One of the most expensive things while traveling is usually lodging! Most places you go there will be a variety of options on places to stay. And who you are traveling with will help determine what kinds of places you will want to stay. Today I’m going to share 4 tips to save money on lodging on trips.
1. Use Hotels.com
We have been using Hotels.com for YEARS and it always saves us some money when we are needing a hotel for our trips. One of my favorite things about using hotels.com is that every night you stay in a hotel booked through them, you are earning free nights for a future stay! Every 10 nights you will receive a free night at a hotel. Now, this can be a little misleading when they advertise a free night’s stay with 10 previous nights. What they do is they will take the average cost per night of your previous 10 nights and then you will receive that much money in credit to put towards your next night’s stay. If you travel a lot this is a great way to earn some money back to put towards future trips.
Hotels.com has a website that is easy to use and navigate. But my favorite way is to use their app on my phone. Lots of times the app has better deals than their website and you can redeem your free night on the app without an extra service fee. It is easy to filter by star rating, guest ratings, how far away it is from local landmarks, and they always provide good details as to what the hotel provides, what is included with your stay and what may be extra charges.
2. Travel With Other People
Another way we save on lodging costs when we travel is by staying with other people. We have been on lots of trips where share a large house with multiple families or a condo with another family or even on some couple trips we have shared a hotel room with the other couple we were traveling with. By doing this you can easily cut down on the amount you are spending simply by sharing that cost with other families or friends.
3. Check Out Airbnb or VRBO
Another popular option for lodging is to check out an Airbnb or a VRBO for your vacation. This is especially good for families. Hotels can be expensive if you need larger rooms, suites or even multiple rooms to fit your family. But by looking into a vacation rental you can really save some money! I prefer to use VRBO because they are strictly vacation rentals and not someone’s actual home (although there are just vacation rentals on Airbnb, there are also single rooms or apartments attached to where someone is actually living).
4. Travel in Off Season or Mid-week
If your schedule allows, traveling in the off season is a great way to save money, especially on lodging. During those slower seasons, hotels and rentals are likely to lower their prices because the demand for housing isn’t as high. If you do need to travel during a busy time, try booking your place to stay during the week and check out on the weekend. Weekend rates are usually higher than weekday rates throughout the year.
Sum Up:
Hopefully those tips will help you save money on your next vacation! Do you have any other tips or tricks to save money on a place to stay? Leave them in the comments below or head over to Instagram or Twitter to share your ideas.
