Wherever you’re heading this summer, think about taking a half-price hotel directory along with you. Although you won’t always get a discount at every participating hotel — and when you do it might not be a full 50 percent off the rate most other travelers pay — a half-price program is still a good deal. You get a big enough reduction, often enough, to justify spending the $40 to $60 you pay to buy into the program.

As far as I can tell, the most widely used half-price program is sold by Entertainment Publications. Once you buy in, you receive an ID card and a directory of participating hotels, listed by state and city (by country and city outside the United States). In each place you plan to stop, you look up the participating hotels, choose one that suits your needs, call (or fax) the hotel directly, and ask for a room at the “Entertainment rate” for the night(s) you plan to stay. If a room is available at that price, make your reservation, show your Entertainment ID card when you check in, and pay when you check out, as usual, by cash or charge card.

Your success rate depends on how full each hotel expects to be. The usual cutoff is occupancy of 80 percent: If the hotel doesn’t project to be filled over that figure, you get your discount; if expected occupancy is higher, you’re out of luck. Some hotels add blackouts at peak time periods.

Most Entertainment directories also contain a handful of dollars-off or percent-discount certificates from a variety of travel suppliers. Those on Continental Airlines represent a reasonably good deal — up to $100 off a domestic ticket, $200 off a ticket to Europe. However, other forms of discounting and price finagling are so rife in the car-rental and cruise markets that I frankly can’t tell whether the Entertainment certificates for those services are any good at all.

Although Entertainment publishes hundreds of national, regional, and local editions, its “Ultimate Travel and Savings Directory,” currently $62.95 for a year, includes by far the greatest number of hotels — well over 5,000, worldwide. I’ve used them often over the years, and have found that I get discounts often enough to justify the price.

Entertainment isn’t just for domestic travel. The “Ultimate” directory has hundreds of listings in foreign countries — especially Canada and Europe, where the coverage is extensive. And you find at least a few listings in many other major destinations around the world — Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America.

However, if your travels are confined largely to any one of the country’s 200 or so largest metropolitan areas, you might consider buying the local Entertainment directory for that area. While those local books list fewer hotels, they include dollars-off, twofer, and other promotions at a wide range of restaurants and visitor attractions. Local books cost around $40 each, although Entertainment sometimes offers better promotional prices. Also, consider buying the directory for your home city to take advantage of deals at restaurants and attractions. You can order any Entertainment directory by calling (800) 668-3172 (MasterCard, Visa).

Competitors ITC-50 and Quest sell similar half-price programs. Other travel clubs include half-price hotels (often run by ITC-50) as part of their mix of features, and you may find one of those programs or a similar one offered as a charity premium or an employee benefit. If so, you don’t need to buy another. But if you don’t already have a program through some other source, Entertainment is probably your best bet.

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