This is a sponsored post.
As the year draws to a close, many of us are looking ahead to 2023, and thinking about our future travel plans and aspirations.
With the cost of living soaring, however, you may be feeling wary about splashing your hard-earned cash on a holiday. Perhaps you’re still eager to get away, yet seeking to find a cheaper destination or hotel to visit this year, or searching for places to visit which offer a range of activities you can take part in for free, or for less than what you might usually be willing to pay.
After my recent post on how to save money on grocery shopping was such a hit, I thought it’d be useful to take a look at how we can save money on travel going forward, too.
5 ways to cut the cost of your 2023 holiday
Sign-up for a cash back website or app
If you haven’t signed up to a cash back scheme like Top Cashback or Quidco yet, you’re missing out on potentially hundreds of pounds’ worth of additional cash.
Since I signed up for Top Cashback around five years ago, I’ve earned almost £500 cash back on everything from everyday purchases, hotel bookings and flight tickets, to insurance policies, household appliances and mobile phone contracts. Whatever you’re thinking of buying, it always pays to check-in with your cash back provider first to see just how much money you’ll earn back if you shop via their website.
I save the money throughout the year and cash it out for Christmas, to ease the financial burden of Christmas shopping. However, if you’re keen to save more money to travel with, you could save up your cash back to put towards the cost of your next holiday or trip.
Check out discount websites
Similarly, discount websites which enable shoppers to save money with unique codes and vouchers will no doubt be another great resource for us to turn to when it comes to cutting the cost of travel in 2023.
There are loads of sites like this out there these days and, depending on what it is you’re hoping to save money on, certain websites might be better-suited to you than others.
Some discount sites offer a better variety of travel-specific promotions and discounts than others, for example. I’ve grown particularly fond of Love Discount Vouchers, as I always manage to save money on travel when I check out the website first. Looking at my 2023 travel plans, for example, I’m very fortunate to be heading to Malta with Jet2 in March for work. If I was to book and pay for the trip directly myself, however, I could save as much as 10% off my booking, simply by using the relevant jet2 flights discount code when placing my booking with Jet2.
Register for an air miles scheme
Signing up for an ‘air miles’ scheme can enable you to earn loyalty reward points when booking flights and, sometimes, when shopping in particular supermarkets, with other brands, or when using a credit card linked to the scheme.
Some of the most popular air miles schemes include:
- Virgin Atlantic’s Flying Club, where you earn Virgin Points
- British Airways Executive Club, which rewards you with Avios
- KLM’s Flying Blue, where you earn Miles
However, most airlines run their own loyalty reward ‘air mile’ schemes so, before you book your flights, make sure you check to see if your preferred airline has a similar scheme you can sign-up to help you to save on the cost of travel in 2023.
Once you’ve accrued enough loyalty points, you can use your points to pay for flight tickets and upgrades, while some airlines also allow you to spend the points on other kinds of purchases, too.
Combine this with all the usual tried-and-tested tips to save money on flights – like booking on particular days of the week, using a VPN to check fares in different destinations, and comparing single vs. multi-destination trips to see if the price is lower – and this can be a great way to save money on the cost of flying to your chosen destination.
Register with a house-sitting website
If you resent forking out for a high-end hotel or luxury resort, knowing you’ll probably spend more time out-and-about exploring the area than you will lounging around in your room or by to the pool, house-sitting could be the way forward.
Reputable websites like Trusted Housesitters connect trustworthy house-sitters with people all around the world, who are looking to arrange for someone to stay in their house and keep watch while they go away or, often, to care for their pets in their absence.
You’ll find house-sits located in most countries around the world, ranging from one-bedroom flats to huge mansion houses. Some of the house sits offer a salary for the successful house-sitter but, in most cases, ‘payment’ is in the form of complimentary accommodation.
So, if you’re happy to sign up for a site like Trusted Housesitters and devote some time to maintaining someone else’s property or looking after their pets while they go travelling, you could save yourself a fair whack on the cost of booking hotel rooms or staying on a resort.
Minimise flight and accommodation costs
Keeping your spending on flights and accommodation to a minimum is one of the most logical ways to save money on the cost of travel. If only it was as simple as it sounds, right?
Well, in fact, it’s actually quite straight-forward to ensure you pay the least possible price when it comes to making holiday or travel arrangements. You just need to know how to approach things.
Here are just a few easy ways to pay less for flights and accommodation costs.
- Find out when your preferred airline or accommodation provider is due to hold their seasonal sale, and aim to buy your tickets during this time
- Use a hotel provider that will reward you for loyalty (e.g. so you might be able to ‘earn’ a free stay once you’ve stayed for a certain number of nights at full-cost)
- Compare costs on different travel comparison websites like Expedia, Booking.com, Kayak and Travelpass
- Spend a few minutes browsing a money-saving resource or website; nine times out of 10, you’ll be able to snap-up a travel deal on there.
- Clear your browser cookies or open an incognito window; some airlines and travel companies l hike their rates if they can see you’ve visited a particular page previously, or returned to their website to compare costs a few times
- Compare the cost of return-flight tickets with two separate one-way tickets. Often, it works out cheaper to purchase two single fares instead.
- Similarly, consider whether you can save money by taking an indirect flight. While you’d need to ensure you allow plenty of time to self-transfer at the airport if your flights aren’t directly connected, the money you save may well make it worthwhile.
So, as you can see, even with living costs rising, there are so many ways to save on the cost of travel in 2023, and beyond!
How many more can you think of?
This is a sponsored post.