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Luxury travel is an incredible way to see the world and not just reserved for the one percent. It’s far more accessible than you might think. With this article, I hope to teach you how to experience luxury travel for less and encourage you to aim high when booking your next trip.
Tips for Making Luxury Travel Affordable
To Travel for Less, Plan Ahead
Spontaneity when traveling can be fun, but it won‘t necessarily get you the best deal. Finding luxury travel bargains takes a little bit of work and some planning. Typically, I find that hotel and airline prices only go up as your travel dates get near. Although this isn‘t always the case, it has been true for me.
In my experience, when you book your luxury vacation ahead of time, you are generally able to lock in a better price because the hotels and airlines are not fully booked yet. For example, I booked the Six Senses in the Maldives over three months before my travel dates. By booking this luxury resort early, I was able to take advantage of several additional discounts that would not have been available had I waited until the last minute to book our stay.
Use One Credit Card to Earn Miles
Credit card companies are always trying to entice travelers with new credit card offers and bonus points. While some of these offers make it worth opening a new card, most do not. In the end, you might have to spread your purchases out across so many different credit cards that you will not rack up enough miles to book your next luxury vacation.
Instead, try to consolidate your spending on one credit card. I like the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card and do my best to use it for all my purchases. I figure if I am spending the money anyway, why not let my credit card work for me and support my love for luxury travel.
Use Your Miles to Book Luxury Hotels and Resorts for Less or Even Free
Making luxury travel affordable is great, but luxury travel for free is even better. The best part about earning credit card miles is the ability to splurge on luxurious destinations you might not otherwise consider. Once you start earning credit card miles, you can use them to book five-star hotels or first-class airline tickets. I have stayed at several luxury resorts using my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card points.
Join Loyalty Programs to Get Deals and Upgrades
Another idea for making luxury travel affordable is to sign up for hotel and airline reward programs. Both hotels and airlines want to keep their customers returning and often offer sales specifically targeted to their loyalty program members. By signing up for these programs, you can get alerts and e-mails when there is a sale. In addition, hotels and airlines reward their loyal customers with unique perks, which sometimes include upgrades! You can signup for reward programs like the Marriott Bonvoy program on the hotel and airline websites.
Airlines also offer point upgrades. At checkout, make sure you check the box (if available) to request an upgrade. On a recent trip, my husband and I were able to upgrade on American Airlines from economy to business class with layflat seats on a transcontinental flight using upgrade points, plus a nominal fee of $40. I did not have any upgrade points and my business class seat cost an additional $200. Well worth it!
Follow Brands You Like on Social Media
The way hotels and airlines advertise is evolving with the use of social media. Stay on top of any deals that are promoted by following your favorite luxury brands on social media. You can also direct message the brand and ask if there are any promotions or special offers in the works to see if you can get a discount on your stay or flight.
Book with a Travel Agent
In the age of computers, sometimes travelers opt to book a vacation directly. However, you might be missing out on a deal and extra perks by forgoing a travel agent. Travel agents can sometimes get you better discounts, upgrades, and perks you might not get on your own. Your travel agent might be able to score you a room upgrade, late checkout, or even a hotel credit for food. I find that not only do travel agents help you get the best deals, but they are also in your corner in case something goes wrong.
I have used Arvida Travel (a Virtuoso travel agency) when booking complicated trips. The expertise of a travel agent is priceless and makes the experience much more relaxing.
Travel in Shoulder Season
One of the easiest ways to make luxury travel cheaper is to travel during shoulder season. If you are not familiar with shoulder season, it occurs right before and after high season and excludes major holidays. During shoulder season, hotels and airlines are generally not as busy because it is a less popular time to travel.
I find that during shoulder season, luxury vacations are cheaper. Plus, there are far fewer people at both the hotels and tourist destinations because kids are back in school and there are no major holidays. For these reasons, I am a huge proponent of traveling in shoulder season and suggest you give it a try. You might find that your dream luxury vacation can become a reality!
Skip Hotel Excursions in Favor of Booking Them Yourself
Luxury hotels and resorts often offer fantastic excursions for their guests. While there are many benefits of booking a tour through your hotel, those benefits often come with a price tag. If you are on a budget, instead of booking through your hotel, book the excursion directly. You might want to check online and see what type of activities your hotel offers and head over to websites like GetYourGuide or Viator to see if you can book a similar experience for less. You can also contact the hotel concierge and ask for the name of the recommended tour operator. In that case, you can confirm whether booking directly will save you some money.
Make Your Money Work for You
Luxury travel on a budget is possible. One way to stretch your money is to travel to a destination where your currency is worth more than your home country. By traveling to a destination where your dollar goes far, everything will seem discounted, from hotel rooms to excursions, and even restaurants. Several years ago, I traveled to Argentina when the dollar’s value far outweighed the Argentine Peso. As a result, I reduced the cost of my trip and stretched the value of each dollar. Using this strategy, you too can experience luxurious destinations for far less than you think.
Luxury Travel Can be Affordable When You are Flexible
Another way to make luxury travel affordable is to be flexible. Many airlines now have a calendar chart on their website that shows the cheapest dates and times to fly. By being flexible, you can take advantage of lower fares and upgrade options. The same is true with hotels. Luxury hotels are often the least expensive midweek. By being flexible, you might be able to afford a hotel that is typically out of your budget or a better room.
Shop Around for a Price Match
You have many options when you are booking your hotel. However, you should know that hotel brands often have a price match guarantee. So shop around and check different websites to see if you can find a lower nightly hotel price on a third-party site. I recently stayed at a Hilton property and was able to find the room price about a third cheaper than if I booked directly on Hilton website. I called the hotel’s reservation line, and the agent did a price comparison while I was on the phone. Hilton matched the price which was a third less than their price, plus Hilton gave me a 25% discount because I found the same room for less elsewhere.
In order to get the price match, hotels are sticklers and will confirm that the price is for the exact same category of room or package. If one part of the package is different, it is unlikely you will get the price match.
I hope you enjoyed these tips on how to make luxury travel affordable. Do you have any tips that have helped you travel for less?
Before you next trip, check out my tips and tricks for planning the ultimate vacation and my list of travel essentials.
Great article I love your content…!
Great tips. I love luxury travel but it seems out of reach sometimes. Usually, I keep my travel expenses reasonable by doing a combination of frugal activities and splurges. I already follow a few of your tips like using one credit card to increase reward travel points, booking my own excursions instead of using the hotel’s offerings, and traveling in shoulder season. Unfortunately, I’ve never been able to price match. I’m yet to find anything exactly the same as what I need. I’m going to try your suggestion of booking through a travel agent and see if I notice a… Read more »
Silva, I love your idea of combining frugal activities with splurges. Good luck with booking through a travel agent. I think you’ll find you can get good deals, plus you don’t have to deal with doing all of the bookings yourself.
I really enjoyed this article as luxury travel is a goal of mine. These tips are very helpful. Thanks for sharing! ?
Yay! I am happy that you found these tips helpful!
These are really great tips – I love to travel in style. Shoulder season isn’t usually an option for me because we have kids but I love the idea of following brands on social media and reaching out to them. I hadn’t really thought of that but now I will go search for great hotels where I want to stay.
Thank you!