9 Money-Saving Travel Tips

9. Choose a Package

Buying hotel, airfare, and car rental together from a third-party travel site such as travelocity.com, expedia.com, or orbitz.com delivers big savings. “Any time you opt for a package, you’re going to save money,” says Heather Leisman, senior director of merchandising for Orbitz. It’s the luxury properties that offer the biggest discounts through these packages. “They don’t want to publicly announce price drops, so this is their way of hiding them,” Leisman says. At press time, we found an air-flight/car-rental package on Orbitz for five nights in a luxury-view suite at the Palazzo Las Vegas for $847 per person—a savings of $828. Today’s packages are also more customizable than in the past, with online booking sites now giving you the ability to bundle as many or as few elements together as you’d like, including extras like spa treatments, theater tickets, and sightseeing tours. As a rule of thumb, the more you bundle, the more you save.