Where will you stay when you reach your destination? Many families will stay in hotels or rent a house or a condo during their stay. There are several sites that will save you money when searching for the best deals on hotels.
When I have a scheduled date for my vacation, I use Hotels.com, Orbitz.com, Expedia.com, Travelocity.com or Priceline to search for a great price on a hotel. Here are a few advantages of each site.
- Hotel.com has a a great rewards program called Welcome Rewards where you can earn a FREE room after 10 nights, not 10 stays. They also have a many different options for finding the perfect location in your price range. You can read reviews from other travelers to determine if the hotel is a good fit for your family.
- Expedia.com offers great combination deals with airfare, hotels and/or rental cars. I like to search several of the sites to get a feeling for the price range for vacation packages and then find the best offer. You can read reviews from other travelers to determine if the hotel is a good fit for your family.
- Orbitz.com offer great combination deals with airfare, hotels and/or rental cars. Orbitz also offers a price assurance so if the price of hotel or flight drops, Orbitz will automatically send you a check for the difference. You can also read reviews from other travelers to determine if the hotel is a good fit for your family.
- Travelocity.com offers great combination deals with airfare, hotels and/or rental cars. If your travel dates are several months or more in the future, then my favorite feature of Travelocity.com, Price Watch, can save you money. Price Watch allows you to set specific destinations that you want to travel to and from, then they will notify you by email when tickets go on sale, prices drop or increase, or when price reach a certain price point. You also can read reviews from other travelers to determine if the hotel is a good fit for your family.
- Priceline.com is a great place to buy rooms or rental cars when you know a general location and which category of hotel (2 star, 3 star or 4 star) or rental car (compact, mid-sized, full-sized) that you want to book. After you have researched hotels in specific area and you have a good idea what the prices in the category and area you like should be (example 3 star in Anaheim runs $90 per night), then you can go to Priceline and make an offer like $60. Keep in mind that not every offer is accepted and after you make an offer you can not make another offer on the same category of hotel. Any additional offers would be on different categories of hotels so you often have to experiment to find the best deals. You may also have additional taxes or resort fees so be sure to consider this when making an offer. Naming our own price has saved us a lot of money over time on some amazing 3 and 4 star hotels.
- Travelzoo is another great site that sends out weekly email newsletters for their top 20 or top 100 travel deals every week. This is a great site if you are flexible on your departure date and location. They offer great hotel deals, cruise deals, airfare deals and package deals worldwide.
- Another option for saving money on your trips is to rent a house or condo for a week. This works well with larger groups. You can usually find great options by searching on Ebay or searching for house or condo rentals by the city you want to visit.
Save More:
Sign up for Ebates or ShopatHome and log in through your account before you book your travel for Hotels.com, Orbitz.com, Travelocity.com Expedia.com, Priceline.com and many other travel sites to receive a cash back bonus on every purchase. You will also receive a $5 bonus just for signing up with either site. Also be sure to book your travel with your reward credit or debit cards to "double dip" on rebates and rewards when you travel.
Catch up on my travel series, Saving Money on Travel.
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