My friends joke that I am their personal travel agent when it comes time for booking trips or even buying tickets to concerts or sporting events. It comes natural to me and seems like common sense, but you would be surprised at those that do not know where to look, wait until the last minute, or maybe they just feel it is just easier for them if I do it. Honestly, I do not know why, but it is actually fun to me. Maybe it is like those crazy coupon grocery shoppers that get excited when they see how much they saved at the checkout line.
Saving money when booking or buying tickets is for starters, knowing which website to look at. I had a friend recently purchase tickets to a concert from a resale site and paid $95 for each ticket with service charges and I almost told her to consult an optometrist as soon as possible because she might need glasses. I asked why she did not buy from the actual ticket sponsored website where face value was $25 and she said she did not know; she assumed everyone just bought from the resale site. She was upset that she overpaid that much, but was still going to the concert so did not care too much, but I would have been so mad. When booking a show or concert, first go to the actual ticket event website, and if you are not sure which official tickets to get, go to the venue website and there will be a link for tickets. That being said, sign up to the vendor on social media or the ticket company’s email list to know when events are going on sale so you can plan in advance. If an event sells out, you are out of luck saving money and will have to go on a resale site. Online ticket sales come with an additional charge of usually more than 25% of the ticket prices to service charge, so to save that, you can actually go to the venue’s box office to buy tickets during business hours.
When booking trips such as airfare and hotels, definitely look around and not buy the first package deal on the travel websites, as I always can get lower prices booking separate. For airfare, go directly to the airline’s website to book, you can find lower prices and even coupons to subtract even further. Airfare changes almost daily, so you will have to decide how far in advance to look, while deciding what your rock bottom price will be by booking, as I have waited too long myself and it is a bad feeling knowing you could have gotten it cheaper. Same goes with hotels, look the actual hotel’s website, as you will find the lowest prices, and you can even reserve your room with a credit card, not paying until you check in, being able to cancel the room if you find cheaper.
Financial professional and online entrepreneur, I'm best known as The Financial Blogger. I want to make money because I like enjoying life the way it should be; with a lot of great food and wine! I also love to spend time with my lovely wife and 3 kids!
