Booking Affordable Travel: Fundamental Tips & Tricks

Affiliate Disclaimer: Please note that some links found in our posts are affiliate links. Should you choose to purchase through these links, we may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

The opportunity to travel is more accessible than many think. And no, we’re not just talking to those people who are sitting on a mountain of cash.

Budget travel is becoming increasingly more popular as an industry trend. It’s as if we all began to realize that if there are ways to not overpay, why would we pay more than we need to?

Finding ways to see the world without breaking the bank all begins with booking affordable travel.

These are the fundamental practices when it comes to knowing how to book affordable flights, hotels and rental cars.

Essentials for Booking Affordable Travel

Earn Travel Points With a Credit Card

Signing up for a good travel credit card may sound overrated in 2024 but it’s a cliché for a reason. Credit cards that earn you points pay off big time for those who like to travel.

With Americans in particular who are used to purchasing everything on a credit card, why not take advantage of earning points on everyday purchases?

Whether you’re a novice traveler or just getting started and you’re still not utilizing a credit card which earns points on travel, you need to fix this now!

Personally, we’ve been using the Chase Sapphire Reserve for years which simultaneously is our “go to” credit card for expenses. Over the years, we’ve been able to use accumulated points from purchases to fully cover the cost of flights.

You’re also able to book hotels through Chase with your points but from our own experience, the flights are a much better value when it comes to converting your points.

Aside from scoring free flights, we love the Chase Sapphire Reserve because there are zero transaction fees with international purchases.

Yes, we are able to use our Chase credit card on a normal basis while living and traveling in Europe (and beyond). Using this credit card is actually our first preference over using cash.

Use the Right Tools

Do not get caught up on only utilising big name websites for booking flights, hotels or rental cars. Within reason, expand your search to lesser known resources because if price is of concern, it’s worth your time to price shop.

You’ll be surprised at how many flash sales and discounts you’ll find on underrated websites that you wouldn’t have found elsewhere if you only stuck to popular brands.

Furthermore, stick to using travel search engines within the category of what you’re looking to book.

For example, if you know that Booking.com is primarily used for finding accommodation, they likely won’t have the best price for rental cars. Instead, use a tool like Discover Cars or Rentalcars.com which clearly specializes in one thing.

→ 🔧 See the complete list of Travel Tools preferred by Adventures of Ace ←

Be Flexible

Booking affordable travel means you must be open and flexible to alternatives. Whether that results in choosing a different destination, a change in travel dates, or reserving a smaller rental car, affordable travel means you can’t always have it all.

While some may see this as a compromise, we see it as an opportunity to carve out a one-of-a-kind travel experience.

Being flexible when it comes to booking affordable travel aims to achieve one goal = finding a good deal and sticking with a budget. Keeping an open mind by flying during shoulder season or booking a hotel outside of the city centre are two examples where you’ll save a lot of money on travel expenses.

→ 🛫 Book the cheapest flights to any destination based on dates ←

Why Everyone Should Know How to Book Affordable Travel

We strongly believe that people would travel more frequently if they really understood that traveling does not have to be expensive. Even in 2024, there is still a preconception that travel is only for those who can afford a champagne toast at takeoff.

If more people learned about how to find great deals on travel, which travel tools to use, and how to travel on a budget, it would make just the idea of booking travel more attractive.

Booking affordable travel isn’t just about sticking to a budget. It’s about making the act of traveling accessible to everyone.

Once you are able to crack the code on how to fit more travel into your life and budget, it gives you the confidence to keep doing it. As you gain more experience under your belt, booking affordable travel isn’t a hack, it’s just standard procedure.

Lastly, there is something uniquely rewarding about enjoying yourself on a trip while knowing you saved money. Being on holiday or an adventure should not include stressing about how much money you just wasted.

Finding the Cheapest Flights

Time of Year Really Matters

Research your destination to determine when the peak travel season is. The answer is not always summer depending on where you are traveling to. BUT if you are visiting Europe, avoid the months of June – August. Choosing flight dates in the shoulder or off-season will save you up to 50% on tickets.

…So Do Days of the Week

If your travel dates are flexible, play around with the flight search engine’s calendar to see which days of the week are the cheapest to fly on. This is particularly crucial if you are flying into a smaller airport because in those cases, certain flight paths may not be scheduled for every day of the week.

🔑 KEY TIP: Intentionally choose to travel to places where your own currency will be more valuable

Choose Big Airports

If you can help it, select a big airport as your destination. Large airports located in major cities are naturally, the most frequented. This generally means that flight paths are diverse and prices are cheaper. It’s a game of volume!

Know the Layover Tricks

There are two main ways to take advantage of layovers. First, consider the industry’s trend of a 2-in-1 trip. Essentially, this means you are visiting two places in one trip by enjoying a long layover before your final destination.

Many airlines actually encourage this and have created promotional offers around layovers in their home hub that are 24+ hours long. Icelandair, Turkish Airlines and TAP Air Portugal are a few of the companies that will pay for your accommodation during a long layover.

The second trick is slightly frowned upon by airlines but hey, they’re making enough money as it is. Due to the way flight paths are scheduled, it is sometimes possible to find a cheaper flight when your end destination is the layover location of a flight to a completely different place.

For example, if you want to visit Berlin but the long haul flight to Prague with a stopover in Berlin is cheaper, you can book this flight and simply get off the flight in Berlin with no intention of making the connection to Prague.

Use Skiplagged to take advantage of this loophole in the flight industry!

Consider Alternative Routes

This is a key trick to know if you are planning a trip to Europe. Even though many of the countries and even major cities can be within close proximity of each other, prices for flights can vary drastically.

It is worth looking at a map to see which alternative destinations you can fly to in order to save hundreds of dollars. After choosing an alternative destination, you can then connect to where you actually want to go by an inexpensive train or bus ride.

→ 🧳 Read More: 10 Ways to Be a Traveller and Not a Tourist ←

Is It a Good Deal or Good Marketing?

Ticket prices for flights are commonly tiered or presented as à la carte. You can purchase a flight from a range of ticket options which correspond with seat quality, baggage, food onboard and so on.

If you are a budget traveler, you may quickly select the cheapest flight and not think twice about it. While doing this, just be mindful of any add-ons and take the time to do the math if you are purchasing extras.

For example, you may see a ticket option that includes checked luggage but costs slightly more than the cheapest option.

Although this initially looks like the better value, you can actually still book the cheapest option and add checked luggage afterwards, for a lower price.

Budget airlines are also no longer the only ones that promote this marketing tactic so keep a look out for this during the checkout process.

Utilize the “Explore” Feature

Don’t have a specific preference on your travel destination? Let spontaneity and cheap flights decide for you. Many flight search engines include an “Explore” feature, which is the secret best way to reveal the cheapest flights based on your departure location.

You can have the feature search destinations all over the world or in a specific country. For example, if you know you want to go to Spain but don’t know or care where in Spain, the Explore features will give you a list of all the major airports with flight costs attached to make your decision easier.

Signing up for free flight alerts is also an effortless way to be notified of super cheap flights. Services and newsletters like Going simply email you with once-in-a-lifetime deals on flights without requiring you to do any work yourself.

It also opens your mind to destinations you may have never thought about visiting.

→ 💸 Booking affordable travel begins with finding cheap flights ✈️ ←

Researching Deals for Good Accommodation

It’s Worth Your Time to Compare Prices

When you find a hotel or apartment that you like, take a few extra minutes to search for it on another website. Oftentimes, you will find the same accommodation listed on another site, and it’s very possible that it will be cheaper.

Hotels do a ton of marketing. It is normal for them to list their rooms on various websites, with some websites charging them a higher or lower fee than others.

🛒 Did you find the hotel of your dreams on Booking.com? Great! Now make sure you are getting the best deal and search for it on Agoda, Trivago, Expedia, and even Tripadvisor.

Be Aware of the Actual Total Cost

Long gone are the days where Airbnb was the cheapest option for accommodation. Now, more often than not, Airbnb ends up being the more expensive choice because of additional fees.

Unless you intentionally check the box of seeing the grand total up front, you will only see the cost per night on Airbnb. Only seeing the cost per night may seem cheaper until you actually get to the checkout page and are slammed with random admin and cleaning fees. Are you traveling with a dog? Always confirm the pet fee upfront.

Regardless of if you’re booking with Airbnb or another website, never solely depend on the cost per night when price shopping for accommodation. 

Don’t Stay in the City Centre

Booking accommodation that’s very centrally located sounds dreamy, but in reality, it can be a headache. Not only are you paying twice as much to be situated in the city centre, but you’re also going to have a much less relaxing stay.

Centrally located accommodation usually means that you’ll be surrounded by noise at every hour of the day and night.

Instead, find a place to stay that’s outside of the city centre but close to public transportation. If you are particularly visiting a destination that has a well-rated metro system, you’ll be surprised how quickly you can get to the city centre and still pay 50% less for a hotel or Airbnb.

Do not make the mistake of finding a very cheap hotel or apartment that’s nowhere near a bus, tram or metro station.

Take Advantage of Promotions

You know those annoying marketing emails you get from hotel or airline websites? It turns out, they’re full of promotional discounts. Who woulda thought?

If you’re one of those people that always searches for a promo code for a discount or a flash sale, those annoying marketing emails are the first place you should check.

If you’ve purchased a flight, hotel room or rental car from a company in the past, chances are that they’ve sent you a deal to take advantage of since then. Additionally, it’s very common for a flight search engine to send you an offer on hotels and car rentals after you’ve booked your flight.

These companies work with hotel groups and rental car agencies as affiliates and promote their discounts to shared customers.

Remember sharing your email address in order to gain access to hotel Wi-Fi? Yep, they’ve probably emailed you some kind of deals. Always check promotional emails for discounts.

Become a Loyalty Member

Continuously booking hotels through one or two websites will pay off. A majority of websites have a loyalty program and their only requirement is for you to use their website to book hotels as much as possible.

Personally, we’ve been Genius members with Booking.com and at first, didn’t see much value in it. As time went on and we reached new levels within the loyalty program, we received bigger and more frequent discounts on accommodation.

We’ve confirmed that these discounts are in fact valid and not just a marketing tactic because higher prices are shown we are signed out of our account.

Booking Affordable Rental Cars

Don’t Pay for What You Don’t Need

Rental cars are divided into classes, mostly depending on the size. Smaller vehicles and budget car brands are going to be substantially more affordable. The most common way to overpay for a rental car is by renting a car that you don’t need.

There may be a time and place to rent an AWD/4WD capable car, but it’s usually unnecessary, especially in the summer. If you’re just hauling around two passengers, don’t opt for anything bigger than a compact class vehicle.

Tempted to book the sporty rental car or SUV when you don’t need the space? It’ll just cost you more in fuel.

Pay Attention to Additional Fees

Carelessly booking a rental car is very dangerous. If you don’t pay attention to the details and fine print, you may end up with a very expensive invoice at the end. Booking affordable travel means you know exactly what you’re buying and in the case of rental cars, what’s included and what’s not.

While many car rental websites highlight these items, there are many that don’t and hope the consumer just doesn’t notice. These are the extra fees you should look out for when it comes to rental cars:

• Is there a flat fee surcharge for fueling up the vehicle?
• Is there a distance surcharge depending on exactly how many km/miles you drive?
• Are you being charged a flat fee for a vignette or toll sticker that costs more than face value?
• Are you being charged a fee to pick up or drop off the vehicle at a certain time or day of the week?
• Any other odd admin fees categorised inappropriately?

Evaluate Rental Car Insurance Options

Rental car agencies make a sizeable profit on the additional insurance that customers purchase. Naturally, they will push and push the options on you either online or in person once you pick up the car.

While purchasing additional insurance is not a bad thing, you want to be mindful of if you’re doubling down on something you already have.

For example, paying for a rental car with a good travel credit card ensures you are already fully covered by your credit card company. Or, if you went ahead and purchased travel insurance for your trip, chances are that there is coverage for a rental car included.

Do not purchase additional rental car insurance on a whim. Take a minute to check if you’re already covered.

Book With a Lesser Known Rental Car Company

While sorting through car rental options online for a trip abroad, you may come across many companies that you’re not familiar with. If you’re the type to always book the cheapest option, you probably won’t think twice about the company you booked.

However, if you’re a person who is cognizant of brands, you may be hesitant to go with a company that’s new to you even if they’re much cheaper.

Based on many experiences, it is OK to not get hung up on booking only big or well-known brands like Hertz or Budget while renting a car abroad. The reason is, many of the big companies work with smaller and local agencies as affiliates.

In the end, it’s a team effort when it comes to managing inventory and staff on site, especially during the peak season.

→ 🚙 Find upfront and affordable prices on rental cars ←

Final Thoughts on Booking Affordable Travel

• Do not only use popular travel websites to book hotels, flights or rental cars. Branch out and utilize lesser-known sites where you’ll find more and bigger deals.
• Dig through your inbox for overlooked deals, promo codes and discounts on booking affordable travel. Travel websites or past hotels and airlines you’ve used before have likely emailed you about sales to take advantage of.
• It is always worth the extra few minutes to price shop. Different travel marketplaces will display various prices for the exact same service or product.
• Booking affordable travel will come easiest to those who are willing to be flexible. Opting for alternative destinations, time of year, and type of accommodation are the most common ways to save the most money on travel.
• Don’t overpay by booking things you don’t need. If you don’t need it, pass on the larger car, centrally located hotel, or flight with numerous checked luggage included.
• Whether you’re browsing hotels, flights, or rental cars, keep your eyes wide open for additional fees. Hidden costs are the biggest reason that finding a good deal can be challenging. Make it to the checkout page in order to see your grand total.

Affordable Travel Resources

☔️ TRAVEL INSURANCE: EKTA or VisitorsCoverage

✈️ FLIGHTS: Skyscanner, CheapOair or Kiwi.com

🚙 CAR RENTALS: Discover Cars or Rentalcars.com

🚊 TRAINS & BUSES: Busbud, Trainline or Omio

🛳 FERRIES: Direct Ferries

🛌 ACCOMMODATION: Booking.com, Agoda or Trivago

☎️ ESIM / CELL PHONE DATA: Airalo

📸 TOURS & ACTIVITIES: GetYourGuide or Viator