When to book holiday travel or vacation to your dream location? This is one popular question in our comment session, and I see this as an opportunity to provide appropriate answers. To be specific, there is no perfect hour, day, week, or month to book rentals, accommodation, or flight tickets. However, there are particular periods or seasons of the year that are preferable to others. For example, traveling off-season is the cheapest time to go on holiday. Some people prefer to book their holiday trips during the summer to get better options for flight tickets.
From the experience gotten from different vacation trips, I think it’s advisable to book a flight a minimum of 14 days before departure. Last minute deals on flights are usually expensive, compared to award flights with lots of discounts a few weeks before your travel date. See more answers below on when to book holiday travel.
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Book your flight before November
Some online travel booking websites display their data to help you figure out the best date to book holiday travel. Momondo, bookings.com, among others, shows exclusive travel deals on air flights and accommodation. A clear example is when you book flights a minimum of 55 days before departing Chicago and Los Angeles. You can also get a fair deal when you book trips 34 days when flying from Angeles to Honolulu.
Despite the influence of these online travel booking statistics on traveling seasons, I still feel the best time to book a holiday trip is during a break at work or your comfort zone. For example, flights and accommodation booking is at a meager rate when you book holiday travel during workdays. If you don’t earn money traveling or your boss refuses to grant you leave permission during this period, then you will continue to postpone your journey forever.
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Search for Award Flights
If you are lucky enough, you can get from a 40 – 50% discount when you place bookings using award flights. When you book early enough, you will be able to secure one of these limited offers on award seats per flight. Once the period of the promo is over, you will have to pay in full for your ticket. You might risk the chance of paying more than the regular price based on the level of demand and cash value on ticket prices. The American airline Anytime seats and United Airlines Everyday Awards are clear examples of award flights.
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Book hotels up to a month before departure
When you place bookings a minimum of 30 days to the departure date, you will have access to the best hotel deal. Hotels quickly sell out during special holiday seasons when compared to off-peak season.
If you book with any hotel credit card, you can quickly gain more points, discounts or enjoy more facilities. So, look out for the reward night as soon as possible, it will reduce your cost of accommodation, especially if you are staying for multiple nights.
September and October remain the cheapest time to book for your holiday vacation. Early booking guarantees you your seat and more comfortable accommodation.
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