The most important thing to know when searching for the best travel deals is how to do your research. Here are some things to keep in mind the next time you're thinking of taking a lovely trip.
Be Flexible
If you are flexible with your travel plans, you will have more travel deals available to choose from. For instance, if you are able to travel during the week instead of the weekend, you will be more likely to find cheaper hotel and air fares. Also, if you don’t have specific days in mind for your travels, you can search the cheapest hotel rates and/or flight rates within a given month and then pick your travel days based on the best travel deals available.
Going on the Off-Season
You will also have the best travel deals available to you if you choose your destination on its off-season. After you have chosen your destination of choice, do your research and find out when their off-season begins and ends. You may be able to find a good rate for right at the beginning or right at the end of the off-season and you are more likely to have just as pleasant of a trip as you would have going during their prime-season without having to pay prime-season prices.
Booking
A general rule of thumb is that booking though a travel agent is going to be pricier than booking your trip on your own. The purpose of a travel agent is to make booking convenient and easy, but if you have time to do the research, you will most likely be able to save yourself money by doing all research, planning, and booking on your own. There are a ton of discount travel websites such as expedia.com, travelocity.com, etc. where you can find deals on all aspects of your travel, such as flight, hotel, car rental, and where you can often find a better deal by booking all together. These websites are also designed to make comparing prices very easy.
Also, it never hurts to call the hotel’s reservations desk to see what rate they can give over the phone. There might be a promotion or a better rate you are qualified for, such as a AAA rate, that you are overlooking or that they don’t have up on their website. And sometimes just using your pleasant voice can get you the best deal out there.
Travel Rewards
You might also benefit from researching what free travel rewards programs are out there. For instance some airlines, such as Southwest offer free flights after you earn so many credits (credits can be earned with each flight as well as by booking other things, such as car rentals, through their website). There are also many hotel chains, such as Hilton and Marriott, who offer free travel rewards program for your stays in their hotel. You might benefit from choosing one hotel chain with which you know you are always satisfied and staying with them whenever possible. Also, some of the discount travel websites, such as hotels.com, offer rewards programs and still give you the freedom to stay with different chains instead of one.
When You Get There
When you check into your hotel, politely (and let me emphasize the word politely) ask if they have any free or discounted room upgrades available. It can’t hurt to throw in a little information about why you chose their hotel over others; for instance, you heard they had the most beautiful rooms in the city; or throw in information about why you are traveling; for instance, if you are celebrating an anniversary or birthday. They might not be able to do any upgrades, but they might just send up a bottle of champagne.
What it comes down to is the best travel deals are any travel deals! So do your research and happy planning. And most of all, happy traveling!