MONEY-SAVING TRAVEL TIPS

If you’re visiting a city, stay in the business district. “Many have fantastic room rates during the weekend once the ‘suits’ have left. You can sometimes find five-star hotels for under £100 per night,” says a spokesperson for hotels.com. You don’t need to go to the added expense of taking a portable crib, car seat or highchair on holiday. There are baby equipment hire websites all over the world, such as thebabyloft.co.uk in the UK, tinas-holidayextras.com in the Algarve, biencompartido.jimdo.com in Gran Canaria and hire4babytenerife.com in Tenerife. When buying your holiday money, the Find.Exchange app (dubbed the ‘skyscanner for money’) quickly locates the best and cheapest way to do it – wherever you are in the world. It compares banks, FX exchange bureaux, travel agents, post offices, online money providers and soon, prepaid currency cards, so you get the best deal.

For super low-cost travel, DriiveMe offers car rental across France, Spain and in the UK for just £1. These trips are so cheap because you’re actually helping car rental companies and dealerships by moving their cars to where they need them to be. See driiveme.co.uk for details.

“If you’re hiring a car, buy your Collision Damage Waiver Insurance from a specialist company online before you go. A couple of days should cost as little as £10, while it could cost over £100 from car-hire agents,” advises Joel Brandon-Bravo, General Manager at Travelzoo. Try worldwideinsurance.com.

“Avoid restaurants with pictures of the food outside,” says Vicki Sansom, travel and money expert at easyCar. com. “These are designed to attract tourists who don’t know where to go and are rarely good value for money.”

If you’re going to be getting taxis in your resort, then find a taxi driver and stick to them,” advises Sue Flynn, owner of holiday property company, kalkanmagic.com. “They’ll often offer a bit of a discount for your loyalty, and many are on WhatsApp or Facebook messenger so you don’t have to spend money contacting them.”