s where I started learning about flexibility because I would go to work. And I wouldn’t know where I would stay that night. But I just knew, ‘Okay, I’ll get a room; it’s not a big deal. There’s plenty of rooms available; I’ll get one later.’ He moved from hotel to hotel that Summer, keeping his stuff in the car as he roamed from lobby to lobby of the fanciest places in town.
He says – the stuff he learned along the way can save you thousands of dollars on every trip – and let you travel the world (even with kids!) at a steep discount. He’d know. He’s been to more than 50 countries with his wife. They’ve even taken their kids on many of their adventures together.
But, it requires knowledge of how the system works and, most importantly, the flexibility to enact the plan.
2 Responses
Thanks so much for these tips! There is a lot more to be said about getting great deals with airlines and I appreciate the recommendation about waiting to make a hotel reservation 1 week prior to arriving at the hotel door step. Thanks for this helpful interview/article. I love to travel and appreciate tips on how to travel more cost effectively.
These are awesome ideas! I like the security of knowing where I’m going and when, but the times things haven’t gone as planned (think frequent French Rail strikes, Greek general strikes, or getting bumped off KLM in favor of horses!) have been great unexpected adventures. Thanks to those flying horses, I got a fantastic two-night stay in Amsterdam, meal vouchers, transportation to the hotel and back to the airport, and such a generous cash compensation I was able to use it to pay half my rent a week later!
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