{This is a collaborative post}
Family travel! It can be one of the most fun and rewarding experiences. Unfortunately, it can also cost a lot of money, making it tough for many families to travel as much as they would like. The good news, however, is that there are some strategies you can use to travel without busting your budget. Keep reading to find out what they are -
1. Compare prices
The great thing about booking holidays
these days is that it can all be done online. The advantage of booking online
is that you can compare you break with similar ones to check that you are
getting the lowest price possible. However, doing so isn't quite as easy as
when you are purchasing a physical product. The reason being that what
vacations include and how they are displayed can often be quite different from
provider to provider.
You may have also noticed that the low
price you discover when first visiting the site fluctuates and even goes up
daily. Although searching again via a VPN, using an incognito page or after clearing your computer's
cookies should take care of that particular problem, and you won't end up with overinflated prices.
2. Use exclusive offers run by tour
operators
Utilising the special offers that tour operators run can be very beneficial, many operators offer particular deals for families with younger children, such as free or half-price child places. These kinds of deals that can save you a significant
amount of money, especially if you have a brood that is on the larger
side. But remember to book early, to bag them, as there is normally a limit number of spaces available.
3. Use vouchers and coupons
Another tactic you can use to bring
the overall cost of your family holiday down is finding vouchers and discount
codes. Many people are not aware that codes like the ones you can find
on sites such as netvouchercodes.co.uk can be used
against purchases like holidays. Sadly, that means they are missing out on some
serious savings, including percentage reductions and amounts off the original
price.
The silly thing is that finding the
vouchers that apply to the break you want is really easy, as they
tend to be listed by holiday provider. You get searching now!
5. Stay domestic
Travel doesn't always have to be
international for it to be fun. Actually, as this post at mirror.co.uk suggests,
exploring the country in which you live can be exciting and enlightening for
the family as well. Of course, the primary advantage of this is that you won't
need to factor in the costs of international flights, something that means you
could make a hefty saving.
However, if you want to make really good savings, it is worthwhile booking cheaper,
self-catering accommodation such as an Airbnb, rather than
staying in a hotel. Otherwise, you may not end up making the savings you would
like, as popular destinations like London and Cornwall can have extortionate prices in the summer holidays particularly.
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| Image Credit: Jill Wellington at Pixabay |
6. Book at the right time
When you book your
family break can have as significant an impact on the cost, as where you choose
to go. This is because the travel industry tends to offer its lowest prices for
flights or accommodation when the dates are first released. A situation that is
motivated by their desire to get as many bookings as early as possible. Whereas, of course, when they are almost full, they start to charge a premium for those seats or beds.
Now, it is worth mentioning that not
every agent or travel business follows this pattern of yield management, and some still work on
traditional peak times throughout the year. However, it is usually possible to
get a better discount as the dates release, rather than later on
in the year, closer to the time of departure.
That is until you get very close to
the date of the holiday, or flight. Then, there is often another opportunity to
grab a bargain if they have a glut of availability. The reason being that travel companies start to worry that the
seats or rooms will go unfilled. To that end, many offer ‘last-minute deals’ a
topic you can read more about at which.co.uk. These tend to include tremendous savings for families if you manage to secure one.
7. Book separately
It may also be possible to make a
saving on your next family break by taking things into your own hands and
booking each part separately. Yes, doing so will involve considerably more work
than going through an operator that offers a door-to-door service.
However, you may well find that the
savings justify this extra effort. In fact, with apps like Skyscanner, you may
find that working out the individual parts is more doable than you first
thought. Just be aware that if you book separately rather than via a tour operator for a package that you won't be ATOL protected and if one of more of the businesses you have booked with go bust, then you're vulnerable.
8. Consider all your costs
Finally, when it comes to keeping the costs of your family holiday down, you must consider all of the expenses involved. After all, getting a bargain flight is all very well and good. Still, if you have to get an expensive train or taxi to a faraway airport to catch it, you may not be making any genuine savings at all.
Additionally, be sure to factor in the
cost of keeping your whole family fed and watered throughout the trip, and of course, they'll want snacks and ice creams as well. In fact, as this post
at express.co.uk discusses, it
is the cumulative cost of these kind of small buys, on top of the price of flights and accommodation
that often leads families to choose all-inclusive options. The reason being
that while they seem expensive at the time of booking, they can actually end up
costing much less in total.
Summary
In summary, there are several ways you can save money while travelling
as a family, from staying in your country of residence to using special offers
and vouchers. Additionally, you can plan when to book your breaks to get the best
prices, you may even wish to book each part separately to save.
Finally, do not
forget that you can make some significant savings by taking the time to compare
the prices on offer, and be sure to factor in all of the costs involved in your
trip. Otherwise, you may end up with some unexpected expenditure to deal with.
However you decide to book, I hope you have amazing fun and make memories that last a lifetime. After all, that's why we go on holiday!
