The Wall Street Journal's Marketwatch recently published 12 secrets about saving money on flights, cruises and hotels, and cited travel experts at a travel industry show hosted by the New York Times. Here are some of them and also a few which they did not mention:1. Try calling the airline instead of booking online, as not all the best deals are offered online.
2. After searching for a flight clear your computer’s cookies and cache, otherwise travel companies track your searches and you could end up paying more, especially if you are committed to a certain date.
3. Search for your flight or hotel without frequent flier or loyalty membership numbers. I have not tried this myself, but sometimes it might be cheaper, perhaps because of the 'captive audience' syndrome.
4. Exploit the cruise industry’s current spate of bad publicity and over-capacity and make use of subsequent low fares while it last.
5. Call the hotel directly for its best room rate rather than booking online or using its 800 number.
6. To get the biggest online choices use Venere or Booking.com rather than Hotels.com. Personally I always start the search with Expedia, as a base, and then compare it with one of two other online sites, as well as the hotel or airline's own website.
Other useful money-saving ideas are the following:
> Travel low season - hotels in Europe can cost 30-50% less after mid-September to December and in April-May and flights are always cheaper. All-inclusive deals to the Caribbean islands such as Dominican Republic and Cuba sell for much less than $1,000 starting April.
> Ask for better rates in person. I have stayed in many hotels in Germany (Wurzburg, Nurnberg etc - smaller towns and cities are easier) where I made no booking - I simply walked straight to the reception and politely asked for a better rate than which they offered at first - it worked every time (except if there was a convention or another big event on). Also be prepared to walk out and try the same tactic at the hotel next door.
> Be clever when using your frequent flyer miles. British Airways for example asks 9,000 miles for a return flight from London to Berlin or Nice. A much shorter flight (in mileage terms) to Brussels or Amsterdam requires the same number of miles - then the Eurostar or a ferry might be better value. Also a flight to Pisa or Barcelona requires 15,000 miles - it might be cheaper to use 9,000 miles to get to Nice and then take a train to Pisa or Barcelona.
> Renting a car in Europe offers outstanding value, especially of you are two or more people. A one-week rental in Italy, France or Germany can go for a low as $200 for a compact or even a mid-size car, depending on the season. This makes a lot of sense compared to train travel and flying, especially if your premium credit card will cover the insurance.
> Use credit cards that offer you travel points rather than credit cards that offer you miles and tie you down to a specific airline or loyalty program such as Aeroplan -linked cards in Canada, South African Airways Voyager' or BA and Cathay Pacific-linked cards. The former can be used at any time for the full flight cost, you can fly any route and there are no black-out dates.
