Budget Travel Basics

With the holidays coming-up many people are booking flights, hotels, and rental cars. The Holiday travel madness begins with Thanksgiving and continues through New Years. This is when the travel industry makes a lot of their money and where you as a traveler can get some great deals – if you know where to look and what to look for.

The first rule of budget travel is to never buy an airline ticket, hotel room, or rental car from the corporate website. There are a zillion discount travel sites online that can usually get you a better deal.

So where should you start?

I’ve found the best place to start is with a discount travel site like Expedia. This will help you set a baseline for what you should expect. A site like Expedia will also help you save money by booking a flight, hotel, and/or rental car all together at the same time. This can sometimes save you up to 50% on all three which could mean hundreds of dollars or more for a full trip.

If you are a bit of a hotel snob but still want a good deal give Hotwire a try. They can oftentimes get a 4-star hotel for under $100. Hotwire definitely offers a lower price than Expedia but you’ll lose the savings of booking a flight and hotel together so you’ll need to pick the cheapest option.

Budget travel starts with how you get to the airport. If you’re taking a cab that could be an unnecessary expense, parking at the airport? That also might be expensive if you’re gone for more than a few days. Try to use a shuttle service or have a friend of family member drive you to the airport. This can easily save you $50 or more each way in most cases and that’s an extra $100 for your trip!

Remember, Budget Travel doesn’t mean staying in crappy hotels and sitting in a middle seat. Now thanks to sites like Expedia and Hotwire Budget Travel can mean getting preimum window seats and staying in four-star hotels. So if you haven’t booked your trip for the holidays yet make sure you’ve evaluated all your options and used the incredible discount travel sites available online.