Top Budget Travel Trends And Cost Cutting Tips
Ideas For Saving On Airfare, Hotel and Vacation Packages
Jun 16, 2009
For today's budget-minded travelers, finding a good deal on both air and accommodation determines whether or not the trip will take place. Everyone wants to save, and there is a lot of information on the Internet – but very little time to read and sort through it all.
The 8 tips below reflect today's growing trends in cutting travel costs. They are certain to make travel more affordable for all.
Promotional Codes For The Taking
Surprisingly, this is a very little known or seldom shared fact: instant travel promotional codes can be obtained just by Googling them. For instance, a search for "Orbitz promotional codes" will produce all of Orbitz current promotional codes on hotels, vacation packages and flights. For example, as of today there is an Orbitz code offering the customer $200 off when booking a 6 night package stay for either Mexico or the Caribbean. That's an amazing discount. Upon check out the code can be entered and the final price will appear. There are several promotional codes to choose from according to the traveler's plans and destination; just carefully go through the list.
The same applies for internet searches for Expedia codes, or other travel site codes. A good rule of thumb is to Google promotional codes for any transport or travel related fares – at the end of the day, everyone offers discounts of some kind, particularly this year.
Finding Alternate Routes: Flying To A Less Popular City
Tickets to Paris can cost an arm and a leg, especially during the summer peak months. But with Europe's super fast trains and ever-growing list of low cost carrier airlines, there are many ways to get around the prices and get to your final destination.
The trick is to fly into a less popular city or route. If you're ultimately headed to Paris, for instance, consider flying into London instead (to Heathrow Airport). Tickets are often lower roundtrip (also, mileage tickets for such destinations are easier to find, if you have the miles). From London, you can then hop on the Eurostar train from London to Paris, for as low as $52 one way in Economy.
Similarly, plane tickets to Brussels are significantly lower than to Paris, and from there the Thalys train can take you to France, Amsterdam, or Germany.
Besides these convenient trains, there's also the possibility of flying a low cost European airline to make that connection to the final destination – consider easyJet, RyanAir, Aer Lingus or Air Malta for example.
Contacting Hotels Directly Can Save Money
The internet offers hundreds of savings for hotel stays, true. But sometimes, for the smaller places or for the big chain resorts – promotions exist that may not be directly advertised by the travel engine you are using. A quick direct call to the hotel of your choice or a peak on their website could save you quite a few bucks, particularly for properties in the Caribbean or Mexico. Another good rule of thumb in travel is: if you don't ask, you don't get.
Priceline Packages Offer Great Hotel Choices
The revamped Priceline offers great package deals of airfare and hotel, and seems to have better hotel choices than some other sites such as Travelocity or Orbitz. For instance, in May Orbitz listed a four night stay in a renovated swank boutique hotel in the center of Amsterdam, close to all the attractions and with all amenities, for a mere $250 total. Now that's a deal.
Boutique Hotels: Luxury For Less
Luxury and unique boutique hotels are offering deals that can't be passed up for those who have a little more to spare in their wallet. A great site is Splendia.com, with hard to find and never-before-heard-of fantastic boutique hotels around the world, with all the charm you can possibly wish for.
Hostels: No Longer Just For Students or Backpackers
The word "hostel" invokes backpacking and cheesy dirty rooms. These days, however, that couldn't be further from the truth. Some hostels now resemble small boutique hotels. They are no longer the shabby dorm room shared by a dozen students (although those still exist today if you want to go that route!).
For the most part, there are now some great hostels that offer decent and clean private accommodations along with Wi-Fi, and in a prime location in the city of choice, all for an amazingly low price - a perfect example is the Ostinatto in Buenos Aires.
A popular site to locate one of these hostels is HostelWorld.com. A simple google search for "best hostels" in the city of choice will also turn up quite a few helpful links and help narrow down your selections.
CouchSurfing: Crashing On Someone's Couch for Free
Get free housing. Seriously. For those on the go and with no set itinerary, or with a desire to mingle with locals and discover more than the typical tourist activities – there is the CouchSurfing option.
CouchSurfing is a community of folks who volunteer to offer their couch – literally – to tourists who need a place to stay. The length of stay or arrangement varies according to the host. Some on the Couchsurfing network only agree to meet for drinks or coffee. Either way, it's a great way to make new local friends in a new destination, discover cool places or save money by paying only for your food and drinks.
Of course, care should be taken in selecting a CouchSurfing host. All instructions and feedback can be found on the site.
House Sitting: Seeing The World For Free
A growing number of folks are learning to travel the smart way: by finding homes or apartments to houses it in exchange for room and board. MindMyHouse.com lists such house-sitting jobs. Most times, it's simply living in the house or apartment and taking care of the owner's pet - something you could do in your own home, except you could do it in Paris or Rome. It's an ideal way to cut costs while vacationing.
To learn about the latest best websites for airfare and hotel packages, read this article.
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