Well, it's officially September. The return of school, Football, our favorite TV shows, and of course, cooler weather... For a lot of us, Labor Day Weekend is our final hurrah before we start cutting back on spending money on vacations and start saving for the incoming holiday season. In fact, AAA estimates that over 34 million Americans will be hitting the road this Labor Day Weekend, which is up almost 10 percent from 2009.
So if you're eager to get out of town and do something this weekend, but you're worried that planning this late is going to cost you. Or if you've found your summer trips have left you a little short on cash, there are still plenty of things to consider to let you send off the summer season in style.
CNN Money wrote a great article today about saving on your trip this Labor Day, and it was just full of excellent tips, so you'll have to excuse me if I share a number of those.
The first thing they took a look at was lodging, and as that's generally the biggest expense on a trip, I'll just follow their lead there.
I know the first thought when planning a last minute vacation is that you'll probably end up spending way too much on a hotel room, but before you start considering pilling 11 people in a single hotel room (I've seen this done. It's not enjoyable for anyone), or just calling the trip off altogether, you should know that good deals are still available. I'm assuming that since you're on this blog in the first place, your first instinct is to do loads of research online to find the best deal possible when it comes to a hotel room -- that's absolutely the first step in saving money on a last minute trip. However, there are a couple key things to keep in mind even considering the money you can save online.
First, don't take too long. The deals are available online, and they're still there even this close to the weekend, but according to Bob Deiner of GetaRoom.com, they expect hotels to raise rates right before the weekend.
Second, Deiner claimed the best way to get the lowest price on hotels is to do all your research online, then call the hotel and ask for the 'unpublished rate.' According to Deiner hotel prices given over the phone are typically 10 - 25% lower than the lowest online rate. Now I've planned a handful of trips online, and always felt like I've done a great job of finding some good deals online, but I can honestly say I've never tried this method, and it makes a ridiculous amount of sense. So when you book your hotel this weekend, make sure you give this a try!
If you're looking to fly, same goes for airfare, make sure you do plenty of investigating at the hosts of helpful travel websites like Orbitz, Priceline, AirfareWatchDog and the likes.
Also, if you just know you want to get out of town, but you don't really know where, do a little research there as well! According to Consumer Watch, Las Vegas, Orlando and the Caribbean are cheaper than they've been in quite some time. So look around, and find the place that's cheapest for you!
Now, if you're looking to take a great trip, but still coming up a little short even with all these price saving measures, feel free to give us a call or check out our about getting a cash loan through Progressive. We can get $500 in your bank account by tomorrow morning, and help you get you on your way without getting you tied down in a high fee payday loan.
Now go hit the road!
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