Special military websites stand ready to deliver discounts

If you think you need a vacation from workaday stresses, think how those in the armed services must feel. Although they are often eligible for special deals, finding those bargains can be a challenge.

That’s where specialized military travel websites come in.

“If there is a discount, we’re like a hen on a June bug,” said Ann Crawford, a former journalist who reported for Copley News Service from Vietnam in 1966. She and her husband, retired Army Col. William R. Crawford Sr., have been publishing books and newsletters on military travel for 34 years and in 1996 went online with www.militaryliving.com.

The site is not a booking engine. Instead, it’s a “central clearinghouse of information” for all things related to military travel, Crawford said.

There is information about its bestselling books on military travel, including the newly revised “Military Travel USA” and “United States Military Road Atlas.”

You can order the “R&R; Travel News Report,” a six-issue annual newsletter or sign up for its free e-mail newsletter. You’ll also find links to sites offering travel deals to members of the military.

I clicked on to some hotel deals and found Kilauea Military Camp at Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii. The sliding payment scale is based on pay rate. For those in the E1-5 category, a one-bedroom apartment rents for $46 a night. There is also a link to the Victory Services Club in central London, where a room plus breakfast starts at about $63.

In the current edition of the R&R; Travel News Report, Tom and Mary Judge of Rolling Hills Estates reported that the rooms at the club were “spartan, but fully adequate and very clean.”

Another site that serves as a link to information about military travel deals is www.govarm.com. “We’re a portal for the vendor into this special niche market,” said retired Army Col. R. John Cully, vice president of GovArm.com.

One of its offerings is deeply discounted vacation condominium rentals through its partner, Laguna Niguel-based Trading Places. Military travelers are offered last-minute inventory at reduced prices.

I found, for example, a $239 weekly rate for a one-bedroom efficiency apartment in Palm Desert for mid-May. There are also links to travel vendors such as Pleasant Holidays, which runs special promotions for military travelers. (Click on “specials.”)

Military-Travel.net (www.military-travel.net), launched last month and affiliated with Hotels.com, is a booking engine. Active and retired members of the military who book on this site receive a 5% rebate (besides Hotels.com’s lowest-rate guarantee). “To really make a mark you need to give something back,” Charles Kessler, Military-Travel .net president, said of his motivation for starting the service. Kessler, an Internet entrepreneur and founder of A1 Discount Hotels, served in the Army Reserve in 1965.

If a leave is canceled for an official reason, Kessler said he waives any penalty by deducting it from the next reservation on Military-Travel.net. Cully of Gov Arm.com said his vendors would usually make exceptions to cancellation penalties in such cases.

Like all travelers booking on the Internet, military travelers should visit several sites to ensure they’re getting the best deal.

Other online military travel resources (often at the “Information, Tickets and Travel” page):

www.afsv.af.mil

www.armymwr.com

www.military.com

www.mwr.navy.mil

www.uscg.mil/mwr

www.usmc-mccs.org

*

Contact James Gilden at www.theinternettraveler.com.