What are everyone's favorite travel hacks or tools to book award travel?
Air BnB is still a great option. But charging everything on a airline travel and using the points for travel is what I do.
But, I pay that card off every month.
Also BP gas stations now give UAL miles for filing up your car. We use that also but I am not that big a fan UAL. Horrible service...
When staying abroad in Airbnb I bring some classic snacks from my country for the host.
I put about $60k a year in on the CSR, and utilize the Chase portal to book travel. I also follow 10X Travel Insiders, those guys are true pros.
10x Travel Insiders. Never heard of it. Thanks
My favorite travel hack, I kid you not, is to make rich and generous friends. I've found that rich folks tend to have vacation properties all around the world AND they are members of travel programs with vacation day credits that often go unused.
Here was one hook up several years ago in Paris that would have cost me $14,000 for the week. Instead, it was free thanks to a friend's insistence I use his credits or else he'd lose them. Ryan Seacrest was my neighbor lol.
https://www.financialsamurai.com/guilt-free-travel-hacking-finally-living-it-up/
Quote from: Sam on November 18, 2018, 05:41:32 AM
My favorite travel hack, I kid you not, is to make rich and generous friends. I've found that rich folks tend to have vacation properties all around the world AND they are members of travel programs with vacation day credits that often go unused.
Here was one hook up several years ago in Paris that would have cost me $14,000 for the week. Instead, it was free thanks to a friend's insistence I use his credits or else he'd lose them. Ryan Seacrest was my neighbor lol.
https://www.financialsamurai.com/guilt-free-travel-hacking-finally-living-it-up/
That's perfect. We used to do the same in Stinson Beach.
Real simple travel hack. If you're stuck between flights on a very long lay over. Find the airport hotel. Usually there's a decent Marriott or Hilton on airport property. Head over there and hang out in the lobby. It's much quieter than the terminal, has cleaner bathrooms, and better food and drink.
I always use Air BnB
AirBNB is great and I have been contacted several times by them as one of their top clients. Some of the travel CC are worth looking into as well esp. Capital One Venture and Chase Sapphire. I'm a travel agent and I've learned that a travel agent is actually one of the best hacks at times. They can often get you additional perks that aren't available to the regular consumer. I would never take a cruise that wasn't booked by a Travel Agent even before I become one. Luxury hotels usually have add-ons too that a travel agent can get for you. A good travel agent doesn't charge you anything either so it is worth picking up the phone and asking. Discount websites are just that - you get what you pay for.
I guess this is as much of a "travel hack" as anyone else has posted.... As soon as I know I may need a rental car, i use carrentalsavers to reserve a car using the best discount for which I am eligible (in my case it is USAA at https://carrentalsavers.com/usaa.html, great rates and the USAA cdp for hertz includes a free additional driver (or at least for your spouse), but there are other discounts you can try if you are not USAA eligible).
Then I track the price of that reservation on https://www.auto slash.com/track for when it drops and ignore the notices to rebook if the savings offered are not significant or totally ignore if the savings is linked to pre-paying. It seems to result in significant savings with little manual work.
However, remember to cancel old bookings, especially if they are overseas. A well known car rental agency wanted to charge me for a reservation that I never even picked up in Auckland New Zealand.