It’s important to know how and where to find the deals. With these tools you can find the ones you want to fit your own needs rather than just going to where the deal is and taking something that isn’t really for you.
Look for ways to save in the city you are visiting.
City Pass, Gives you access to top attractions in that city at up to half off the cost of admission plus head of the line or express line access.
City Pass is currently in the following cities: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Hollywood, Houston, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Southern, Toronto
Groupon, In their own words, Groupon features daily deals for stuff to do, see, eat and buy in 48countries and soon to be more. A lot of people use Groupon in their home town and never think to use it in a city they are visiting. it’s like a traveling coupon. Before you visit a city, visit Groupon and see what deals are offered for big savings for your vacation.
Packages, bundling or packaging is a way to save. Especially if you’re using a travel agent or online travel companies like Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity or the airlines website. Often, when you book your vacation components together from the same source it’s less expensive than if you were to book them separately. This means booking your air, hotel, transfers or car rental all in one.
Apps, Apps give you up to the minute deals or information. Here are a few I like. I like the Kayak app for the same reason I like Kayak.com, because you can compare travel sites for the best airfares, hotel rates, itineraries, etc. You save time and money!
With gas prices constantly changing and varying so much based on your location, Gas Buddy is a great tool to check whose offering the best prices when you’re on the go.
An empty hotel room is very costly for a hotel and they would rather sell the room at a discount than have it empty. The goal is “Heads in Beds”. So, when a hotel has an empty room it’s the best time for you to get a deal. Hotel Tonight is an app that offers such a service. Hotels are listed with last minute deals for those empty rooms. And, they have just launched a lowest price guarantee.
Cruises, Cruise vacations have always been a great value and just like hotel rooms when cabins are unsold last minute deals offered. The cruise line would rather have you on the ship at a heavily discounted rate than have an empty cabin. You can find last minute cruise deals as low as $55 per person per night.
Sign up for alerts with various sites. The sites you register with will alert you when prices go down or sales are offered. You can put in destinations, dates and other filters to get what you’re looking for.
Eliminate airfare and drive.
Book the right Day, If you’re traveling over the Labor Day weekend, Friday and Monday will be the highest in terms of airfare and traffic. Try departing on Wednesday or Thursday and returning Tuesday for lower airfares. This principle actually applies anytime you’re traveling. You’ll want to fly on non-peak days and hours.
Book the Hub, What I mean by this is that airlines have a hub, this is their base. You’ll find less expensive fares using an airlines hub because they have more service from there, more flights more frequency.
If you can, go the weekend after Labor Day, you’ll get great deals.
Ja’Vonne Harley
Ja’Vonne Harley