Waiting for an unforgettable vacation? You might be surprised if you search for popular places like London, Paris, Rome, New York, Toronto, Disney World, San Diego, etc. Even many beach vacations are expensive these days. Your best bet for cheap vacation getaways is to wait until the off-season or find a less expensive alternative to a popular destination. Palm Springs, for example, is considered cheap compared to, say, San Francisco. Warsaw is a cheaper European alternative to London.
If you really want to go to the most popular places in the world, here are some tips to help you save:
• Timing is everything when it comes to cheap travel. If there is no leg room with your vacation dates and you MUST travel on those specific days, make a list of the top places you want to visit and find out if any of them will be out of season. If you have flexibility with the dates, be patient and wait for the prices to start going down where you most want to go.
• Early risers don’t necessarily get the worm in the travel and tourism industry. Sometimes the best thing to do is wait for a last minute or same day deal. You can save HUGE if you wait for hotels to slash their prices in a last minute attempt to book all of your rooms. It’s often the same with airlines, so if you’re feeling a little risky, literally wait until the last day or two to see if cheap plane tickets are available.
• Sign up for newsletters and bookmark your favorite travel booking sites. Keep logging in to see the cheap vacation getaways category. With a little patience, you’ll eventually see a package for one of the places you’d really love to visit.
• Don’t select a package with lots of extras if you don’t need them. There are different types of vacation getaways, some of which are all-inclusive and come with a wide variety of features, many of which you probably won’t need or could do without. At a minimum, you will need a plane ticket (or bus ticket) and a place to stay for a certain number of nights. Just use the search function on your favorite travel site to bundle airfare and accommodation together and see if you can get any discounts by booking both at the same time.
• Learn about Loyalty Programs. You may be eligible for something even if you don’t know it. The line between hotel and airline loyalty programs is getting thinner due to partnerships between the two industries. If you’re a platinum or gold member of a hotel chain, for example, you may be able to spend your loyalty points on airfare if that hotel company partners with an airline.
conclusion
No matter where you want to go, keep these tips in mind and be as patient and flexible as possible in your search for cheap vacation getaways.
Online coupons are among the best in the travel industry. Take advantage of everything the site has to offer, from intuitive search and comparison tools to free travel guides to help you find cheap vacation getaways around the world.