Best Ways to Find a Holiday Deal

For many families, the holiday season means it is time to travel a good distance to get together with loved ones and friends. As times goes on, the cost of being able to do this will continue to rise and leave many families with the difficult decision to either break away from tradition or deepen their credit card debt. While this can be a costly time for families of four, there are different ways around the ordeal.

Depending on the type of person you are, you either think that you can wait until the last minute to find the best air fare prices or purchase your tickets months in advance. Either train of thought you have on the matter will work because there are several websites that allow you the opportunity to purchase your hotel, rental car, and air fare at a discounted rate at various times before your trip.

Discounted Travel Deal Websites

These websites, notably Priceline, Expedia, and Travelocity are three of the highest grossing websites in the world. Each website makes more than a billion dollars each year and all provide users with solid chances to get their best deals possible. The more services you buy at a time, the higher the discount you will get. With Expedia, you are likely to get the best deal when you purchase your vacation package several months in advance. With a website like Hotwire, you will get the best deal for hotel travel days before your trip.

Jet Blue and Other Smaller Airlines

When it comes to air fare, finding discounted tickets is often a difficult task to perform. Unless the airline is desperate to get people on their planes, they aren't to give you the best deals. There are some airlines like Jet Blue and Southwest that are always offering discounted tickets and low fares, especially around the holidays.

Holiday and Flight Apps

These apps for smartphones allow users to find great getaway packages at incredibly discounted prices. If you have ever dreamed of going to China, these apps have offered a deal with airfare, tours, hotels, and meals for less than $1,500 per person for more than 10 days. These apps also offer those same type of deals to the Caribbean and other top vacation destinations at discounted rates that often seem too good to be true.

What to Look out For

When you use the travel packages websites, there are many things you need to consider. While these sites offer you great deals, you need to look at the fine print.. In some cases, the deals that offer the cheapest rate might be from an airport on the other side of the country. This means that on top of your ticket around the world, you also need to purchase an airline ticket across the country to get to that location. Suddenly, your cheap family vacation just got several thousand dollars more expensive with the added plane tickets.

Another thing to keep an eye on is the time in which you are getting these travel deals. If you want to take your family away during the holidays using one of these deals, they may not offer you the chance to do so. These deals may be occurring during the stormy hurricane season or during other weather-impacted times that cause a decline in tourist travel.

There is no definite way to get the best deal for your next holiday getaway, but if you use all the resources given to you on the internet, you will be off to a good start. You can also use different apps for your smartphone that will help you find a solid deal, but ultimately, you need to know what you are buying into and be sure to read all the fine print.