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This post is written by Beckie, a frequent guest author for Earn On The Side)
Travel savings are a very passionate topic for me. With the shape of the economy, so many of us are avoiding vacations because we can’t afford to take them. We use our hard earned vacation time staying close to home instead of seeing the world. Not that I am NOT a fan of being a hometown tourist (many of us take for granted the great places that we live) but I have some great savings tips to consider when planning your trips this summer.
Don’t Pay Full Price when you Travel…..for ANYTHING!
I’m completely serious…airlines, hotels, meals, theme park tickets. Just about the only thing you can’t find discounts on is gasoline, but you can make up for that by finding rental car deals.
Airline deals are all over the place and I always try and do my homework first and foremost. Spend a few days or weeks researching and definitely do your diligence. Check the airline websites directly, but by no means stop there. Unfortunately…discounted fares are still pretty high, but if you have to fly, make sure you do your best.
Check the big travel discount sites; Travelocity.com, Orbitz.com, Cheaptickets.com, bestfares.com, kayak.com and all of the others. There are quite a few great sites out there and while I don’t have a magic formula or even a favorite one that I use exclusively, I’ve had good luck with several of these sites in finding decent airfare. Sign up for fare watchers as well. These will do the work of watching for you.
Right now, there are a few things to keep in mind:
Airfare
There are a lot of airlines in financial trouble right now. They are paying huge prices for gas as well. So always buy your tickets with a credit card. I had tickets to Hawaii signed and sealed recently when the airline abruptly went out of business. My credit card company will now be taking care of the reimbursement on my behalf.
The travel section of the newspaper will also help with finding the lowest cost airfare. Mine is in the Sunday paper (with the coupons) and it will help me to gauge, while I am doing my research, if I am getting a good deal.
Sign up for updates via email with the carriers directly (this usually comes with enrollment in any frequent flyer club). Send them to that email address for junk mail that you set up in my How to Win Radio Contests article. You will get emails with discounts, specials, and promotions.
Think outside the box and be flexible. Southwest airlines doesn’t fly into Chicago’s O’Hare but they do go to Midway. The El train will take care of the rest and you can use Southwest, which is often less expensive. Don’t be afraid to try a new airport or something a little out of the way.
One more tip would be to check out Farecast. Farecast is a travel website that will show you for certain flights and cities if based on past information you should buy now or wait for prices to drop.
Hotels
I use Hilton hotels They have several types of hotels and I can use my Honors points for any of them. I collect Honors points when I stay there, through My Points, and with a Hilton credit card. I have stayed several nights for free.
Check out other hotel chains and always sign up for the ‘points’ programs that they offer. You can earn points many way other than just staying there so don’t throw these valuable points away because you are too lazy to sign up.
Book Early…And Late.
What?! Yes, I’m serious. Start searching and booking as early as you can. I booked airfare for Hawaii this summer as soon as I knew we were going. Since I don’t anticipate a drop in the price of gas, I don’t want to wait and watch the fares creep higher and higher.
On the other hand, if you are flexible or want to make a spur of the moment decision to get away, you might find a great deal. Hotels, for example, make nothing on an empty room so they might offer a deep discount at the last minute.
We recently took a trip to San Francisco. While I booked the airfare back in February, I held out on the hotel until the last week. Only 7 days before we left, priceline.com found us a four star room for $150 per night!
This strategy is not without risk, so be smart. A huge convention or event in any town might be filling up rooms or taking all of the rental cars. Even if you decide to wait, keep an eye on things so you don’t have to change plans altogether.
Bottom line….explore the different advantages between planning early and waiting until the last minute.
Saving Money Once You Get There
See my other money saving post on the use of the Entertainment book or similar coupons. Order one if you know you will be visiting a specific city and then pass it off at the airport to a newly arriving family or someone else visiting when you leave.
Collect coupon books from the airport or hotel when you arrive. These free publications are full of discounts and usually have maps or other helpful info. Another great tip is to check out Restaurants.com, this is a great site where you can enter a city or a zip code and buy gift certificates to local restaurants for less than half price. For instance, you can buy a $30 gift card for $10.
Check websites for discounts on theme parks and museums. There is no reason to pay full price for these things either If you can’t find any discounts from the parks or hotels directly, try E-bay or Craigslist. You might find people like me who sell things that they win at a serious discount. *Always exercise caution when buying from Craigslist or anywhere that sellers cannot be verified. Take any and all precautions that these sites recommend.
Win A Trip
ALL of this being said, my favorite way to travel cheap is still to win the trip FOR FREE! Check out my other postings on this website for our hints on winning contests.
Just this week, I won a trip to Nashville, Tennessee for the July 4th weekend- all expenses paid. The best part is that I won the trip because I had qualified by winning ANOTHER radio contest!
My sister and I recently took a trip to Palm Springs and it was a first class weekend, completely FREE!
We won four concert tickets to a large popular festival and sold the two that we didn’t need. That paid for our food, drinks, and a massage for each of us. A nice lady got a discount on some great concert tickets (I never sell tickets for more than their intended value).
I also won a two night stay at a beautiful resort a few months back and we planned the trip accordingly to use the stay.
The entire trip was covered by winnings and all it took was a little creativity and the tips you can find in our radio contest posts and sweepstakes page. I’ve won trips to London, Hawaii, Chicago, New York, Las Vegas and more! They are out there and they ARE possible.
You CAN travel on a budget and still make it a great experience. Again…not so much on earning extra money, but I hope this gave you a few ideas on how to make your cash go further. A penny save truly is a penny earned.
Stumble it!
I’ve been reading along for a while now. I just wanted to drop you a comment to say keep up the good work.
Nice writing style. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Chris Moran
Great post. I work for company that manages and tracks gift cards, and I’ve been blogging about ways to save money on gas. I found that you can purchase discounted gas cards online. I save money while I travel when I converted my car to run on waste vegetable oil. It’s awesome. I haven’t paid for gas since January. I don’t mind driving as long as I can get more oil. It’s readily abundant and it’s great for the environment.
Austin Chus last blog post..Money, Money, Money
I agree that you can get discount at highly discounted rates by booking early. Most hotels now have a Guaranteed Lowest Price guarantees that they offer on their websites. This enables you to book at the absolute lowest price rather than using Third Party Sites such as Orbitz and Travelocity. The only way that you can get a better price than that is through coupon books such as Roomsaver.com or Hotwire and Priceline. Hotwire and Priceline offer opaque discounts to travelers meaning that you don’t know what hotel you have booked until you receive your confirmation details. As a hotelier, I can tell you that the best discounts out there are usually the advance purchase rates that are available on the hotel direct websites.
Denas last blog post..Forex Trading
thanks for sharing…
totally agree with you on this – its quite a contradiction actually with rising prices yet there are discounts.. though not sure how long these discounts will last
QuaChees last blog post..Taipei 101
thank you for the informative posting, I love traveling, and your post I’ll save it as reminder.
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