The warm weather often signifies the time to plan a much-needed vacation. Whether it’s a weekend getaway to spend time with that special someone, or a week-long trip with the family to explore uncharted territory, planning a trip can be a lot of fun. However, if you’re like most households, finding the money in your budget to fund a trip can often be challenging. From paying for the airfare to booking a hotel and paying for attractions and shopping, a trip can get costly.
Plenty of Ways to Save
Hotels, airlines, car rental services, and tourist attractions all rely on travelers and tourists to stay in business. As such, they are often willing to jump through hoops to get you through the door. Whether that means advertising new features and services or opting to give you a discount on your transportation or accommodations, they’re going to give their best effort to make traveling more affordable and appealing to you. Here are some of the best ways to find deals on your next vacation.
Travel Booking Sites
Approximately 148.3 million reservations are made through travel booking sites each year. This should come as no surprise, as these sites are often where you find the best deals on some of the best hotel, flight, and car rental accommodations. Users can sign up on these sites for free and search through hundreds of accommodations to compare for the best rates possible. When comparing rates, users can save a large percentage of money while still getting the accommodations that best suit their needs.
Package Deals
Another way in which travelers are able to save money on booking their next trip is through package deal offers. Often through travel booking sites, users can find great savings when they package common services such as hotel stays, flights, and car rental services. Booking two or even three of these services together can generate a large percentage of savings.
Email Offers
Many hotel chains, airlines, and car rental companies have email subscription services that customers can sign up for. Some companies send out weekly newsletters to update customers on new attractions or features. However, when it comes to saving money on your next trip, signing up for email offers is likely one of your best options. Hotels will send you up-to-date information on the latest promotions they’re having such as a percentage off, buy two nights get one night free, and so on. This way you’re always informed of when the best deals are happening.
Customer Loyalty Reward Programs
Another option for finding deals for your next trip is signing up for customer loyalty and/or reward programs. Customers can often sign up free of charge and will receive an identifying number (or membership card). The member ID number or card is to be used every time you book a hotel with a particular chain. Every time you book a stay, your member account is credited a certain amount of points. When you get to a predetermined amount of points, you have often rewarded with a free stay or a huge discount on your next visit.
So the next time you’re thinking about getting away, but believe you can’t afford it, try some of the above-mentioned options for getting a great deal. Each of these options above has its own set of benefits, and the most frugal shoppers utilize all of the options to maximize their savings. Now you can use all that extra money to explore something new or to bring back a souvenir.