For example, a long weekend package might begin on a Friday and go until Monday. Some packages charge less per person when there are three or four people all booking together (usually sharing one room).Ī vacation package frequently has certain dates or number of days set in stone. If you are traveling by yourself, you'll likely see a surcharge. The majority of vacation packages are priced per person for two people. It's best to be flexible on the amenities you want - you can always opt to not use the tickets or to find a rental car on your own. Some also include a rental car, admission passes to a nearby attraction, or all-inclusive meals. Most vacation packages typically include flights and hotel. (If you're unsure of how to search based on flexibility, start by checking out my favorite search engines for flexible travel.) 4. The more flexibility you have, the cheaper vacation package you'll snag. ![]() "Time" includes days that you travel, how long you stay, and even time of day for flights. Just like with flexibility on destination, travelers who are flexible with when they go are going to get better deals. Planning a trip in only two weeks may sound scary - but you can block off the dates now and choose the destination later! You are best off planning more than three months in advance (four for summer travel) or less than two weeks. However, my trip to Vienna was planned about nine months in advance. The best vacation deals I've found have always been last-minute trips. (See also: Affordable International Vacation Destinations) 2. When you're more flexible on place, you're going to get a better deal. I recommend either choosing an activity that you're looking for (e.g., beach, skiing, museums) or a general destination (e.g., Europe or South America) and then looking for vacation packages that meet this more general criteria. You're going to get the cheapest vacation package if you are completely open to any destination. Tips for Booking a Cheap Vacation Packageįor the greatest savings on your vacation package, use these nine tips to guide you through the booking process. How did I do this? Here are my cardinal rules for how to book a cheap vacation package, followed by an easy three-step process. Perhaps the best deal of all the vacation packages I've purchased was a round-trip ticket to Hurghada, Egypt (a resort town on the red sea) plus a week in a 3-star resort, with two meals a day for $330. One time, I went to Toronto, Canada for a last-minute long weekend where we stayed in a 3-star hotel and got a nonstop, round-trip plane ticket for $300 - less than the cost of any multi-stop ticket without the hotel.Īnother time, I traveled to Vienna, Austria for a week by booking a cheap vacation package - we stayed in a fancy 4-star hotel (they had a bowl of free mini-Toblerone chocolates in the lobby!) and got flights on a stellar foreign airline for about $500. Personally, I've booked multiple cheap vacation packages over the years. (See also: The 5 Best Travel Reward Credit Cards) ![]() Plus, you can often find better deals when you book a package. Because, let's face it, sorting through hotels, itineraries, and flights can be a daunting task when you just want to get away. But sometimes you want someone else to do all the work for you and just book a vacation package. Package savings, along with the convenience of making a single purchase, are reasons why, despite efforts by hotels and airlines to entice direct bookings, online travel agencies still exist.Sometimes planning a vacation is as fun as taking the vacation. Time and time again I read on travel blogs and “road warrior” websites, “Book directly with the hotel and airline!” There are some advantages to buying travel that way (you deal directly with the vendor instead of a third-party middleman, for one thing), but in many cases whatever you gain isn’t worth spending more than you need do. “Will the hotel mind if I don’t show up?” He didn’t, and it didn’t, although I did advise him to cancel the hotel room on the day of arrival just as a courtesy. “I don’t need the hotel since I’m staying with my mom,” he asked. ![]() A colleague needed to make a last-minute trip from New York to Orlando for a funeral and discovered that buying a package on would cost far less than the last-minute airfare alone. Hotel website price: $845 at /BrooklynĪ less-obvious additional advantage of packages: They sometimes come with more liberal rules and restrictions, such as no required advance purchase. Package price: $2,325, with seventh night free promotion at Hotel website price: $1,667 with Hilton Honors membership discount at So I did some random searches on other itineraries and found that the deal was not a fluke. On BookingBuddy, I discovered that were I to buy a hotel plus air package, my airfare on American Airlines would be thrown in for free. Recently, I was booking a trip from New York to Detroit and did the math.
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