7 Travel Websites for Big Savings

With school coming to an end and Summer vacations about to begin, these websites can help you save money on travel and help with planning your next vacation. The real-time web brings us real-time deals so your best bet to save money on travel is to do your homework in advance in terms of where you’d like to go and then be prepared to act quickly as some of the best deals go quickly. Every site has unique features depending on your travel preferences, priorities and degrees of flexibility.

Living Frugal Tips picks for travel savings:

1. Kayak.com – This is the travel site not to be missed. It searches hundreds of travel sites all at one time in search of the best deals. It will quickly compare sites such as Expedia, Orbitz, Priceline, Hotels.com, airline sites, car rental sites and more. It’s quick and easy and you can create fare alerts to be notified of hot deals.

2.  Yapta.com – With the high degree of fluctuation in airline fares and hotel rates, buyer’s remorse can be bad. You book a flight for $450 and then a few days later it’s 1/2 price. With Yapta.com you can say goodbye to buyers remorse. Yapta conducts daily price checks on the specific flights and hotels that you choose, and alerts you when prices drop or when they fall within your budget. And it will alert you if rebooking makes sense due to significant price drops.

3. Voyij.com – The unique feature on this site is it helps you save money on travel by searching for last minute deals, specials and unsold inventory. If you can plan a quick trip and have some flexibility you can find hotel rooms for as low as $29 on the Vegas Strip as an example. Another great feature is that it also tracks deals on Twitter.

4.  Twitter.com – As mentioned above, Twitter is a mecca of real-time travel savings. If you want to go right to the source, you can go to Twitter and in the “people search” section type in a travel provider, such as United Airlines or Marriott, to find their Twitter user name. Then just follow along to begin keeping up with the hot deals that they tweet about … but they go fast.

5.  BedandBreakfast.com – I love the quaintness of a B&B and there’s no better site for finding one. I also love that this site has a one click Hot Deals section for last minute trips that week. You can sign up for a weekly email and for hot deals in your preferred region. There is also a Value Vacations section and you gotta love a site that has a Beer Lovers Getaways section!

6.  TravelZoo.com – I’ve been using TravelZoo for years. The feature I love best is you can sign up for their Weekly Top 20 travel deals for travel savings. Quick, easy and right to your inbox.

7.  InsideTrip.com – If traveling in comfort is more your style, then you’ll love the quality scores that are presented with each itinerary. Points are awarded for nonstop, legroom, wait times and more. This makes finding the fare “gems” among the double layovers a breeze.

If staying close to home is more your style, then be sure to check out Tips for Planning the Best Staycation Ever so that you can make the most of your time and dial up the fun-factor in your area. Other great posts for free fun stuff — 50 Frugal Fun ideas for a Bored-Silly Saturday and 14 Ways to Pass the Day Trapped Inside.

Whether staying close or going far, enjoy yourself!

Bon Voyage!