Join the Club, Save Some Money

frugal traveler Safari deals at Costco; discount lift tickets at Sam’s Club. Add AARP and AAA into the mix of memberships that offer savings on travel. When Ashlee Laird, 32, a high school adviser in Houston, was planning her honeymoon to Italy in 2015, a friend suggested she look at Costco Travel, the travel division of Costco Wholesale’s retail membership club that operates warehouse-scale stores. Through Costco, she booked an eight-day trip to Rome and Florence for two for $3,800, including round-trip flights, hotels, daily breakfast, private cars to and from the Italian airports, first-class train tickets between the cities and $400 to spend on tours, which they used to see the Vatican and the Colosseum and take a pizza-making class.

In comparison, their flight alone is running $2,600 for two this spring. “There was no downside,” Ms. Laird said of her Costco package, noting that the travel agent assigned to the couple kept in touch before, during and after the trip. In addition to bulk supplies of toilet paper, KitchenAid refrigerators and giant packs of canned salmon, Costco sells trips to Europe, as well as Riviera Maya resort stays, Alaska cruises, safaris in East Africa and Disney theme park trips.

Wholesalers like Costco are among a number of membership clubs and associations that, in addition to other benefits, offer discounts on travel, including rental cars, cruises and tours. Much like large corporations are able to secure travel discounts for their employees, these groups tend to negotiate discounted rates with travel companies through their buying power. The following examines the costs and benefits of joining the clubs. Among wholesale clubs, Costco, ranked 14th on the Fortune 500 list of the largest companies in the United States, is far and away the leader in a category that also includes Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale Club, according to Mark A.

Cohen, the director of retail studies and an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School. Their strength, he said, “is supplying value against a narrow band of products and services. ” In travel terms, that narrow band includes select Hilton and Hyatt hotels rather than every hotel in a destination. He added that the company specializes in quality products at good prices, rather than cheap goods at rock bottom rates.

“They focus on a package that they believe is a great value and have enormous scale to negotiate on behalf of their customers,” he said. In cruises, the benefits may include a cabin upgrade and shipboard credits; in rental cars the discounts generally range from 15 to 25 percent, according to the company. To get these, most members pay $60 or $120 to join (the higher level of membership offers 2 percent cash back on all Costco purchases). The Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi, which has no annual fee for Costco members, offers 3 percent cash back on Costco Travel purchases.