20. BE PREPARED TO ACT FAST
The hotel industry is more technologically savvy than it's ever been," says Berman, "and its yield-management systems will be hard at work this year." In other words, a sale can now be launched and then ended within hours. "The pockets of opportunity are very much based on real-time demand, which requires the consumer to react quickly." That's why many deals are available for only a five-day, three-day, or even 24-hour period nowadays. But don't let the time pressure force you into making a decision before you read the fine print and ask about fees.

21. PROTECT YOUR DEPOSIT
There will be "spectacular failures—unexpected fiascoes," warns Brancatelli. A few airlines and other travel companies will suddenly go belly-up, leaving customers trip-less or stranded. Protect yourself by paying with a credit card: If you don't get the trip you were promised, you can dispute the charge and retrieve your payment. If you are going to purchase travel insurance, in most cases you should buy from a third-party provider (not from the travel supplier itself) so that you'll be covered if the supplier goes under.

22. AVOID CURRENCY-EXCHANGE FEES
Use a credit card company that, like Capital One, doesn't charge foreign-purchase fees. (American Express tacks on 2.7 percent, and many MasterCard and Visa cards add 3 percent.) If you use a debit card to withdraw cash from ATMs overseas, some banks charge $3 per transaction plus 3 percent of the amount you withdraw, or more. Capital One does not charge account holders withdrawal fees, although it limits them to $500 a day. You needn't make Capital One your main bank: Simply open a small savings account to get the card.

23. MAKE HOTELS AN INTEGRAL PART OF YOUR FREQUENT-FLIER STRATEGY
While frequent-flier miles continue to lose their value, and redeeming mileage for award tickets and upgrades grows increasingly pricey, the hotel industry is improving its frequent-guest programs by eliminating blackout dates and showering its most loyal members with perks. "Hotel programs have come as far in the last five years as airline programs have gone backward," says frequent-flier expert Randy Petersen, founder of WebFlyer.com and FlyerTalk.com. "Hotels offer a faster path to elite status than airlines, and they pay off faster," adds Brancatelli, who recommends putting all your eggs in one frequent-guest basket and staying as loyal to one brand as possible. Hilton points may be the most valuable hotel currency right now, says Petersen. On the other hand, points earned with Starwood's Preferred Guest American Express Card can be used for either flights or hotel stays.

24. DON'T LOSE MILES TO MERGERS
If you've got frequent-flier accounts with both Delta and Northwest, be sure to phone or e-mail Delta to ensure that your two accounts are properly combined. (When American and TWA merged, "hundreds of thousands of people lost miles because the database couldn't connect the names and addresses," says Petersen.) If you're a Continental OnePass member who has been assigning miles to your Delta or Northwest accounts, stop or else you'll lose the miles. If you're a Continental or United flier, stay on top of all the changes as Continental joins the Star Alliance. It will be a complicated year for mileage junkies. A good way to track what's going on is by reading FlyerTalk.com's Mileage Buzz forum and the miles-and-points-related blogs at BoardingArea.com.

25. USE YOUR MILES NOW
Most airlines introduced an 18-month mileage-expiration deadline in December 2007, which means that in June many people will be faced with expiring miles in accounts they haven't touched for a while. Use that mileage. Even if the miles aren't in danger of expiring, now's the time to cash them in for free tickets, before they devalue even further. In the wake of the slowdown in business travel, it's relatively easy to redeem miles for award tickets on international routes—especially with all the planes that were moved from domestic to international fleets last fall. It's also relatively easy to redeem miles for upgrades, given all the empty seats in business and first class.