Kat's Money Corner: Everything you always wanted to know about holiday travel

KatThere’s no denying that the way to save the most on the high cost of travel is to simply stay home. And while staycations have become a popular alternative, there are times when that choice isn’t practical, desirable, or the right thing to do.

Being with your loved ones over the upcoming holidays certainly fits that bill.

Still, there are ways to save substantially on travel, even at peak times.

One of the best is to book early – two to three months in advance – but by now that plane has already left the hangar. You still have options, though.

The key is to be as flexible as possible with your travel times and dates, and choices of airlines, rental cars and hotels — and patient and thorough as you make arrangements.

One of the best money-saving trip-planning options is the use of “opaque” sites, including Priceline and Hotwire. They’re called “opaque” because they quote prices for flights, hotels and rental cars without disclosing the name of the airline, hotel or agency – you don’t find out until after you commit and pay. You also give up perks such as miles or points when booking through these sites, and often your flight times end up at off-peak hours.

On the plus side, these sites offer often-substantial discounts because the sellers don’t have to show their hand to the world in terms of how low they’re willing to go. In fact, booking a combo on these sites – flight and car, flight and hotel, or all three – will often save you even more. That’s because you get a single price for the package, and you never know how much of the total goes to each entity.

There are other strategies for wringing even greater savings from these sites, as revealed in a recent New York Times article. These include modifying your stated preferences for neighborhoods to stay in for a given city, or a different star rating for hotels.

Flexibility in your travel dates can have a huge impact on costs, too. This report outlines how much air fares can vary over the Thanksgiving holiday period, with deep price cuts often available for those who book their return flight on Monday or Tuesday instead of the more-in-demand Saturday or Sunday flights.

For those driving over the river and through the woods, there’s another good strategy for saving on hotels: check out the online posted rates, then call ahead and negotiate directly with the hotel. ( Kayak is an excellent site for comparing posted rates). They don’t advertise it, but some reservation desks are empowered to offer lower rates to people willing to haggle.

That’s always the first rule of saving: It never hurts to ask. Happy, safe and hopefully budget-friendly travels this holiday season!

Kat's Money Corner is posted every Tuesday on Dollars & Sense. When she's not blogging, Kat is a manager with CommunityAmerica Credit Union.