The comfort, convenience and enjoyment of your most-awaited vacation mostly depends on a couple of things. Which is how you get there and where you stay. The quality of these is what separates an expensive trip from a cheaper. Having said that, you can enjoy the best of both without breaking your bank. Here, we are going to show how to save money on airfare and accommodation.
This list applies to all forms of travellers including business travellers, adrenaline junkies, leisure travellers
Save Money on Airfare
Setting alerts to be notified
This is a popular way to be alerted on the best flight deals on the planet. In general, if you don’t like promotion emails as such, especially during a time when you’re not looking to travel. Try keeping a separate email for travel notifications. This way, nothing gets overlooked and you can keep tabs whenever you’re interested.
Skyscanner is a user-friendly app that helps you to track cheap flight deals with alarm notifications. They price check with over 1200 travel companies, so you don’t have to. And it’s also credible as they let other users review their experiences too. So, you can drain out the bad apples out there. And in case, you didn’t know, certain sites use your date to increase the prices but Skyscanner doesn’t do that.
Another amazing cheap flight tracker is How Going. A lot of users have claimed that this site has helped them quite a lot with free flight alerts. All you need to do is fill in the details of the type of airfare rates you are looking at and they will keep you posted when the prices drop. If you sign up their paid package, you will be the first to know!
In addition to that, also keep an eye on last minute deals on Twitter. Accounts such as @SecretFlying post some of the cheapest fares on the feed daily.
Try flexible dates and times
If you’ve got a flexible schedule, play around with different dates and times. Usually, switching the dates by even a day can cut the price in half!
During both season and off-season, there are peak and non-peak days/times. So picking the least popular time to fly is the answer. Hint: According to grapevine, we hear the travelling is cheaper mid-week. Usually, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday are the cheapest days to travel. And Friday and Sunday are the expensive ones.
However, there is no set formula to find out the cheapest time to travel but you can do little variations around the dates and time you can fly. Then, compare and pick the cheapest flight!
Optimize the 24-hour cancellation policy
If you come across an amazing airfare deal and you’re not sure about taking it, go for it anyways! Also, if you make the booking on a Friday, you can take time till Monday to cancel your flight. This is because the policy only runs on business so you can take the weekend to make the decision.
Take the reverse route
Pick the destination and departure date based on the price. Usually, we pick the destination, dates and then look for flights. However, if your travelling plans are flexible and you want to save money on airfare and accommodation, try this out!
Use Google Flights to compare
It’s best practices to have a trusty list of travel sites like Expedia and Kayak by your side. And in addition to that, you must check Google Flights because it gives access to a wide list of options. it really easy to see tons of options. And once you enter the airport and destination details, you can easily view the cheapest airfare. If your travel plans are more flexible, check out the Google Flights Explore Map. All you need to do is enter your destination and duration and all the options pop for you to compare.
Book Early
This is also quite a usual aspect for any type of tickets. To save money airfare and accommodation, it’s best to book at least seven weeks before the expected departure date. The closer you get to the departure date, the more expensive it gets.
Choose city airports
If you are travelling inside the country, any closest airport works just fine. Whereas, if you want to go abroad, pick major metropolitan airports. This is because the more traffic an airport attracts for a specific destination, it will lower the airfares.
Use the incognito mood
When surfing the net, look for the best rates by switching your browser to the incognito mood. Sites like Kayak, Expedia, and Priceline can raise the increase the flight rates depending on how often your search for it. By switching to incognito mood, you can avoid this as these sites won’t be track your search history.
Buy seperate tickets
When you’re travelling with a group, book each ticket separately. The price can change when you book many tickets together because the airlines put you in a fare bucket. This means you are eligible for privelleges like upgrades or refundable options.
This doesn’t apply all the time. However, when in a group, it’s worth checking if it’s cheaper to buy the tickets separately. And the more tickets you buy, there won’t be enough seats in the cheapest fare bucket.
If you’re able to find cheaper individual tickets, make sure to check with the airline so you can have the different itineraries connected. This way, if there are any changes, your whole group will be able to stay together.
Consider Budget Airlines
So, these guys have both pros and cons. Therefore, you need to weigh in both sides for your specific travel needs. For instance, choosing budget airlines to save money on airfare for international travel might be a difficult choice. However, if you are flying across the country on one of these to catch your connecting flight, then it’s a genius idea.
Save Money on Accommodation
Pick places outside the destination
Let’s say convenience ranks higher than budget, it’s good to stay somewhere close to the places you want to visit. But if your motive is to save money on airfare and accommodation then you got to do a little bit of work. Therefore, stay in hotels or airbnbs situated right outside the area you want to visit. Depending on the nature of the activity you want to engage, you can use maps and/or cabs to navigate around. Also, this comes with an added advantage of exploring rare tourist destinations on the way!
Go for bundle offers on both flights and accommodation
Through sites such as booking.com, you can save money on airfare and accommodation by picking offer packages. And some of these even come with discounts on rentals, etc.
Become someone’s favourite customer
What we mean by this is that by frequenting a hotel chain like Hilton, you can build up your loyalty points. And this could mean discounts, travel benefits such as free WIFI, room upgrades, etc.
Look out for gift cards
Here and there, Amazon offers sales on Hotels.com gift cards. What it means? You can enjoy a $100 gift card for around $80. All you need to do is subscribe to Amazon Lightning deals, this way, you’d know about these sales instantly. In addition to that, other sites such as giftcardgranny.com, cardcash.com, and raise.com also sell gift cards at a discount.
Make use of best rate guarantees
A lot of hotel chains have a ‘best rate guarantee’ policy; if you book a room and find a cheaper rate for it on a hotel aggregation site like Hotels.com, Expedia.com, or Priceline.com, the hotel may give you the difference cash, travel points, or even offer you a discount on your stay. Every hotel is different, so do your research about the policies.
Book private rooms
For instance, when using Airbnb, try choosing the ‘private room’ option instead of getting the entire space. This reduces the budget while giving you the privacy of your own room. Also, make sure the space is reliable and Airbnb owners are contactable. Especially, in the case of any disturbances from other guests.
Find unique stays via TikTok
Yes, there are dedicated pages on TikTok that helps to spot the beautiful hotels and spaces. Surprisingly, some of the cutest accommodations are also very affordable. Having said that, don’t judge a book by its cover. And do your research by checking up on reviews and ratings. We follow Dallin Hassard on TikTok because he knows the tea on all the unique stays around the globe!
Do the benchmarking across sites
To save money on airfare and accommodation, some of the tactics are quite similar. Like, you got to dig in sites such as Agoda, Booking.com, Airbnb and even Google for the best stay rates! And always prioritise the one with reviews from former guests so you can check if it’s actually a good deal or just shady! Some say hostelworld.com is a good one with a tons of options and reviews.
Try something unconventional
You could try couchsurfing, where you rent out a couch instead of a room. Ay, it’s free by the way. Check couchsurfing.com to get this adventure started! This is an excellent way to travel across small towns and to learn about the locals. Or, there is also a much more comfortable option of house exchange. Like the term suggests, you are just swapping homes. In both cases, be very careful at all times.
Aside from the above, to save money for both airfare and accommodation, avoid a travel agent and ask the internet (and a foreign friend) instead.
For more lifestyle content:
- 8 Best Airbnbs with Private Pools of Your Dreams
- Travel Beauty Essentials: A Practical Guide to Packing Lightly
