How to Start Planning and Saving for Holiday Travel Today

The holiday travel season, in a word, is “hectic.”

But just because you have traveling in your near future doesn’t mean you have to overspend or rush to get anything but a better deal when you’re making said arrangements.

Plenty of questions abound as far as what strategy you should adopt when ultimately deciding the means with which you’re going to book your travel plans, something as broad as what means you’ll be traveling or specific to what day of the week you want to leave, book and how that impacts saving money, too.

When you look at just the sheer volume of individual who travel over the holidays, it’s quite spectacular.

And with so many people traveling, you have to believe they’re looking to save money in the process, whether that’s gas prices, hotels or flying those friendly skies.

Last year, over Thanksgiving, approximately 51 million people traveled as part of the holiday initiative to spend that time with friends and families, and that was an increase of just over three percent and its largest traveling scale since 2005.^[1]

That increase is significant but that study also forecasted that airfare in 2017 over the Thanksgiving holiday was expected to be its most affordable and cheapest since 2013. This year, you should see similar discounts, but booking, staying and traveling still takes a little acumen on your part, as well.

The same goes for the holiday and Christmas seasons, too.

Last year’s 107 million holiday travelers was a huge number, a three percent increase, and while most worried about traffic concerns and congested highways, byways and freeways, you also can’t discount the financial impact of booking your stays and travel means.^[2]

The holiday stuff from last year reported that more than 90 million of those people drive and about 6 percent hit the skies.

General consensus about flying and booking a holiday flight the best way possible start with two key elements: what day you travel and how far in advance you’re booking your flight. Those are two factors among others that show just how paramount it is to book smart, whether that’s something as trivial as renting a car, finding a hotel room with a feasible rate, and also a flight that isn’t going to see superbly high ticket prices.

What often is lost in this discussion is consumers also are spending quite a bit on holiday gifts and gift giving, so adding the traveling piece into the equation is added financial stress on most.

Roughly 31 percent of Americans are already stressed out by the holiday season, calling it “frantic,” and that causes 74 percent to overload on being unhealthy with their eating habits.^[3]

When you add the travel aspect into this equation, in addition to how much you’ll be spending on all fronts, you’re in the midst of a recipe for more than just a frantic pace, but also a drained bank account.

Most studies have the projected spending for gifts over the holiday season to be right around $1,000 in most years, with it peaking in 2001 and falling a bit in 2008 during the recession time.^[4]

Saving money on the holidays is something we do without thinking, when you talk about waiting in long lines on Black Friday or biding our time to order online for Cyber Monday or any of the sales we’re focusing on to save a few dollars this, and every, holiday season.

So why can’t we take that same approach, being smart and savvy with our shopping, when it comes to holiday travel and making the dollar stretch across the same travel itinerary you’re about to follow.

Here’s a few tips on how to start and save on this year’s travel plans for the holiday season in November through the end of the year:

Flying poses problems if you wait or depart on wrong day of week

Most experts and research suggests that you should be booking your Thanksgiving flights in October, and if it’s Christmas or the holidays you’re talking about afterward, then by no later than November.

The key to finding the best pricing really centers on the day you depart, although booking online has its peaks and valleys to follow and pay attention to as well.

For Thanksgiving, you’ll tend to want to leave any day but November 21 this year, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving Day, although if you have a late Thanksgiving dinner or don’t mind traveling on Thanksgiving Day, you’ll see a noticeable decline in pricing.^[5]

Consider that when returning home from Thanksgiving, you’ll want to avoid Sunday, November 25 this year and instead try to come home on Saturday, the 24th or Monday the 26th; as far as fares go, again, avoid Tuesday or Wednesday as far as departure before Thanksgiving, which will cost you 50 to 130 percent more if you leave the week before.^[6]

Flying over the Christmas holiday also is a concern, cost wise, and that means you’ll have to be equally as focused on how you buy.

The good news is the best time to book domestic flights is during this time period, up through and including November 19.

You still have time to book in October, and that means you’ll have about a four percent discount on domestic flights and three percent discount on international flights if your plan is to go abroad for the Christmas or holiday season, versus a five percent increase in December if you wait and up to nine percent more if you do it the last week for the Christmas season.^[7]

Another piece of flying and it relates to holiday travel is what day of the week you book your flight.

Mentioned previously is avoiding flights on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, but as far as booking goes Sunday might be the best day to actually go online and start to plan and book, with the cheapest days to fly on average Tuesday and Wednesday (aside from day before Thanksgiving), saving about $73 per ticket.^[8]

Ironically enough, booking on a Sunday is good, but don’t leave on one; that will cost you a pretty penny.

To further the point about booking a flight later and later in the year as Christmas and the holidays approach, consider that an October ticket is going to cost you’ll pay about $5 more on average, versus $56 more if you wait until November (which isn’t bad) but $143 more per ticket if December is when you wait (far too long, right?) to plan and book for the holidays upcoming.^[9]

Not staying with friends or family? Make sure hotel doesn’t destroy holiday budget

Often times, you catch a break when mom or dad, cousins, relatives or friends find a way to give you a place to stay at their home for the holidays.

That spare bedroom, pullout sofa or even a futon in an office seems to sound better than shelling out hundreds of dollars on hotel stays as part of the Thanksgiving and Christmas and holiday seasons upcoming.

But that isn’t always feasible, especially if they don’t have much room or the holiday excursion is a destination for all involved.

Some argue that last-minute hotel deals are the way to go, and one example of that is $14 per night for a hotel in Las Vegas or a $632 all-inclusive trip to the Caribbean for two.^[10]

Those are fine if you’re traveling just for the sake of doing it, and shows without question that you can save money in that regard.

But what about general practices for hotel booking that make sense, even if you’re not going to Vegas or someplace tropical?

Hotel costs are estimated at about one fourth of your total budget.

Think about last-minute deals, however, as a means to save on hotels, because that is how booking online typically works.

Several hotel chains offer standing deals on rooms, meaning they’ll be typically lower all year round, so you don’t have to wait for a sale, either.

America’s Best Value Inn is around $75 per night as far as “budget” chains go, followed by Clarion Inn at about $85 per night; if you’re looking for something a tad above budget, try Hilton Garden Inn at around $133 per night.^[11]

Generally speaking, minus the specificity of a hotel, you’d be better off price wise looking at booking between Friday and Saturday, when less people, approximately 23-30 percent fewer) are looking for rooms; if you can book there days before the night you want to stay, you’ll save about $15 to $20 per night.^[12]

The same report says booking on a Tuesday is costly, and checking in on a Friday is the highest priced check in you’ll find, so settling on a Friday or Saturday booking day and check in on Sunday seems to be the best approach overall.

Another two hotel tips you'll want to consider: use apps to get last minute deals, and end of the day check ins typically lead to upgrades.

So the latter is pretty self explanatory with the later check ins, but what about those last-minute deals. Typically, the longer you can wait to book, the better, even waiting until 24 to 48 hours before your intended stay means you’ll be booking during cancellation period so hotels are quick to offer cheaper rooms.

You’d be wise to sign up for those sort of emails and alerts, in the event you don’t mind waiting until the last minute. Even during peak times, certain web sites and subsequent apps can snag you a room for under $200.^[13]

And, don’t forget that bundling flights and hotels offers discounts far above doing them separately.

The hustle and bustle of the holiday season shouldn’t be marred by spending too much on travel. Being in and out of airports, traveling the open road or even trains, buses or renting a vehicle all present their own respective challenges, and most want the transition from home to holidays and back to be as seamless and easy as possible.

Between the time and effort you’ll spend on shopping for holiday gifts and not to mention the amount of money you’ll spend on grocery store food, cookie trays and prepared items for the countless meals you’ll consume (you can add an extra $165 for Thanksgiving food and preparation), why not try to save a few dollars on a flight or travel plans that can help save and secure a budget that you’re certainly not interested in breaking.^[14]

This time of year is taxing enough on your wallet, and being able to book, drive, fly or travel doesn’t have to be yet another expense that will define if your holidays were a success financially or not.