Number 11 in our 20 recession travel rules: Snag CVB coupons. A quick-and-dirty way to score a bargain is to visit the online version of your destination’s tourism office or convention and visitors bureau (a.k.a. CVB) before you leave home, and poke around for a discounts or coupons page. Every city and state has a tourism site, and most of them have a page devoted to deals and special offers.

The California Travel & Tourism Commission's deal page is one of the best we've seen.  It's searchable by keyword and region, so it's easy to zero in on exactly what you're looking for. Let's suppose you're planning a family trip to Legoland, the popular SoCal theme park. A search with the keyword "Legoland" currently turns up 67 (wow!) hotel deals. When we selected San Diego in the "Special Deals and Packages" menu, we also spotted the Legoland Family Fun Adventure package at the Inns of America for $154, which includes a one-night stay and a one-day adult pass to Legoland. The same results page steered us to discounted Legoland tickets. That's deal-finding the way we like it: Fast and virtually effortless.