5 Tips on Scoring the Best Travel Deals

Our Mum CFOs share their best tips to scoring the best travel deals around. 

1. Subscribe to as many of the travel deal websites as possible so you can be notified when deals are on and see when the best deals are coming up. When you’re searching for travel deals, make sure you regularly clear your cookies or use an incognito window. Always call the airline or accommodation venue to see if they can give you a better deal than the one you find online.
2. The best thing to do is just research. I usually go into my travel agent and get her to do me a price. Then I search to see if I can get better deals somewhere else (which I usually can), and then my agent will price match it. I could easily book online, but with so many different sites you never know how legitimate some are. I’m happier to do it this way because I know it’s booked through a reputable company, but also at the best price. Times of travel will usually depend on where you want to go. Obviously, some prices are higher during school holidays and long weekends (both in Australia and your destination country). Destinations depend on how old the kids are, and what sort of things the family enjoys.
3. We were brave and travelled with three kids for four weeks in Vietnam booking all our accommodation as we went, using TripAdvisor and booking.com. We’d stay somewhere, decide where we wanted to go next and within 1/2 an hour had made decisions on our next hotel. Not everyone would feel comfortable doing it that way- but we had time up our sleeve (four weeks) and it all cost us at least 40% less.
4. Book as far in advance as you can. You can book flights more than 12 months in advance, and so if you’re planning a holiday, get in quick to score some amazing fares as airlines want to fill the seats. Occasionally last-minute specials might undercut what you’ve paid, but that’s the exception to the rule.
5. Typically, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturday afternoon flights see less demand (though Saturdays also often see fewer flights) than other days, so flights will tend to be cheaper.