Saving Money While Traveling over the Holiday Season Part 2

DON’T RELY ON A SINGLE SITE:

When checking booking sites, make sure you check a few to get the best deals, especially if you will be traveling out of the country. For international flights, check both the airline you want to fly and any U.S.-based codeshare airlines. For example, when flying from Montreal to Paris, check Air France and Air Canada. You’ll be booked on the same flight but one airline may offer a fare for less.

HOUSE SWAP: You stay in my house, and I stay in yours. You pay an annual membership fee, which generally adds up to less than a one night stay in most hotels, and list your house. This may be good if you plan on traveling a lot, but it’s not for everyone. You need to think this through and do a bit of research before. There are several websites you can check and Homeexchange.com is a great place to start looking.

BE AN ORGANIZED TRAVELER: Signing up for all kinds rewards and discount programs can make a mess out of your emails and the size of your wallet. But this is the only way to get the best deals from travel suppliers you like and you’re the first to know of any holiday specials. To keep this all organized designate one email address for travel and one wallet for travel cards. You don’t need to carry the discount cards all the time, just for planning and traveling. And to further organize your emails designate one for shopping and one for personal mail. Once you do this you know where to find all your travel info in one neat tidy site.

GET GIFT CARDS FOR YOURSELF: Look for discount gift cards. Sites such as GiftCardGranny.com sell gift cards for flights, hotels and more for less than face value. While shopping around, pick up a few for restaurants and movie theaters to save on those favorite family nights out during the holidays. You become the jewel of the night when you pull out a discount card saving 5, 10 or even 20% on the entire meal.

When planning an adventure tour or outfitted trip, book that before your airline ticket. Many people do it backwards and can’t find the trip to fit their flight. Finding flights are easier than booking that hiking, biking or kayaking trip in a certain season.