Spring will soon give way to summer. With airlines reducing their flight schedules and fuel prices on the increase, expect even fewer airline ticket deals and flights operating over capacity. (It’s cheaper to “bump” you than fly with empty seats.) Smart travelers know to follow their favorite airlines, hotel chains and vacation spots on Facebook and Twitter, where spur-of-the-moment deals may be announced. But last-minute booking can be risky. It pays to be the early bird and catch some discounts by booking sooner rather than later. If you haven’t planned that summer vacation yet, get to it. Here are five tips that can help you make the most of your travel budget:
1. Book your airfare mid-week. The best day to book your airline tickets is on Tuesday. The reason? Many airlines release their sales for the week on Monday nights. By Tuesday, the other airlines have had a chance to look at their competitors’ sales and price match. The most expensive time to book your flight is over the weekend.
2. Be flexible. Most of the major online travel sites offer a flexible date and/or flexible airport option. Those options can save you some money on airfare if you’re not that particular about the exact days you travel or you have a choice of airports. If you are tied to specific dates or airports, search for flights on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Saturdays. Fridays and Sundays are the most expensive days to fly.
3. Compare prices. Before booking a flight or hotel room, check out several of the major travel sites (e.g., Travelocity, Expedia, Priceline, Hotwire, Orbitz) and compare prices. When you think you’ve found the airline or hotel with the best deal, go to their website and see if their price is lower. You’ll often find that hotel websites match or beat the aggregaters. Don’t be afraid to call hotels directly (using the hotel phone number instead of the reservation number) and simply ask for a discount. If the hotel has empty rooms during the dates you’re planning to travel, they may be willing to negotiate a lower rate. If you don’t like the answer you get from the reservationist, ask for the hotel manager since he or she may be in a position to negotiate.
4. Name your own price. Many of the major travel sites will allow you to choose how much you’re willing to pay for your hotel room. For example, Priceline has a Name Your Own Price® option where you can choose a certain area of a city and the hotel star level you want, then tell them how much you want to pay for your room. I usually start my bidding at a little less than 50% of what they quote as the median price of a hotel in the area where I want to stay. If your offer is accepted, you can get some really nice rooms for reasonable rates using this option (if it’s rejected, you can try a higher bid after a 24-hour waiting period). But there are a couple of downsides. You don’t get to choose your hotel, and some of the hotels charge additional fees for parking or internet service, which isn’t disclosed up-front.
5. Travel off-season. This may not always be possible if you have kids in school, but you can get some good deals on hotel rooms (and sometimes airfare) if you travel slightly off season. For example, the main tourist season in Myrtle Beach is Memorial Day to Labor Day. Visit any other time in May or September, the weather’s still beautiful, and the hotel prices are cheaper. If you’re traveling to southern Florida, December and April (after Easter/Passover) are cheaper options than January through March, which is their main tourist season. An added bonus to traveling off-season is that the beaches (or other tourist attractions) are less crowded.
