how to score flight deals and vacation discounts
I don’t know about you but I LOVE a good deal. My family and I have traveled extensively over the last 10 years and I am known for finding amazing deals on far-away destinations. Here are a few of the tips and tools I use to score cheap flights and negotiate the best possible rates for hotels and resorts.
Sign up for Going (formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights)
Ya’ll, this is my NUMBER 1 source for cheap flight deals. If you want to see the world on a budget, you need a Going membership. Formerly called Scott’s Cheap Flights, the company went through a rebrand in 2023. The new name - Going - reflects the fact that there are now more than 50 people on the team (in addition to Scott) helping you find cheap flights. I joined way back in 2015 so I’m what you call a “Legacy Member.”
Some of my favorite deals I’ve personally scored include St. Louis to Paris on Air France for $559 roundtrip in May 2018 and St. Louis to Aruba on American Airlines for $231 roundtrip for fall break 2022.
There are currently three tiers of membership:
Limited (Free) - The free plan gives you a feel for deals, but you might miss out on the best ones since you don’t receive all deals from your home airport and you tend to get them on a delay.
Premium ($49/year) - This is the plan I have. You get all the deals from your home airports as soon as they pop up. This means you’re the first to know about mistake fares and other crazy good prices and have the opportunity to book them before the flights fill up. With the Premium membership, you only get economy fare deals; if you want business class or higher, you’ll need to upgrade to Elite.
Elite ($199/year) - Elite memberships include all deals in first class, business class and premium economy class from unlimited airports. It’s great for luxury travelers who have the means or desire to fly fancy!
Try Going today and save an average of $200 on domestic flights and $550 on international flights.
Stay Flexible
Another key to scoring cheap flights is staying flexible with your travel dates and locations.
The way most people approach getting a flight is to first pick where they want to go, then pick when they want to go, and finally, see what prices are available. By prioritizing the fare last, they often end up with expensive tickets.
Instead, if scoring a cheap flight is your priority, flip the order:
See what prices are available to various destinations around the world
Decide which of the cheap destinations appeal most to you
Select the dates that have cheap fares available
Obviously, jobs and kids and other responsibilities limit the extent to which many people can be flexible - and that’s okay! If there are only certain dates you can travel, keep reading for more tips!
Set up flight alerts
Let’s say you have a wedding to attend in Ireland on June 22. Obviously, you can’t be flexible in either your location or your date. In this case, the best way to save on flights is to set up alerts. Prices change often - sometimes daily - and if you know the travel dates and destination you need, you can set up price tracking to be notified when fares drop. There are many tools that provide this service, including Hopper, Skyscanner, and my favorite - Google Flights. I like Google Flights the best because you can view flight prices in a calendar view. This makes it easier to see at a glance if it’s cheaper to fly a day earlier or later (just look for the green prices - those are the best fares during that window of time). Midweek fares are almost always less expensive to flights that depart Friday through Monday.
Try a different departure or arrival airport
If you are having trouble finding affordable fares, try a nearby airport. Sometimes it’s worth a few hours of driving to save money on flights. This is what we are doing for our UK trip this summer. Flights from St. Louis to Dublin were crazy expensive, so instead, we are road-tripping four hours to Chicago and catching a direct flight from O’Hare to Dublin. For our family of four, this will end up saving us nearly $800 and we don’t have to worry about a layover. A couple of years ago, flights from St. Louis to Germany (our intended destination) were much higher than a deal I found for Paris. So we adjusted our plans and flew direct from St. Louis to Paris for half the cost, then took a high-speed bullet train to our destination near Stuttgart, Germany. It was a win-win because my Paris-obsessed girls got to see the Eiffel Tower, the Mona Lisa and other Paris sights and were able to experience another cool mode of transportation (those trains move fast!)
Okay, now that you have your flight, let’s find the best price on a hotel. Here are my best tips for finding hotel and resort deals.
Shop around for the best hotel price
Never ever accept the first price you see for a hotel. Shop around! Once I find a hotel I like, I google the name to see who has the best price. Sometimes it’s Hotels.com, sometimes it’s TripAdvisor, sometimes it’s Booking.com (one of my favorite apps!) and sometimes the best price is booking direct with the hotel. Better yet, let me help you! Remember, Hello Tripsy can check the price you found online and see if we can beat it or get extra incentives thrown in. Just fill out this short price-check form and we’ll get to work!
Ask for alllll the discounts
Most hotels and resorts offer discounted rates for those who qualify. Ask about military discounts, AAA, AARP, educator discounts and any others that may apply.
Sign up for loyalty programs
If you travel often, consider signing up for hotel rewards and loyalty programs. These programs are free to join and entitle you to special privileges such as free wifi, discounted room rates, and for some hotel chains, warm cookies before bed. You can sign up online or at the hotel front desk. The important thing is that you remember to include your loyalty ID number on all future reservations to ensure you get credit for your stays. If you forget, don’t fret. Most hotels will credit the stay retroactively if you give them a call.
Always book refundable rates
Many hotel chains now offer various rates. Often you can save money by booking a nonrefundable rate. While it appears you’re saving money by doing this, you are out of luck if you have to cancel or change your travel plans. You also lose the ability to cancel your reservation if you find a better rate in the future. For these reasons, I always book rates that allow me to cancel up to 24 hours before the stay. It’s totally worth it - for me, personally - to pay a little more up front to ensure I can adjust my travel plans as needed.
If booking through Airbnb or VRBO, always have a back-up. More and more cities are cracking down on short-term rentals and I’ve had more than a handful of Airbnbs canceled by the host within weeks of my stay. Now, I find two or three places I like that allow free cancellation and I book them all and hold them until closer to my trip dates. By doing this, I have a built-in back-up if a host cancels on me. A word of caution, though…if you do this, be sure to put cancellation date reminders in your phone calendar so you don’t forget to cancel before the deadline!
Always add special notes to the reservation
Finally, pay attention to that optional comment box that’s included on almost every reservation form. Do not leave it blank! Tell the hotel about your trip, including any special events you’ll be celebrating during your stay. Most people working at hotels and resorts want to make your day special, so give them the information they need! Maybe you’re celebrating a birthday, an anniversary, a divorce, a girls’ getaway, a graduation trip, a cancer-free diagnosis - whatever it is, write it in that box. It doesn’t even have to be an event. You can let the reservation desk know you’ve been waiting to take this trip for 20 years and you’re so excited you can’t stand it. Tell them it’s your first time out of the country. Tell them you can’t wait to see the ocean. Seriously, put anything and everything in this box that might help the venue take better care of you - it just might earn you a room upgrade or better view! And if all this feels too weird for you or you just don’t have the time to bother with it, I can help! Reach out and we can start planning your trip today!