discounts

American Express is making a bid to bring cardholders its own version of Groupon-like daily deal offers, joining forces with Twitter in an attempt to turn America into a "couponless nation." The program will undoubtedly offer good discounts -- but can it last in the long term?

Last weekend's Costa Concordia accident, when the Carnival luxury liner tipped over after running aground on a rock off the Tuscan coast, was a thankfully rare tragedy. But even one such event is enough to scare some people away from floating vacations. If you're not one of the skittish, that temporary slowdown in bookings is just one reason this is a great time to schedule a cruise.

New travel website RoomKey.com launched earlier this week, offering to hunt through the available hotel rooms across several chains and find you the best deals. But with so many similar websites out there, how can it expect to compete? Well, guess who's running it.

Recognizing the tight financial situation many American students and their families are facing, a growing number of private and public colleges are offering discounted tuition in an effort to attract more students.

Retailers are finding ways to put a fresh spin on the classic limited-time sale this holiday season. Target's latest effort -- the Almost Last Minute Sale. From Dec. 8 to Dec. 11, it will offer discounts on items from its most popular gift categories in stores and online.

In a one-day ploy to get consumers in the holiday shopping spirit, on Dec. 10, Amazon.com, will reward shoppers who use its Price Check mobile app with a 5% discount (of up to $5) on three qualifying products.

Attention holiday shoppers: Don't feel blue if you missed Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Retail analysts say the best deals are yet to come, with discounts growing deeper as Christmas draws nearer.

If you're in the market for a new television, you'd be wise to scoop up one of the sweet deals that will be available for the rest of 2011. TV manufacturers and retailers are desperate to unload inventory, so HDTVs, Internet-connected TVs and 3-D TVs will be going at deeply discounted prices.

Groupon's IPO was a rousing success, but its business model still may be an endangered species. Facebook, restaurant reviews website Yelp, and dining reservations leader OpenTable have all bowed out of selling prepaid vouchers for area merchants at steep discounts in recent weeks. Here's why:

As Groupon prepares for its IPO, here's a gentle reminder to the company's original public investors: the bargain buyers. If you don't redeem those Daily Deals -- and many of us forget to after we buy them -- they're just money down the drain for you, and pure profit for the company.