Money Saving Travel Tips

[megacorp-firee]

I was trying to book a long term car rental and found out that if you book at the airport, you have to pay a $3/day facility fee. Given a 60 day rental, that $180 for ?. I can still return it to the airport at the end of the rental. If you book in the city, you save the [-]bulls**t[/-] fee.

Any other tidbits that can help save us fixed incomers some dollars as we go and enjoy FIRE?

 

[Moemg]

For hotels in larger cities nothing beats Priceline .I've stayed at the Sheraton in Boston for $79.00. A wyndham hotel in Phoenix for $19.00.Go to bidding for travel .It will give you all the ins & outs of Priceline and what bids are being accepted.

 

[kcowan]

I have tried to duck the airport fee and found that the rentals cost more. I phoned the company (actually several) and they all said that the airports were more competitive so they had to match the rates there whereas in the city, it was locals renting for a weekend getaway.

An exception was in Barcelona so we stayed in Las Ramblas then took a cab to the section of town where the rentals were cheapest. Then drove 2400km and dropped off 3 weeks later in Malaga all for 169 Euros.

 

[Achiever51]

Next month I'm taking my 88 year old father -- a WWII battle tested vet -- to Washington DC to see the WWII Memorial. This will be his first trip to DC. I wanted to stay at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill as it is very centrally located for our needs, but wasn't about to spend $375 a night for a room.

Hotline.com to the rescue! Reserved a room for $135 a night...Still a little more expensive than I would have preferred, but comparable to the best rates I could find further outside the District.

(This is a very special trip for my Dad -- he's talked about going since the Memorial was first announced -- so as far as I'm concerned, it's worth every penny!)

 

[bright eyed]

i also love priceline - there is a danger in over-bidding for a room because they prompt you to increase your geographic area and decrease your star ratings if your bid gets rejected.

As long as you have time on your side you can get around it by logging back in after 24 hours and putting in the same star rating that you originally wanted, geographic range you wanted - but raise your price.

Something that has worked for me is to pick your star rating - then a $ amount will be next to the bid box - which is the avg price of a room in that area for that star rating - your bid should be about 50% plus $10 or so...i've had very good luck using that pricing scheme.

Other saving tip is to buy groceries to eliminate a couple meals and snacks - that way you aren't constantly going out to eat - which takes up a lot of time and you save a bundle. If i can, i try to find the local trader joe's or go there before we leave if it is a road trip! as long as they have a microwave and fridge. Another handy dandy is to bring a small rice cooker - you can make a lot of stuff in there - last trip we got the TJ's fettucine and popped it in the rice cooker and it was nice and hot in 5 minutes!

good luck!!!

 

[megacorp-firee]

I have tried to duck the airport fee and found that the rentals cost more.
.... Then drove 2400km and dropped off 3 weeks later in Malaga all for 169 Euros.

I did have to surf the car rental sites for the best price at the airport. Then I noticed the 3 buck 'facilities' charge and wanted to see if I could get get away from that by going into the city. It worked for me ... and was worth it because it was a per day charge and with 60 days certainly made it the smart move for me.

Nice price in Spain.

 

[bssc]

(This is a very special trip for my Dad -- he's talked about going since the Memorial was first announced -- so as far as I'm concerned, it's worth every penny!)

Look for the Kilroy was here on the back of the memorial

 

[Achiever51]

Look for the Kilroy was here on the back of the memorial

Thanks! Dad will love it!

 

[VoyT]

I've had pretty good luck using Hotwire for car rental .. their prices tend to beat anything the rental firms offer on their own sites.
That being said, I do use Kayak and the other online sites to scope out hotels and airfares, but do the actual booking on the hotel/airline web sites... the prices are better.
And if you have AAA or AARP, don't forget to use those discounts.

 

[JDARNELL]

Car rentals

I use carrentals.com for cars. What I see is that the closer to the time many times the price goes down. So I book far out and keep monitoring to see what happens.

Tomcat98

 

[TromboneAl]

i also love priceline - ...

Something that has worked for me is to pick your star rating - then a $ amount will be next to the bid box - which is the avg price of a room in that area for that star rating - your bid should be about 50% plus $10 or so...i've had very good luck using that pricing scheme.

There's a forum in which people report the results they've gotten with priceline, and you can use that as a guideline. For example,

 

[bright eyed]

Hey T-Al,
thx for the site info - i just got a 4* room in San Diego for $90 a nite...my old method described above, I would have bid at least $120...so i saved $30!

thx!!!

 

[roadtoharvard]

The adventurous could always try couch surfing. Fairly cheap accommodations.

 

[CuppaJoe]

And if you have AAA or AARP, don't forget to use those discounts.

I rejoin AARP every time I book a room, was about $12 last time. If the hotel has rooms available at an AARP rate, I just hop over the AARP website. No hotel has ever asked me for proof of membership.

I take along a lot of granola (the kind with powered milk included so you just add water) and some fruit. It is very useful anytime and especially for those times when the plane will take off before restaurants open.

Had in-laws here last weekend who got a room for $79 but didn't like it, said they will go for 3 diamonds minimum from now on. I had to change dates once and it would have been much easier to deal directly with the hotel. Some say you can get a better deal calling the hotel directly, do any of you find that to be true?

 

[Chuckanut]

I found this old thread and it seemed like the perfect place to make the comment below instead of starting a new thread on the same topic:

This article has a lot of common sense tips, but it always amazes me to hear about how many of my friends and acquaintances ruin a good trip by not following them.

https://www.travelcodex.com/2017/01/travel-hacking-tips-for-the-non-hacker-part-1/

https://www.travelcodex.com/2017/01/travel-hacking-tips-for-the-non-hacker-part-2/

I don’t quite understand why people become overly focused on price while traveling, when I see these same people splurge at home. But the complaints I get from people who fly Ryanair or Spirit never seen to stop.

This is a big one for me. I see people hunt, and hunt and hunt for the cheapest airfare they can find and then, they often pay for it later in terms of money, time lost, and additional stress.

Sure, on short flights, a seat is a seat for most of us. But, I have seen people 'save' $100 on a ticket by driving 2 hours to another city to catch a flight and leaving at 6:30 in the morning. Figure in the gas, the hassle factor etc. and I have to wonder if it is worth it just to save $100. Oh, this person gave up about $50 of his savings on the return trip when he could not catch a ride with others for his very early flight home. So, he ended up taking a taxi by himself and blew 1/2 of his savings.