FRUGAL TRICKS FOR YOUR NEXT TRIP |
And other deals for the rest of the year
IN LAS VEGAS, hotel room rates seem to shift like rolling dice. Sometimes you win and get a $199 (R2 820) rate in March at the Bellagio resort, and sometimes – including on the St Patrick’s Day weekend (this year from March 15-17) – you will pay $429.
Traffic in Las Vegas spikes over holidays like Chinese New Year.
Add in 22 000 annual meetings that may draw as many as 175 000 attendees to a town with 150 000 hotel rooms, and you have a case study in travel economics: with crowds come higher prices.
“If you’re flexible with your dates, you can get so much more bang for your buck,” said Yves Marceau, the vice president of product at G Adventures, a tour company.
Rather than strictly travelling in the off-season, when savings can be greatest but weather is often at its worst, the trick is to find soft periods in times of stronger demand.
Cheaper travel varies by destination, but there are a few guidelines to follow. In addition to checking convention traffic, look for holidays and probe airline booking calendars. Search engines like Kayak indicate “good days to travel”, meaning bargain days, and the airfare prediction app, Hopper, shows a calendar colour-coded to pricing.
March
Spring is the time to head to Europe for culture without the crowds. Airfare is about 20% cheaper in March, April and May, versus
June, July and August, according to Hopper. Savings last year were between $160 and $210 a ticket.
Among beach destinations, try Bali and Indonesia. “Bali is one of those places that’s pretty constant temperature-wise because it’s near the equator,” said Sandy Staples, the president of Artistico Travel Consultants, a California-based travel agency.
“In March, some of the hotels are 50% off what they are in July and August.”
April
Spring in Alaska offers early wildlifewatching opportunities as animals emerge from hibernation and whales return. This year, two small-ship cruise lines, Uncruise and Alaskan Dream Cruises, are introducing new sailings that start in April and highlight the season of gushing waterfalls. Uncruise begins its itineraries on April 6 with a sevennight sailing between Juneau and Sitka starting at $2 995 a person. In July, a similar sailing starts at $4 495.
May
Orlando, Florida, receives 72 million visitors throughout the year. High season coincides with school breaks. But the window after spring break in late April until Memorial Day, there’s a slight dip. Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge has rooms at 25% off in this period. A search on Travelocity showed weekend rates at the Hilton Orlando at $146 in May versus $221 a month later.
June
In the Caribbean, the hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30. A recent check at Montpelier Plantation & Beach on Nevis found rooms in June at $235 versus $675 in February.
July and August
In the US, the July Fourth holiday is a busy time to travel. But there’s a relative lull in a few unexpected places including Lake Tahoe, California. Over the July Fourth week, rates at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Lake Tahoe, according to a recent search, were from $272, and drop $30 a night the week after. In Costa Rica, you will likely see some rain in the May-to-november “green season”.
Dantica Cloud Forest Lodge in San Gerardo de Dota near Los Quetzales National Park has rates in green season from $159, versus $184 in high season.
September and October
With family vacations, traffic peaks in Hawaii in summer. But once school is in session, traffic wanes, making early fall a cheaper time to say aloha. The Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel in Honolulu goes for $169 in October, versus July at $195.
San Diego also empties out when school resumes. Businesses sweeten the deal to attract families with a Kids Free San Diego promotion, offering free admission and deals at more than 100 attractions, hotels and restaurants in October.
November
In addition to foodies and cruise passengers, Barcelona is popular with conventions, drawing more than
200 a year. Go in November, but check the convention calendar at barcelonaconventionbureau.com
In Egypt, statistics from the
World Travel and Tourism Council show 2017 arrivals topped 2011 for the first time. “The sneaky time to go to Egypt is November 15 to December 15,” said Jim Berkeley, the founder and chief executive officer of Destinations and Adventures International, which specialises in Egypt.
December
Pre-christmas is a good time to hit desert destinations in Arizona. The hotel rates in Scottsdale, for example, are a third lower than in February, at an average daily rate of $176.
In Miami during Art Basel, the first week in December, rooms are at their most expensive. Just after, while many of the art installations are still on view, room rates plummet from an average of $463 to $227 up until Christmas.