Our family has had a AAA membership for years. The reason that we got the membership was for roadside assistance. We took advantage of that service when our three daughters were home. Actually, it was to many times but I regress. This post isn’t about roadside assistance but it is about the many benefits of AAA travel that can help you travel better.
1. Cost and roadside benefits of AAA
AAA has 3 membership tiers. They include the Classic level, AAA Plus and AAA Premier levels. The cost of the tiers varies by region so you will need to do some checking to see what the cost will be for you.
The higher the level you go the more benefits that you will get but the cost also goes up.
The chart only shows you a few of the member benefits but if you click on the following link you will find a page that lists all the benefits you can receive for each level.
You can add as many household members to your membership as you want. There is a cost for each member that is added. A person needs to have a card in their name to be able to use roadside assistance.
1. Travel benefits
The roadside assistance is what most people think about when it comes to AAA. If you are traveling by car then the roadside assistance part of membership can come in very handy.
Besides roadside assistance AAA offers many travel benefits that you may not know about.
2. Rental cars
AAA Travel has a partnership with Hertz Rental Car. Through their partnership AAA offers Hertz Gold Plus Rewards benefits for AAA members.
Some of the Hertz benefits include:
- Discounts up to 20% off base rate rentals.
- Additional qualified AAA drivers drive for free.
- Free use of child, booster or infant seats.
- Young waiver fee dropped for individuals between the ages of 20-24.
Besides Hertz, you will find Dollar and Thrifty rentals in the AAA Travel portal.
Other benefits included with Dollar Rental Car include:
- 10% discount off a rental.
- Free booster seat included.
- 10% off navigation devices.
Other benefits included with Thrifty Rental Car include:
- 8% discount off a rental.
- No cost for additional drivers.
- Free booster seat included
- 10% off navigation devices
Everytime that we travel, I always checkout the AAA Travel portal for rental car rates. The last trip that I took with my daughter to Florida the AAA portal had the cheapest rate by far.
3. Hotel discounts
AAA has preferred memberships with a number of hotel chains including Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, Best Western, and MGM Resorts. Other chains such as IHG, Choice Hotels, and Starwood Hotel and Resorts also offer discounts.
The majority of hotels will offer up to a 10% discount but it can range from 5% to 20%.
AAA has a travel portal where you can book hotel rooms directly. When booking on one of the travel member sites one of the choices that you can pick is for AAA room rates.
Below is a search I did on the Marriott Hotel site. As you can see the AAA rate is almost 10% cheaper than the standard rate and $30 cheaper than the deals and package rate for the 5 night stay.
The only rate that is slightly better is the prepay rate. I stay away from prepay rates since you never know if you are going to have to cancel for some reason.
4. International driving permits
If you are planning on traveling overseas and driving while there, you can get an international driving permit or IDP at any AAA location.
The IDP is required to drive while overseas. It is valid in over 150 countries and comes in 10 different languages.
It will cost you $20 to purchase an IDP. You will also need to present a current driver’s license along with 2 passport sized photos on a white background.
5. Entertainment
On the way to your location while traveling or once there AAA can help you save money while doing various activities. You can get discounts at live musical performances, theatrical performances, and museums.
A number of theme parks, such as Universal Orlando Resort, Seaworld Orlando, Six Flags America, Disney and Universal Studios have AAA discounts.
Do you want to go to the movies? Movie theaters such as AMC, Regal, Cinemark and Showcase theaters have discounts.
6. Travel planning
Planning for a trip can be time consuming and overwhelming for some people. AAA can help you with all of your vacation plans. It does not matter if it is a domestic or international vacation.
AAA is one of the largest travel agencies in the United States. They have a team of travel planners who can plan and book your vacation for you. That means that they will book hotels, flights, car rentals, and activities for you.
They will find AAA and other discounts for you pertaining to the trip that you are taking. The travel consultation is free. All travel booked through AAA travel comes with 24/7 member care.
7. Cruises
AAA works with many different cruise lines, such as Carnival, Seabourn, Princess, and Royal Caribbean just to name a few. So, the next time that you are thinking about going on a cruise, you will want to checkout to see the cruise offerings that they have.
AAA’s cruise discounts depend on the particular cruise line and geography. You will need to checkout your local AAA website since offerings can vary greatly.
One offering that has been offered is a 60% discount for second guess on Royal Caribbean.
8. Currency conversion
Many times when going on vacation it is a necessity to have some cash on hand. This is also true when traveling overseas. To help you with that AAA offers currency conversion for 90 different currencies around the world.
Exchange rates can be quite bad when getting money converted at hotels and airports. So, getting your money converted through AAA will save you money.
AAA requires that you order the money in person and it will usually take around three business days to get the money.
9. Travel planning tools
I am going to show my age but I can clearly remember going on vacation and we always had a Triptik. If you are 35 and under, you don’t know what I am talking about.
Triptiks were spiral bound notebooks that had sections of the route that you were going to travel on your trip. You could open up each page and get a larger map of the area that you were traveling through. So, instead of having one large map it was a much more manageable setup.
The route you were traveling was always highlighted in orange. The Triptik was customized to you and your trip. It showed where construction, rest stops, gas stations, points of interest and the like were located.
Believe it or not you can still order paper Triptiks through the mail or in person at a AAA office. Depending on where you are traveling, technology can sometimes not corporate so having a hard copy of a map can come in handy.
If going old school is not something you want to do, AAA has moved into the 21st century and they offer Triptiks online and through their app.
The Triptik through the app shows you where AAA Diamond hotels and restaurants are located. It also gives you directions, attractions and gas prices. There is even information from AAA editors included.
10. Passport photos
You can go to your local AAA office and get your passport pictures taken. It only takes a couple minutes to process the photos.
People that have the classic membership get special discounted prices for the photos. People with the Plus and Premier memberships get free pictures.
11. Travel insurance
Depending on the trip that you are taking, it usually is a good idea to get some travel insurance for unknown factors.
AAA offers Allianz Global Assistance coverage for trip cancellation, trip interruption, lost luggage and emergency medical coverage.
Trip interruption is offered for all three levels of membership. The higher the level the more coverage you will receive.
The Classic level can receive $100 per individual or $500 per family. The Plus level can receive $200 per individual or $1000 per family. The Premiere level can receive $300 per family or $1,500 per family.
Travel accident insurance is only covered at the Plus and Premiere levels. The Plus level can receive $100,000 per traveling party and the Premiere can receive $200,000 per traveling party.
12. Group vacations
Besides AAA travel agents booking you an individual trip, they will do the same for group travel. This includes destination weddings and honeymoons.
They also offer escorted group tours, cruises and motorcoach tours. This includes both domestic and international travel.
Group travel allows you to sit back and enjoy the trip with no responsibilities. Plus, you can meet new people along the way.
Final thoughts
If you like to travel and you like to get the best rates as you can then having a AAA membership can help.
They are not always going to be the cheapest but sometimes they are which can save you money. I look at it as having another tool in the tool belt which cannot hurt.
Besides getting cheaper rates on various things. They also have many other services that you can use and take advantage of at no cost to you most of the time.
Go to my blog Travelwidstom to learn how to earn and maximize credit card points and miles, how to travel better, ways to save on travel, and travel itineraries and destinations.