FREE NEWSLETTER
Go to main Forum page »
My preference is to book everything far ahead of time—flights, restaurants, hotels, cruises, you name it. I like having stuff to look forward to. For me, anticipating fun events is a big contributor to happiness.
But is this the smartest financial strategy? I’ve taken plenty of trips both internationally and within the U.S. over my lifetime, but I don’t consider myself an expert on money-saving travel. Still, here are some pointers I’ve picked up along the way and by digging around online.
Hotels. When should you book a hotel to get the best rate? When I stick that question in Google, many of the responses suggest booking around two weeks ahead of time. Sometimes, you can do even better by waiting until the last minute.
Last-minute booking seems to work best in places where hotels are plentiful. I haven’t seen many opportunities to get a good last-minute deal if there are only a few places in town. Keep in mind that you typically won’t get hotel rewards points if you book through a third-party travel site.
Worried about waiting too long and ending up with no hotel room? Consider making a backup reservation now. If you later find a better deal, you can often cancel your backup reservation at no cost provided you do it at least 24 hours in advance.
Airlines. To get the lowest airfare, when should you book? On this one, the only firm rule seems to be: Don’t wait until the last minute. Airlines tend to charge steep prices to last-minute travelers. But beyond that, the usual suggestion is to book a few months ahead of time, and probably more if you’re looking to fly during a busy travel period, such as around Thanksgiving or Christmas. Flying on a Tuesday or Wednesday is often cheaper than other days.
Cruises. I’ve occasionally seen enticing last-minute cruise offers and—given my fondness for bargains and my flexibility to travel at short notice—have always been intrigued. But that great deal might look less great if you have to book a flight to the departure city at the last minute and pay the steep ticket cost.
Rental cars. My strategy: Always book the cheapest car available, which will usually be a compact. Elaine and I don’t need anything bigger, plus I’ve found that we almost always get upgraded to a larger vehicle. Meanwhile—and I’m amazed by this—there’s typically no penalty for canceling right up until the last minute. In fact, on one occasion, I stood outside a Hertz office and cancelled a reservation when I realized there was a cheaper option.
Restaurants. When we travel, we eat out—an expensive habit, but one we enjoy. It sounds appealing to wander into a local place and try it out. But for us, that seems to be pretty hit or miss, so we like to research places ahead of time—and then reserve the ones that sound interesting. There’s no downside, except these days a few places will charge a penalty if you cancel the reservation within 24 hours.
But as I said at the outset, I don’t consider myself an expert on this stuff. Got other tips for booking restaurants and travel? I’d love to hear them.
I’m a Marriott Bonvoy loyalist and currently have top-level status and lifetime status. I’m in a couple of Bonvoy Facebook groups, and the members there recommend grabbing hotel rooms when you see a rate you can live with and then checking back before the trip to see if rates have dropped (and then modify your booking). Bonvoy, like several other major brands, has “dynamic” pricing, so a good rate one week may not be there a week or two later (and conversely, it could drop). Just pay attention to the cancellation policies, which can vary from one location to the next. When you book the room, put the cancellation date on your calendar so you don’t forget.
(Also, on the Bonvoy app, the default tab for room rates is for “prepaid,” which you don’t want because then you’re stuck and can’t cancel. Be sure to check the tabs at the top of the page and make sure you’re booking the rate you want before finalizing!)
Forgot to mention that unless you are staying in the same place for the whole trip, you should look at “open jaw” or “multi-city” tickets. Fly into London and out of Barcelona, for instance. This will save the cost and stress of getting back to your starting point, and may even be cheaper.
Also, if you use a credit card, get one that doesn’t charge a foreign conversion fee, and also gives you points or miles. Almost all my really long haul flights have been in business class on FF miles, and I can assure you that once you’ve flown across the Pacific in business class you will never want to do it any other way.
Kathy, I’m wondering how this open jawed ticket is different from buying two one way tickets. I assume you get the open jawed ticket on one booking instead of two.
When we go somewhere, we often don’t know when we’re leaving, so we almost always buy one way tickets, but still curious.
I don’t know that there’s any real difference, I’ve done it both ways. A two-leg multi-city should be the same as two one ways, but I’ve never priced the difference. Back when the One World alliance had a great deal on Round the World frequent flyer tickets I would “buy” a set for the whole trip, but I could change them without penalty.
Last year, before my diagnosis, I was trying to book a one-way flight from Dublin to Philly. It was absurdly expensive. I was able to get the quoted price halved by booking a roundtrip flight instead of a one-way. Yes, you read that right.
Yes, there are often pricing anomalies. In the US apparently it’s often cheaper to fly from A to B to C than from A to B. The airlines frown on buying a ticket to C and getting off (carry-on only) at B… If they notice they may kick you off their FF program. I suppose they might put you on a black list if you make a habit of it.
This past spring, to celebrate our 25th anniversary, my wife and I went to Italy for four weeks, with hiking tours at the beginning and end of the trip. The second tour ended on a Sunday, at the Florence airport. I compared prices of the return trip that Sunday with flights the following Wednesday, and I found that we could save $800 each by flying back Wednesday. The $1600 savings more than covered three nights in a nice hotel very near Ponte Vecchio, as well as meals and admission to various places. I was glad I checked.
You have to know enough to know when and where you need to book ahead. Host city during the Euros or big Champions League night – good luck. Off season road trip through the US West, hit up booking. com, priceline when you hit town for the best last minute discounts. As for dining – nope. Hate being pinned down to a time when travelling. Nothing worse than arriving late then having to rush a shower etc before a dinner reservation
Nothing worse except not being able to find a table 🙂
After my retirement, my wife and I spent two years traveling the US full time in our RV and found advance bookings were great, especially in very popular locations. But nothing is as freeing as just winging it. If we decided to leave early or change plans for no reason other than it sounded fun, we did. Sometimes those came with a financial penalty, sometimes a benefit. Either way, we enjoyed the experience more than the cost. After all, we were on the SKI trip – Spending the Kids Inheritance.
We are hoping to do more traveling now that we are retired. We were the family members who lived out of town so most all of our vacations were spent visiting family. We found that getting book tapes helped make the time go faster, even with kids. Of course, now the kids have tablets to watch their shows on. I am liking all the tips that have been shared so far. Chris
When I’m traveling abroad I don’t stay in the kind of place that gives points (or has bell boys or restaurants or in-room safes…). Twenty years ago I could wing it, although I always booked the first few nights ahead of time, but these days I wouldn’t risk it. I still use guidebooks, but I also use booking.com. I’ve used it enough to get genius discounts, and I’ve always found it reliable. If you see somewhere you like on a site like booking.com you can always try calling the hotel directly to see if you can get a better rate, although then you don’t have back up if something goes wrong.
I’ve never paid attention to when to book for the best rate, although I do avoid flying on weekends. I also avoid connecting flights these days. My local airport has direct flights to London and Paris. Otherwise I would spend a few days in D.C. or New York going east, or Vancouver going west, to then get a direct flight to my first destination.
I haven’t booked a rental car on a foreign trip since 2004. It’s often not cost effective for a single, and parking can be a pain. Most countries have good public transport, and if not are cheap enough I’ll hire a car and driver for a day or two.
Our preference too.
On car trips we feel comfortable knowing in advance where our nights lodging will be.
European trains: don’t wait until the last minute, as prices go higher the closer you get.
Hotels: you can still get rewards points when you book through a third party service. Just give the front desk your rewards number when you check in.
I’ve tried that with third-party hotel bookings and it’s yet to work for me, alas. Meanwhile, for European train travel, I love the Trainline app.
It depends on the third party. If it’s Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts, you can give them your loyalty number and get all your benefits, points, and nights. Not so with Expedia or hotels.com, etc. Once or twice I’ve gotten a Marriott property to honor status (lounge access, breakfast) despite the third-party booking, but they were just being nice. I didn’t get the nights or points for the stay.
If you’re planning a train trip I always recommend seat61.com.
I’m hoping to go by myself to a Wednesday matinee of an award-winning Broadway show and I’m hoping that a single seat will be cheaper the longer I wait to book it. When I checked a week ago, single seats in Orchestra were less than two open seats further back. I’ll post back here if my strategy works.
When we are traveling by car domestically, know we are going to be staying only one night in a town, and where there are multiple hotels we make same day reservations on an app called Hotels Tonight and feel we get a decent discount.
When going on big trips, especially overseas my wife likes to research restaurants to get an idea of what’s around, whereas I’m more likely to want to be in an area physically scope out restaurants. Both seem to work well.