Welcome you savvy traveller! You’ve been working hard preparing for your adventure and saving for your travels. You’re ready to book but wait! How can you get the best flight, accommodation and travel deals for your money? You deserve a fabulous price. There’s only one way to go about it and it’s with these holiday booking hacks! Give me 8 minutes and you’ll be ready to go.
Flight hacking has so many secret tips and techniques that you can use but I’m going to give it to you simply and easily. All of these hacks can be put to use right away. You don’t have to be a technological mathematical wizard.
When you’re searching for flights online, make sure you use an incognito window so that companies can’t track what you have been looking for. Flight and hotel sites have cookies on their pages which lets them track how many times you’ve looked at certain flights. If they see you’re interested, they’ll bump the price up slightly every time. Avoid this and go incognito!
There definitely seems to be a magical number in the air for one of my favourite holiday booking hacks these days: the number 53! For the most competitive prices, the best time to book a holiday on Skyscanner is 53 days in advance. This isn’t a hard and fast rule but Skyscanner will lay out all of the prices for you day by day so you can see the best time to book! The Skyscanner Android and iOS app is super handy to have with you too so you can keep an eye on the best flight deals. Download it here!
Choosing to fly at unsociable hours will also save you money. Late at night or really early in the morning works. Just make sure to check the prices of transport which can get you to the airport at that time or get there early and catch some wink before that flight!
Are you booking last minute? Then your best bet is to book midweek to lower the costs. Flights on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and sometimes Saturdays are much lower than the rest of the week! Most people are living for the weekend so beat the crowds and fly when they’re not around.
I’m talking about the physical e-location you’re booking your flight from. If you pretend to be in the country where your flight is leaving from, it is going to be much cheaper for you. To do this, you can book using the booking site’s URL address in that country. For example, if you’re flying from Italy, book at www.skyscanner.it. Or, you can use a VPN which tricks your computer into thinking it’s in another country.
Invest in a VPN with Express VPN
To avoid paying extra baggage costs, travel with a carry on only. I use my backpacking packing list every time to make sure I have everything I need.
Sometimes we need some extra financial support to start our dream trip.
They’re an excellent option to consider if you want to make the most of the holiday booking hacks here!
I’m currently back in the UK after a whirlwind year of travel in 2016 and rediscovering the beauty of the UK again. I’ve stepped into the beauty of the Scottish Highlands, seen the best of Ireland in one week and plan to travel so much more within my beautiful country.
Bare Castle on the Isle of Skye
You really do not have to fly to take a holiday this year. How about exploring your backyard? For all you Europeans, you can hop, skip and jump across to your neighbours so easily for a perfect quick holiday getaway!
For the best hotel deals, one of my holiday booking hacks is using a hotel search engine such as Hotels Combined. Hotels Combined get a Teacake high five for searching all of the top travel sites in one go to find you the absolute best deal. There’s no booking fee or mark up either.
Other ways to save on your hotel room is to take advantage of sites encouraging you to book your flight and hotel together.
If there is a promotional code option when you get to the checkout, just do a quick internet search. There are plenty of coupon codes out there to help you save your pennies.
Want a room upgrade? When you check-in, make sure it’s later in the evening. The hotel will know what rooms are truly free at this point and will be more willing to upgrade if the top rooms haven’t been taken.
AirBNB is an awesome option for having your own room in a local’s home, at a much cheaper price than a hotel. Here’s a Teacake freebie of £28 AirBNB credit to get you started!
I know that it is initially an expense for you. Yet, believe me that Travel Insurance is an absolute essential. However much money you want to save, you cannot afford to skimp on it.
Don’t scrimp on your most important solo travel safety tool.
Get travel insurance and ensure peace of mind!
Having a broken contraceptive implant trying to be taken out of my arm in Vietnam was fun (not). That time I was horribly sick in a hostel in Poland after food poisoning is something I wish I could forget. To date, my 2 week stint in a Russian hospital after I was seriously ill from The Mongol Rally tops them all though. Travel insurance has saved my ass many a time. Make sure it saves yours and your wallet’s too.
Comment Below.
How to claim compensation on delayed or cancelled flights
Wow! Thanks so much for the travel hacks, especially the incognito mode…never new that.
Glad you picked up some useful hacks Davina!
Woah! We had no idea about the incognito window thing, bumping up the price for interested destination sounds terrible. The time of fly definitely makes a great deal of difference we have noticed too. Exploring the backyard is yet another great idea for we tend to ignore the one easily accessible :)
A homecation is never a bad idea :) I’m enjoying exploring my homecountry right now. Great Britain is turning out to be a delight!
Great tips and I agree with all of them! Especially travel insurance, I’ve had to use it a couple of times and I’d never be without it! It’s definitely worth checking out credit cards too, if you can be responsible like you say! And UK travel for the win :)
Great tips. I have never bought travel insurance to date. I thought it just covered the cost of your trip if it gets canceled or something?
Oooooh no Alice. If you get sick, travel insurance is such a lifesaver. I’ve been caught off feeling rotten quite a few times and travel insurance has saved my ass every time.