Latest news with #CostcoTravel
Digital Trends
22-07-2025
- Business
- Digital Trends
New Costco members can get $20 or $40 in rewards
Not sure if a Costco membership is the right fit for you? Right now, new members who enroll in auto renewal and sign up for a Gold Star Membership will get a $20 Digital Costco Shop Card, and new members who sign up for an Executive Membership will receive a $40 Digital Costco Shop Card. Use the promo code CJDTM at sign-up. Make sure to check the terms and conditions for exact details. What is the Digital Costco Shop Card? The Digital Costco Shop Card is a reloadable gift card that can be used to make purchases at a Costco location and online. Why you should become a Costco member You must be a Costco member to shop at Costco warehouses or to receive member-only pricing on That means nonmembers miss out on warehouse finds, including TVs, laptops, headphones and more. A Costco membership also gives you access to exclusive value through Costco Travel, Costco Services and much more. The Costco Gold Star Membership—which gets you the $20 Digital Costco Shop Card for this promotion—costs $65 per year and gives you and a member of your household access to Costco warehouses and Costco gives its satisfaction guarantee, so you can cancel and get a refund at any time if you aren't happy with your membership. The Costco Executive Membership—which gets you a $40 Digital Costco Shop Card with this promotion—costs $130 per year. It gives you the same benefits as the Gold Star Membership, and also provides exclusive benefits only available to Executive Members. You get an annual 2% Reward on Costco and Costco travel purchases (up to $1,250 per year)*, and you can get exclusive discounts and added value on Costco Services. Sign up as a new member for a Costco membership and auto renewal of your annual membership to get a $20 or $40 Digital Costco Shop Card. During checkout, use the code CJDTM to receive this promotion. Check the terms and conditions for more details. *To receive a Digital Costco Shop Card, you must provide a valid email address and set up auto renewal of your Costco membership on a Visa® credit/debit card or Mastercard debit card at the time of sign-up. If you elect not to enroll in auto renewal at the time of sign-up, incentives will not be emailed. Valid only for new members and those whose memberships (Primary and Household) have been expired for at least 18 months. Valid only for nonmembers for their first year of membership. Not valid for upgrade or renewal of an existing membership. Promotion may not be combined with any other promotion. Digital Costco Shop Card will be emailed to the email address provided by the Primary Member at time of sign-up within 2 weeks after successful sign-up and enrollment in auto renewal. Digital Costco Shop Card is not redeemable for cash, except as required by law. Costco is not liable for incentives not received due to entry of an invalid address during sign-up. Digital Costco Shop Cards are not accepted at the U.S. or Canada Food Court. Neither Costco Wholesale Corporation nor its affiliates are responsible for use of the card without your permission. Use the provided single-use promo code when entering your payment information. A Costco Gold Star Membership is $65 a year. An Executive Membership is an additional $65 upgrade fee a year. Each membership includes one free Household Card. May be subject to sales tax. Costco accepts all Visa cards, as well as cash, checks, debit/ATM cards, EBT and Costco Shop Cards. Departments and product selection may vary. (Note: You will see a $0.01 deduction on your membership cost after the promo code is entered. This indicates that your promo code has been successfully applied)
Skift
11-07-2025
- Business
- Skift
Travelport's New Tech Chief Aims to Modernize How Agencies Book Trips
Andrew Jordan arrived at Travelport six months ago with a mission to reduce the frustrations travel management companies have with the software their agents use. The new chief product and technology officer has worked previously at Carlson Wagonlit Travel, where he led technology transformation at the $27 billion travel management company. That experience, he said, taught him what agencies actually need from the global distribution systems like Travelport, which they use to book trips for road warriors. "The number of conversations I will have with customers where I start to talk their language and they go, 'Finally, finally, somebody on the GDS [global distribution system] side now understands us,'" Jordan said in his first media interview since joining the company. "I've lived their life." Shifting Expectations Relations with travel agencies matter because Travelport faces competition, having recently lost accounts with BCD Travel, World Travel, and Gary Dawes Travel. Jordan acknowledged those losses but noted that customer turnover is normal in business. This year, Travelport won business with Costco Travel and RateHawk, and it expanded its partnership with Chase Travel Group. "I feel very confident about the support of customers that we've got," he said, adding that he's "very confident" about the company's pipeline of customers. Travelport operates one of four major global distribution systems that airlines, hotels, and car rental companies use to distribute inventory to travel agencies. The others are Amadeus, Sabre, and TravelSky. Thinking Like a Travel Agent Jordan used the phrase "think like a travel agent" repeatedly to emphasize that Travelport's key strategy for success must be to become "agency specialists." He argued that distribution systems have historically failed to recognize agent diversity "to the depth and the detail that is now possible to achieve." The executive said he recognized that travel agents "come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, with different requirements and different needs." He said his experience at Carlson Wagonlit taught him how travel agents think about efficiency and workflows, knowledge he said gives him an edge in helping Travelport design relevant tools. The company will tailor tools to different agent communities rather than forcing uniform changes. AI as Potential Disruptor The corporate travel sector hasn't fully grasped how generative artificial intelligence will change customer expectations and require adjustments to their business workflows. Jordan warned that AI-powered travel agents could eventually fire off "100,000 transactions a second" through distribution systems, compared with thousands per second today. "I don't think anybody in this entire industry is ready for that," he said. Jordan believes the industry needs to prepare for the possibility of adding AI-powered interfaces, broadly similar to Microsoft's CoPilot, to agency desktops. "Concepts like conversational commerce and agentic AI haven't yet found their way into the travel industry at scale," Jordan said. "But that's the direction the world is going in." Current AI applications in corporate travel typically handle booking automation, expense processing, and customer service chat tools. However, most implementations remain siloed or limited to point solutions overlaid on older systems. They're not comprehensive platforms with AI baked in. Anticipating Change Jordan sees comprehensive AI platforms as inevitable, comparing the potential disruption to how fintech companies like Monzo and Revolut captured market share from traditional banks by offering greater speed and convenience. "Where the hockey puck is going, technologically speaking, is something that's going to feel a little bit more uncomfortable for the travel industry," Jordan said. Jordan predicted AI will transform travel booking workflows, particularly through better trip disruption management and what he called "personalized" recommendations. Travelport last year launched an AI-powered search tool, which helps agents sort through booking options from multiple sources, including legacy airlines and newer budget carriers. Jordan, who has also had senior tech leadership roles at NEP Group, NBC Universal, and Thomson Reuters, sees the full-platform approach as inevitable over time. Rather than forcing a one-size-fits-all approach, Jordan wants to tailor workflows and AI-powered tools to match how different agent communities actually work. Financial Firepower Travelport received $770 million in private equity investment and financing in 2023 and 2024, giving it the financial flexibility to invest in technology improvements while keeping debt relatively low. "We are in a very, very strong financial position," Jordan said about the privately held company, which doesn't disclose financial details. Ever since 2019, when Travelport was taken private in a $4.4 billion deal by affiliates of New York activist investor Elliott Management and Siris Capital Group, the company has been reimagining its technology. The company spent recent years consolidating three separate booking platforms and integrating its 2023 acquisition of corporate travel software maker Deem. Jordan said that foundational work created "a steady, stable ship on which to build." Different Customers, Different Needs Many travel agents still book flights using decades-old command-line interfaces that require typing cryptic codes into proverbial "green screens." Jordan wants to modernize those workflows without alienating agents who prefer the speed of familiar systems. "There is an absolute reality that there is a huge disparity between very progressive thinking customers and customers that are quite conservative," he said. All global distribution systems have been trying to get travel agents to use consumer-style interfaces for over a decade. Still, many agents keep using their cryptic commands because they see them as faster and more efficient, thanks partly to practice and muscle memory. Yet some agencies are evolving. One Travelport customer recently reduced 300 automated booking scripts to nine after evaluating their business value, Jordan said. Travelport continues to provide agencies a choice of modern graphical user interfaces and traditional command-line systems. Jordan said Travelport will work with customers to develop new capabilities rather than imposing changes. Jordan declined to provide specifics about upcoming products but said new offerings are in the works to target travel agents' top needs. But he said his goal is to make Travelport become known as the premier agency specialist among all its peer companies. "We're the only ones that act as a pure-play agent provider," he said. He noted that the company is the only one of its peers focused purely on serving travel agents rather than building hotel service suites or airline passenger service systems. "We don't dilute the whole proposition," he said. "That gives us a strength as we focus on the needs of those in agent communities and actually meet them where the technological hockey puck is going." Subscribers to Skift Research can read the April report, Navigating the Future: What's Next for Global Distribution Systems?
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Attention Costco shoppers: 5 money saving tips and tricks that everyone should know, according to experts
Costco is widely recognized as a go-to for bulk shoppers looking to stock up on food and groceries, home essentials and more. More than 10 million Canadians have Costco memberships that give them access to its gas station, a members-only pharmacy, Costco Travel, Costco Services, home improvement and more. But are shoppers making the most of their memberships to get best deals possible? Nichole Schaubroeck and Tina Chow are two Canadian content creators who have each earned hundreds of thousands of followers by sharing the ins and outs of saving money while you shop. 'It's very hard to find a good deal, so anyway we can save, maybe it's not as extreme as it used to be, it's still good," said Schaubroeck who runs the account Coupon Cutie, in an interview with Yahoo Canada. Keep reading to learn Chow and Schaubroeck's best tips and trips on how to navigate Costco like a pro. According to Schaubroeck, Costco's price tags are a good predictor of whether or not an item will go on sale. Items that end in .97 are likely at their lowest price, making it prime time to stock up on what you need. Another hidden hack is to look for what Costco shoppers call the 'death star,' an asterisk located in the upper right-hand corner of an item's tag. 'All this is telling you is that this item is either no longer going to be at Costco or it won't be back until next year,' said Schaubroeck. Chow, who created the account Costco Lovers Canada, said that although the foot traffic in the store is constantly changing, sales seem to follow a schedule. 'I know that most sales end on a Sunday... new sales will begin the following week,' said Chow. There's also what people refer to online as "Markdown Mondays" — when new items go on sale. While this is not a Costco-official event, it still creates a buzz for shoppers to find cost-friendly deals. 'They [Costco] are always doing markdowns," she added. Additionally, Chow noted that Costco is known for 'following the trends of what's happening in the market,' which can help attract shoppers who are looking for products for a certain occasion. For example, it's not uncommon for Costco to have a sale on hamburger buns, ketchup, mustard and relish ahead of a long weekend. Chow also recommends shopping as the weather changes to take advantage of out-of-season products at lower prices. According to Costco customer service, shoppers are entitled to 'risk-free, 100 per cent satisfaction guarantee', meaning that the majority of purchased products can be returned and refunded at any time (excluding electronics and diamond jewelry). This allows shoppers to test out products and see if it is the right fit for them. 'If I'm going out and trying a $700 Dyson [hair dryer]... I want to be able to know that I can return it,' said Chow. 'I will always go to Costco and pay more on a product for their return policy.' Costco also honours price adjustments on merchandise if the price drops within 30 days of the original purchase and the product is still in the store's warehouse. Schaubroeck added that this flexibility is a large reason as to why Canadians turn to Costco for their shopping. 'It's always nice to have that reassurance when buying something, that no matter what happens, they will take it back for you,' she said. One perk to owning a Costco membership is that it can be used worldwide at any location, which can come in handy when going on vacation. Chow said she often uses her membership when travelling to help save on food and snacks. It's even handy for shopping and saving on souvenirs and local food. Many Costco shoppers may not know that there's an official Costco app meant to enhance shopping experiences. The Costco app allows you to shop and save using online-only prices, check warehouse inventory and local gasoline prices, refill prescriptions at Costco's pharmacy, create your own shopping list in-app and more. The app also allows shoppers to receive updates on sales promotions and product entering the store, a perk that Chow said is a 'huge secret' amongst Canadians. 'There are app-exclusive savings,' she said. 'If you follow Costco on Instagram, there are also exclusive savings available there." Schaubroeck also highlights another app called Checkout 51, a platform that displays cash-back offers on Costco merchandise. While this does not apply to all products, Schaubroeck said it's an incentive worth checking out.
Digital Trends
06-06-2025
- Business
- Digital Trends
This Groupon deal can gets you a Costco membership for as little as $15
People that shop at Costco love to talk about being in Costco. Part of that is because it's pretty great, and part of that is because its at least mildly exclusive. There's really no point in showing up at a Costco without a membership. So, because we think Sam's Club and Costco just might be your ticket to more affordable tech during tariff uncertainties, we've been searching for way to get you into Costco cheaper. What we found was a pair of Groupon deals that sell you the Gold Star or Executive memberships at their regular price but give you $50 Costco shop cards alongside additional bonuses. When you do the math, this makes the $65 per year Gold Star membership effectively just $15 and the $130 per year Executive membership just $80. Tap below to see the offers yourself and keep reading for the full breakdown. Alternatively, check out this competing Sam's Club deal to get in Walmart's version of Costco for just $20. Why you should sign up for Costco via Groupon A Gold Star membership, now effectively $15, will let you buy the best tech of Costco (alongside whatever else you want), and is a phenomenal way to check out the buying experience firsthand. The Groupon offer also comes with a $200 Costco Travel promo code, valid through September 2 for travels through the end of this year. You'll use the promo code when you book your travel, then receive the $200 Costco shop card shortly after your travels end — a deal that's perfect for that initial stock-up when you come home to a clean fridge. Meanwhile the Executive membership, now effectively $80, gets you the fullest Costco experience, full membership perks, and even the annual 2% reward. It comes with the $200 Costco Travel promo code mentioned above as well as a similar code that gives you $100 off an order of $200 or more placed on Costco's online shop by August 31 (easy to achieve with tech purchases). To get either of these deals, tap the button below and select your choice from the available options menu. We've found Costco to be a great place to buy the largest version of the best TVs, many of the best smart home devices, as well as your cables and batteries. This Groupon deal won't last forever, so be sure to get your membership now.
The Independent
20-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Costco shoppers furious after company ditches popular travel discount
Costco has stopped providing shoppers with one of its popular travel discounts. Earlier this month, a Reddit user posted in the 'Disney Planning' subreddit a screenshot from the Costco website, pointing out that the bulk grocery store would no longer be accepting reservations to Disneyland Resorts, located in Anaheim, California. 'Costco Travel is not accepting new reservations to the Disneyland Resort. Guests with existing packages through 2025 can still modify their reservations by calling (877) 849-2730,' the website reads. However, while not accepting reservations to the California location, there are still other packages available on the website, including one to a Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. Costco is also still offering its discount on Disneyland tickets. The grocery store chain has not spoken out on whether the Disneyland Resort will be reinstated or if the change is permanent. Many people were quick to turn to the comments section of the Reddit post to express their disappointment over the travel discount being taken away. 'This is disappointing, I also was pricing a trip earlier in the week! Gonna miss that gift card,' one commenter wrote, referencing how the Disneyland Resort packages usually included extra perks such as pins and gift cards. Another commenter agreed, writing, 'Oh wtf I loved using Costco for Disneyland vacation packages. The perks for staying on property were sooooo good. This is lame.' 'Darn, hopefully that comes back. Booking a vacation for myself and then my in laws was the primary source of our 2/3% cash back. Plus the gift card made it easy to budget spending money….' a third person pointed out in the comments section. Despite the grocery store removing its Disneyland Resorts discount package, Costco has previously assured customers that it won't be changing the price of its signature hot dog. According to a May 2024 news release, Costco's chief financial officer, Gary Millerchip, reassured people that inflation and the cost-of-living crisis would not affect its $1.50 hot dog from the food court. 'Oh, and to clear up some recent media speculation, I also want to confirm the $1.50 hot dog price is safe,' he said at the time. Prior to that, Millerchip's predecessor Richard Galanti told Bloomberg in March 2024 that the all-important hot dog is 'probably safe for a while.' The price of the quarter-pound hot dog with a 20-ounce soda has remained the same since 1985 at the warehouse retailer, despite world events and the ebbs and flows of inflation since then.
