Budget travel strategies to consider for 2009

If you have money saved up, and are on a RTW trip or are about to set out fairly soon, then you are luckier than you might imagine. We’ve all seen headlines for the past couple months about this problem or that problem, and the travel industry itself is one of the hardest hit of all. It is likely that some airlines will be going under at some point, and that won’t help any of us, but the bargains now on offer can really make for some outstanding deals.

Strategies to consider for 2009

Hostels

Hostels are reporting to be busier than ever, so the competition for these cheap beds is probably going to continue to increase, especially in expensive European, Australian, and North American cities. If you are on the tightest of budgets, these will probably still be your best bet for cheap sleeps, but you might actually have to reserve even farther in advance for the cheap beds at the hostels with the best locations. If you are fairly sure you know where you want to stay, then book your first night as early as you can.

Budget hotels

This is another interesting phenomenon in that the cheapest hotels are now busier than ever, so you can’t expect to find plenty of selection at the well-located one-star hotels, and getting an even lower room rate is also probably out of the question. Many travelers aren’t aware of the stuff described below, so they all flock to the cheapo places.

Mid-price hotels

These 2 and 3-star hotels are where you’ll find some really great bargains during tough times like this. Many of them rely on tour groups and even business conventions, and those categories are getting killed right now, so many of these places have empty rooms every night. I’ve seen many hotels that normally charge US$80 per night that are now offering rooms (for two people) for US$39 or so. At prices like this, they are often cheaper than a dorm bunk in a hostel, and way more private and comfortable as well.

Finding these deals involves the normal techniques of using sites like kayak.com and ratestogo.com (for last-minute deals), but you might have to look a bit down the page to find the best bargains. For example, you might search in Munich and see 1-star hotels for €40 per night, and then on the next page of results you’ll see a 3-star hotel for €45 per night. The difference in comfort and amenities between the two rooms can be huge, so the slightly higher price is well worth it.

Luxury hotels

These 4 and 5-star hotels are getting killed just like the mid-priced places, but their insanely high prices still keep them out of most budget travelers’ range. But if you are thinking about a mini-splurge, you can find some amazing deals in these places. If you are thinking about spending €60 for two people in a 3-star hotel, you might find that a ritzy place is only a bit more, maybe €90 per night. Treating yourself to 5-star luxury can be a nice boost sometimes, especially for an off day from traveling, when you really want to swim in the pool and take a hot bath.

Airlines

We are seeing mind-blowing airfare deals lately, and that will probably continue through this summer and beyond, but they tend to be almost exclusively on round-trip tickets. Since many RTW travelers buy point-to-point tickets, they might not even realize that by buying a RT ticket a bit in advance, they could often get an even better fare than the one-way price they are looking at.

The point is, if you are going from, say, Athens to Cairo, you should check a round-trip fare even if you don’t intend to use the second half. This also gets you around that whole onward-ticket issue, which is another bonus.