With 6.3 million visits abroad last year, travel is big business for holiday companies but we don't want them to be the ones making money, we want to keep some money in our pockets too. I know when it comes to booking my next holiday, I always try to find the best deal possible by planning ahead and doing lots of research. Whether your going on a city break in Europe or a relaxing beach holiday, there are plenty of travel websites to help you save, such as Holidayers.com they bring you the best deals, promotions, sales and voucher codes from holiday providers throughout the world.
1. Be flexible on dates
If you are flexible about departure dates and where you go, you will almost certainly get the best prices. Airfares tend to go up on the weekends when the demand is highest because people want to use less holidays at work. Tuesday's or Wednesday's are the cheapest days and booking at less popular periods in the year make all the difference such as booking after New Year's Day and before Valentine's Day or if you have no kids travel in term time. The time of the flight also matters, choose less desirable times of the day such as early morning. Using flight or holiday comparison tools will help you to find a great deal on your next trip.
2. Look for one way routes or fly to/from different airports
When searching for flights, it can be best to search for one way flights first to find the cheapest tickets. The flight on the way to your destination could be much cheaper than the way back so by booking with different airlines or even from a different airport (such as Newark vs. JFK in New York or Gatwick vs Heathrow in London) you might be able to really save. When searching for a flight choose the 'All Airports' option shown on many booking and travel sites.
3. Book your holiday in advance vs booking last minute
Whether you book your holiday at the travel agent or from the comfort of your own home online you want to be sure to book 56 days ahead when low-cost airlines release their new schedules. Booking early means you can take advantage of various discounts such as meal deals, free child places and even room upgrade deals. Booking online has actually seen a notable increase in the last 12 months with 83% of people using this method to book their holiday compared to 76% last year.
Experts say January to March is the best time to book for Christmas or New Year and if you've booked a flight but can't afford to pay for accommodation yet take advantage of free cancellations. Just be sure to make a note of the last day you can cancel to avoid any fees.
Booking later (no more than 8-10 weeks before departure) also has its advantages especially when it comes to package holidays. The reason is that tour operators have chartered the planes and reserved the hotel rooms, so if they don't get them booked up they can potentially lose money. Of course the later you leave booking your trip, the more the price drops but then you need to be more flexible about dates and destinations.
4. Sign up to email newsletters and alerts
It's a lot easier to spot a drop in flight prices when you get an alert about it, there are lots of price monitoring tools for flights that do this for you or sign up to newsletters from various travel websites to receive offers and discounts. You tend to get inundated with these kind of emails around boxing day and Black Friday where there are lots of deals to be had such as £100 off or free child places. Create a separate email folder so you can keep all these offers altogether and come back to them when you're ready to book.
5. Compare, compare and compare again
It can become quite stressful when searching for holidays because there are so many travel providers out there all trying to compete for your booking and all offering different deals, you can sometimes even find a hotel price cheaper than its own website itself.
You might want to search for package holidays when going somewhere long-haul for either 7,10 or 14 nights but for city breaks I have found that booking the flights and hotel separate has gotten me the best deal.
Some travel companies like Teletext Holidays where you ring up and quote the holiday code will try to match the price on one of our competitors websites, or simple negotiate with them to get you the best deal and they also have low deposits meaning you have longer to pay for the holiday.
If you are flexible about departure dates and where you go, you will almost certainly get the best prices. Airfares tend to go up on the weekends when the demand is highest because people want to use less holidays at work. Tuesday's or Wednesday's are the cheapest days and booking at less popular periods in the year make all the difference such as booking after New Year's Day and before Valentine's Day or if you have no kids travel in term time. The time of the flight also matters, choose less desirable times of the day such as early morning. Using flight or holiday comparison tools will help you to find a great deal on your next trip.
2. Look for one way routes or fly to/from different airports
When searching for flights, it can be best to search for one way flights first to find the cheapest tickets. The flight on the way to your destination could be much cheaper than the way back so by booking with different airlines or even from a different airport (such as Newark vs. JFK in New York or Gatwick vs Heathrow in London) you might be able to really save. When searching for a flight choose the 'All Airports' option shown on many booking and travel sites.
3. Book your holiday in advance vs booking last minute
Whether you book your holiday at the travel agent or from the comfort of your own home online you want to be sure to book 56 days ahead when low-cost airlines release their new schedules. Booking early means you can take advantage of various discounts such as meal deals, free child places and even room upgrade deals. Booking online has actually seen a notable increase in the last 12 months with 83% of people using this method to book their holiday compared to 76% last year.
Experts say January to March is the best time to book for Christmas or New Year and if you've booked a flight but can't afford to pay for accommodation yet take advantage of free cancellations. Just be sure to make a note of the last day you can cancel to avoid any fees.
Booking later (no more than 8-10 weeks before departure) also has its advantages especially when it comes to package holidays. The reason is that tour operators have chartered the planes and reserved the hotel rooms, so if they don't get them booked up they can potentially lose money. Of course the later you leave booking your trip, the more the price drops but then you need to be more flexible about dates and destinations.
4. Sign up to email newsletters and alerts
It's a lot easier to spot a drop in flight prices when you get an alert about it, there are lots of price monitoring tools for flights that do this for you or sign up to newsletters from various travel websites to receive offers and discounts. You tend to get inundated with these kind of emails around boxing day and Black Friday where there are lots of deals to be had such as £100 off or free child places. Create a separate email folder so you can keep all these offers altogether and come back to them when you're ready to book.
5. Compare, compare and compare again
It can become quite stressful when searching for holidays because there are so many travel providers out there all trying to compete for your booking and all offering different deals, you can sometimes even find a hotel price cheaper than its own website itself.
You might want to search for package holidays when going somewhere long-haul for either 7,10 or 14 nights but for city breaks I have found that booking the flights and hotel separate has gotten me the best deal.
Some travel companies like Teletext Holidays where you ring up and quote the holiday code will try to match the price on one of our competitors websites, or simple negotiate with them to get you the best deal and they also have low deposits meaning you have longer to pay for the holiday.
Do you have any travel money saving tips?
Liz x
*This is a sponsored post but all thoughts are my own
*This is a sponsored post but all thoughts are my own
Great suggestions dear!!
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