Saving on travel and dining with the Entertainment Coupon Book

I can’t remember how I first came across the Entertainment Coupon Book but somehow eight years ago I discovered the book and have been faithfully purchasing it each year. If you don’t know what the Entertainment Coupon Book is about.. let me tell you! It’s a year long coupon book essentially with 2 for 1 deals and other discounts that can potentially save you quite a pretty penny when it comes to dining, travel and shopping. Until this year I only used the Toronto book but given that we were to spend a week in Los Angeles I was sent a local L.A Entertainment Book to check out as well.

The book is available across 120 North American cities and cost around $35 if you purchase it as soon as it comes out (usually towards August of the prior year). I have noticed that the book itself goes on sale periodically and on one occasion I purchased it for $10!! Given the amount of savings I totally find the book to be a wise investment. Another neat feature in the book is that everything is listed alphabetically, by neighbourhood and by type of service offered. One word of advice ensure you read the location validity because some of the chain coupons are only valid at certain spots.

As you know we dine out and travel quite a bit so it should come as no surprise that those coupons are the ones we use the most. When it comes to restaurants there’s always a bunch of new spots to discover and I’ll be honest.. we’ve had more misses than hits when it comes to the featured restos. However we have discovered quite a few faves through the book as well. Also… fast food coupons! When we’re rushing around or craving Burger King and Harveys this book’s buy one get one deal is perfect! Just using four of these coupons covers the original cost of the book! Admittedly walking into a spot and pulling out my coupon does feel a bit cheap.. but hey! they did decide to advertise this way. I do like that there’s a discrete “membership” card that is to be used at some of the fancier spots. I like the membership card since it’s easy to fit in my wallet versus having the book on me for unplanned visits. The hubs is in the habit of storing the fast food coupons in his wallet so that it’s there when the urge strikes!

My favourite savings are those related to car rentals…every major outlet has coupons and you can use it for travel anywhere. For our L.A trip we saved $80 off our van rental by using a 40% discount at the LAX Avis rental company. Talk about a deal! I’ve been eyeing the Priceline, Hotels.com and Wyndham hotel deals as well but haven’t used them yet. The cruise ones are forever tempting me! When it comes to the travel coupons nearly all of them are online codes so it’s very easy to redeem.

The Entertainment Coupon Book also has an app I noticed this year so I plan to give that a test as soon as I find where the Little Monkey hid my membership card! One thing foshure if the dining and travel  deals aren’t enough the cinema, tourist attraction and flower discounts will definitely put this book over the top!

Have you used one of these books?