Recently, my husband and I put together a trip to Utah and Idaho to see my family and participate in my brother’s wedding. As we began trying to figure out what it would cost, my husband began to get discouraged. The cost seemed insurmountable. That, however, was because he was looking at paying full price for everything. From airfares to hotel rooms to a rental car, it seemed as though we would have to spend a great deal of money.
After everything was arranged, however, he was surprised at the cost. It was less than half what he expected. How did this happen? Mostly through discount codes, promotions, and travel rewards. He was also surprised last spring when my son and I were able to spend a relatively small amount on a trip to San Diego.
I don’t do a lot in terms of coupon clipping or frugal living or even travel hacking, but even my small efforts can lead to significant savings. If you are ready to get serious about having a first-class vacation without breaking the bank, though, the folks at the Million Mile Secrets blog have 5 tips:
1. Set travel goals a year ahead
A big trip requires goals and a strategy to reach them. Not planning properly can leave a traveler with lots of travel points in different accounts that can’t be used to their full potential. A year planning strategy ensures getting the best deals and the best trip.
Not only can you accumulate points, but you can also plan ahead and set aside a little money each month. It spreads out the cost and makes it easier to handle.
2. Sign up for major loyalty programs
Apply for several hotel and airline loyalty programs, but don’t go overboard. There are many programs to choose from, so start with the major ones. You can always sign-up for smaller more specialized ones later on.
There are plenty of programs out there. Consider which is likely to be most compatible with your travel ideas, and start there.
3. Stay organized
Staying organized is the most important thing you can do to make sure you get the most value out of your miles. Pay attention to payment due dates, spending requirements, and account balances to track on top of your household budget. Being organized can help you avoid lost points, late fees, interest, and accumulating debt.
I know people who keep spreadsheets of this information. I keep things simple, though, by focusing my efforts on three different programs so that it’s easy to earn and redeem points.
4. Choose a credit card that will help you achieve your travel goals
For those who are new to this hobby, choose a card that is right for your travel goals. Be specific in your research. For example, if you want to go to Paris, find out which airline has the most flights from the US to Paris for a low amount of miles.
It’s all about choosing a card that fits your lifestyle, and can help you accumulate points quickly, as well as redeem them when you want them.
5. Have an exit and non-exit strategy
Now that you have your cards lined up, you met your minimum spending and earned your sign-up bonus, do not just cancel the card. This can potentially damage your relationship with the bank, and may even lead to being blacklisted. If you have applied for cards with annual fees, you should evaluate whether or not the card is worth paying after eight to ten months.
The good news, though, is that if you are careful about how you travel, there is a good chance that the annual fee is worth the price. Free airline tickets can be worth the annual fee.
What are your best tips for saving on travel?
One of the problems with a lot of points/miles programs, especially the airlines’ programs is that they have account expiry rules, e.g. American Airlines AAdvantage, no activity in 18 months, the account expires and your miles are lost. As was stated in the article, you don’t want to have miles scattered around, so you should limit the number of accounts you join.
One big exception to that is if you can use your occasional points collecting to keep your main accounts from expiring. For example, I have a lot of AA miles (250K+, which I am saving to use on a big trip in the future) from a period of extensive business travel a few years ago. I do not travel for business any more and most of the time my leisure travel is not on AA. How do I keep the account from expiring?
Almost every hotel points program allows you to set up a default that converts the points you earn to various airline miles and AA usually one of the options. So I belong to every major hotel points program and they are all set to convert to AA miles. This gets me two great outcomes; I effortlessly keep my AA account from expiring and, I incrementally increase the miles available for that big trip. Last December, a stay in London ON for 2 nights at a Best Western for a meeting and company Christmas party? I am a member of the BW points program, but would never stay enough nights to get a free room, but those points convert to AA miles and bingo my AA account expiry is now extended to mid 2016.
The first right recommendation is to plan your vacation a year ahead. In such case you will be able to order the cheapest tickets or find appropriate proposition from a tour agency. You need to sing for notification from different agencies and than select the appropriate one. Also you need to have some emergency fund if you decide to buy tickets. In such case you may always contact pay day online loans service in order to get quick and easy financial assistance. So you should organized and review all offers that you get. Also you can ask your friends what they can recommend.