A service for finicky vacation home renters

Expedia has re-launched its free rewards program. The program adds earning opportunities, with rewards for booking air travel for the first time, as Budget Travel was the first magazine to report. The online agency recently revealed its reward chart. The bad: Users earn a point for every dollar spent on flights, hotels, and activities. That's unimpressive. The redemption rate is much better for the programs of Hyatt, Starwood, and Priority Club—assuming you frequently stay at the same hotel chain repeatedly on your trips. The good: Users earn 2 to 4 points for every dollar spent on hotel and flight vacation packages, depending on the size of the package. That's a much better deal. This plan amounts to a 4 to 8 percent rebate for booking packages. In another hassle, you have to collect at least 3,500 points (earned after spending about $3,500) before you can redeem them for a coupon, which will be worth—wait for it!—$25 off your next hotel stay. On the bright side, a $25 coupon is more than Expedia was offering before—and it's far more than its competitors are delivering still. Another perk: Unlike frequent flier programs, Expedia's program allows you to earn points for all of the the travel you purchase for yourself all of your family members. There are some ways to game the system: Go to Ebates first and then log into Expedia to earn additional separate rewards—a favorite trick of the rewards blog A View from the Wing. Also, if you pay with a credit card that offers bonus points for travel (like a Bank of America Worldpoints card) you can earn points in two ways for the same travel purchase. It's even more appealing to use a Mastercard through end of August 2011, because of a promotional. Expedia Rewards members can rack up double base points when booking an Expedia Special Rate hotel or hotel package that is paid with a Mastercard. Sign up for Expedia Rewards for free. MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Expedia launches rewards program Southwest waters down its Rapid Rewards program Delta drops fees for booking reward seats at the last minute

On your next visit to a major U.S. city, fuel up at gleaming, brightly painted food truck. These vehicles sell a dinner or late-night snack of gourmet tacos, ice-cream cones, and other treats. This trend had its moment of fame this winter when millions watched The Great Food Truck Race on the Food Network, with a couple of Los Angeles food trucks battled it out for bragging rights. In real life, the trend is national. There are gourmet food trucks in Seattle, Portland, New York, Austin, Miami, Chicago, and other major cities. Yet the best trucks, carts, and buses are always on the move. How to find them? Use the following tracking tools, which will put those ever-moving burritos and other tasty treats a click or a finger swipe away. None are perfectly accurate, though, as food trucks go in and out of business and none I've heard of have GPS devices broadcasting their location to these services. Road Stoves This app lists the closest gourmet food trucks via your smart phone's GPS, plus via the trucks' Twitter feeds. ($0.99; iTunes, Android) L.A. Street Food Interactive GPS maps guide you through the streets of L.A., with the help of intuitive categories of listings, in-depth reviews, hundreds of photos, and Twitter links. ($1.99; iTunes) Food Truck New York This app pinpoints by GPS the 25 highest-rated food trucks according to New York magazine. (free, Android) Mobile Cravings Use this site to track food trucks in your choice of 16 cities. mobilecravings.com Mobi Munch Similar to Mobile Cravings, only with coverage of much smaller cities. mobimunch.com UPDATE Mar. 3: I forgot this one: Roaming Hunger aims to be the most comprehensive resource for tracking trucks in major cities. It even displays a map showing the truck locations in "real time." Reads like a hobbyist magazine on the delicious topic of food trucks. roaminghunger.com MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL San Francisco's Best Street Food New York Food Trucks Go Gourmet On the Taco Trail in L.A. Gourmet Dessert Trucks Nationwide The World's Best Street Food The Ultimate App Tool Kit

I am not one of those people who hoards little bottles of hotel shampoos and body wash. In fact, I can't stand clutter. So, a hotel has to stock a really great or unique product line for me to want to take it to-go. In fact, I might even go so far as to call myself a hotel toiletries snob. The way I see it, the products are the grand finale, the last hurdle for total approval of a hotel room. That said, I also feel this little twinge of guilt when I stash all of those products in my bag for future trips. This probably doesn't come as a huge surprise to most travelers, but I have to admit that I was somewhat relieved when Laurie Goldstein, a spokesperson for Marriott International told me that "the hotels actually want guests to take them home." (Whew!) "We can't use the items that are open and we hope that it reminds them of what a great time they had at the hotel." Her comment did, however, start me thinking: I wonder how hotels choose the products they stock in the bathroom? if (WIDGETBOX) WIDGETBOX.renderWidget('140ee171-f670-48f4-8177-f60ab1b4d1c0');Get the Poll Creator Pro widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox! Not seeing a widget? (More info)"For Starwood, branding speaks to every aspect of the guest experience, your greeting upon arrival, the design of your guestroom, the scent in the lobby and even the toiletries. As we like to say, everything communicates," noted Jennifer Leemann, a spokesperson for Starwood Hotels & Resorts. Indeed, the toiletries they stock are arguably an extension of the different Starwood brand experiences. For instance, W hotels stock Bliss lemon + sage toiletries (I've experienced, very yummy smell); Aloft hotels stock Tried and True by Bliss; and Westin hotels feature a signature White Tea Collection (also easy on the nose). And while it's always nice to find those comforting, familiar brands (L'Occitane, Aveda), it's also fun to discover new products while traveling. Ace hotels collaborated with Janet Jay, a soap-maker from Portland, Oregon, to stock a hand-produced line called pearl+. "It reminds me so particularly of the Ace, of the feeling of adventure that comes with travel, and the thrill and comfort and beauty we hope staying in our hotel imparts," said Alex Calderwood, co-founder of the Ace hotels, of pearl+. Ace also sometimes stocks Rudy's Barbershop products in some of its hotels, which I recently experienced at the Ace in Palm Springs—a musky, masculine smell, and a refreshing change from more fruity, feminine scents. So what about you? Do you care about hotel toiletries as much as I do? Do you have a favorite? Let us know by voting in our poll or commenting below. More from Budget Travel: The latest in hotel/designer collaborations Hotels: New app for last-minute deals New York City: New (relatively) affordable hotels

If knowing the exact hotel you're booking matters less to you than getting the best deal in the right neighborhood, then nothing trumps the name-your-own price deals on Priceline. Simply choose your desired city and class of hotel and state what you're willing to pay. If you're worried about over-or underbidding, check out the new site The Bidding Traveler. It studies other people's successful bids and then uses that information to recommend the smartest bids for you to make. As you know, bidding too high on Priceline is a waste of money. But if your bid is too low, Priceline will reject it, meaning you'll have to change your request slightly to make another offer. Escape this dilemma by going to BiddingTraveler.com. Enter your destination and travel dates. The tool works for hundreds of cities. But we found that, so far, there's only enough data for useful advice in ten major cities: Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York City, Orlando, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, and London. More cities should have useful data in the coming weeks as more people use the site. Next, select the districts you're willing to stay in and the highest star rating of the hotel you want. The site will then suggest what starting bid and final offer you should consider. You can then select how many bids you're willing to make. The site will then tell you what dollar amounts to bid for each re-bid until you're successful. A tip: These days, Priceline accept or declines bids near instantly, but you will still burn up time when you're bidding and re-bidding. If you're in a rush, tell The Bidding Traveler that you'll make a few bids. The Bidding Traveler then takes you to Priceline, where you can sign in and follow its instructions. Budget Travel has written in the past about other sites displaying successful buys on day-by-day, such as the excellent BetterBidding and Bidding for Travel. (See "Search Strategically.") But those sites are far more complicated to use than The Bidding Traveler. MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Priceline now guarantees your hotel bid is the best deal Think you know Priceline? Is Hotwire a safe bet for European hotel bargains?