Hey all!
I have some questions for you if you...
What resources do you use to find the best deals?
How far in advance do you plan your family trip?
Do you get better travel deals during off-peak seasons?
Where and when do you get the best off-peak season deals?
Do you sign up for loyalty rewards programs?
These are some of the questions I was asked by Social Moms today and I thought I would share my answers with you. Since Summer is almost here I know I like to take Summer vacations with my family and I know you probably like to do that as well. I know times are rough for some of us like myself and you can't really afford vacations anymore but I'm going to share my answers with you and hope that these suggestions will help you in attempting to get some time to take a vacation with your family and get some family time in.
And rethink the word VACATION. It doesn't have to be some extravagant trip. It can be a simple few days at the beach or a camping trip to your local free national park.
So Here goes:
1. ONE RESOURCE I USE TO FIND DEALS FOR VACAYS IS LIVING SOCIAL. YOU SHOULD JOIN LIVINGSOCIAL.COM ASAP!
Living Social is an amazing deal site that literally has a deal vacation section on their site called Escapes and they also have a Family escapes.
They show you affordable getaways near you. You just put in your closet location and you can get amazing deals on weekend getaways or full on vacations for families of 4 including hotel, food, and events for your and your family to do. I highly recommend it! You can get a steal on their site for a vacation.
2. JOIN GROUPON.COM
Groupon is another amazing deal site that has amazing weekend getaway deals or family event deals on there site. It's not about the length of time you spend on vacation it's about the time you spend with your family that matters.
3. GO TO THE BEACH THIS SUMMER!
It's free. It's beautiful. It's FREE! You can certainly find a cheap hotel near your local clean beach and spend a weekend getaway at the beach. You can pack your food and keep it in the hotel mini fridge and spend your days in the sun and playing in the sand.
4. GET A REWARDS CREDIT OR DEBIT CARD FOR AIRFARE AND MORE!
If you still use at least one credit card while shopping then you should definitely be using one Like the Delta Sky miles card. I love this card. You can get miles and rewards every time you use it. You can use these miles to get free round trip airfares or you can use them to redeem them for gifts and gift cards.
5. PLAN VACATIONS IN OFF PEAK SEASONS. If you can, Don't take your trips during the busiest times of the season. Like don't take a vacation in July because that's the busiest summer month to take a vacation. Try May or June the latest or September.
6. PLAN VACATIONS AHEAD OF TIME. I know most of us go away for the Holiday season. Like myself, My family and I travel to New York to see family. We plan this trip almost a year in advance so we can get the best deals on airfare. We use our skymiles but when those don't cover everything we want to make sure we get the cheapest flights so we PLAN AHEAD so we can get them!
We also plan a year in advance for our yearly trip to Comic Con!
7. SEARCH EXPEDIA.COM OR PRICELINE.COM. You can find amazing deals or even name your price on Priceline and get a steal on hotel rooms.
8. SEE IF YOUR JOB HAS A DISCOUNT TICKET DEAL. At my job you can purchase discount tickets to theme parks like Disneyland or Disneyworld for almost half the price you would pay normally, so ask your human resources department if you have one if they have a discount ticket deal for employees.
9. GET A HOTEL REWARDS CARD!
Like the Marriot Rewards card! and get free hotel nights with rewards.
10. LAST BUT NOT LEAST GO TO A TRAVEL AGENT! No one goes into travel agencies anymore since everyone buys everything online including travel packages. But go into a Liberty Travel and they can possibly get you a better deal than even online since they hardly get any customers they are sometimes desperate to make a sale and you can get some great deals that way.
Those are all the ways I get my family vacation deals. I hope they help you get some as well or at least give you an idea on how to take a good family vacation.
Thanks for letting me share them with you!
Disclosure: “I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Alamo blogging program, for a gift card worth $25. For more information on how you can participate, click here.”
