Hotel Tips: Booking Hotels and Flights

When planning a vacation or trip one of the most stressful parts is figuring out when to book a hotel or flight. Either one of these two things could easily make anyone bankrupt your wallet. But there are tools and tricks out there to help you save on your next trip.

Booking a Hotel:
With sites like Expedia, Trivago and Priceline, spending hours searching individual websites has become a thing of the past! These sites (and others like them) compare majority of the major hotels and airlines. And if you bundle what you're booking, they even give you additional discounts! Some hotels also offer discounts for AAA members, government employees, active and retired military personnel, teachers, etc., so if you can't find what you're looking for on any of those sites, you may be eligible for one of those discounts (I'm not sure that you can combine these offers though). If these hotel prices are still too high, consider staying in an Airbnb or HomeAway, an affordable accommodation alternative that connects property owners who rent out their residential spaces to guests through an online market. Both of these sites feature options that range from a single room to an entire apartment or house. B and I have stayed in a few Airbnbs and we loved them. My suggestion is to def make sure to read the reviews, which will provide insight into what it's really like staying in particular home. For example, the shower in the first Airbnb we stayed in was actually a bath with a hand-held shower head -- talk about being a little surprised when we first discovered that one! Lastly, make sure to check out what is or isn't included. For instance, sometimes parking is limited and you may have to pay per day, or WiFi isn't included leaving you with a hefty fee.

Booking Flights:
Much like booking a hotel, checking out sites like Booking.com, and Hotwire (and the above mentioned site) will help you compare most of the major airlines. But one thing that a lot of people don't know is that the price of your flight may change from day to day. For example, booking on a Sunday or Monday will be far more expensive than if you book on a Tuesday or Wednesday. Another great tip that I found recently is if you're booking for multiple people, search for one ticket at a time. By doing this, you may be able to find a discounted ticket for at least one person, but if you search for multiple tickets, the cheaper ones may not be listed due to limited availability. Also, don't forget to check for round trip tickets and direct flights! For work I just book direct flights, but never considered this option when B would join me, then out of curiosity I checked and some of those flights were cheaper than the ones with lay-overs! Why would I want to make my travel time even longer and more expensive than it has to be?!

Lastly, businesses have realized that by creating a presence on social media gives them a competitive edge in communicating with consumers, and as such, this marketing method can prove fruitful for online consumers with special offers or select information about deals that can be taken advantage of through the various platforms.

Happy travels!