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Planning a vacation? These smart
tips will help you save some money
By Kaushal Satam, Head - Loyalty Operations at JetPrivilege
While we may not have much control
over our earnings, we can certainly
choose how we spend or save it. The
right decisions can definitely help us
earn a great incremental value in
proportion to the amount spent.
Call it more bang for your bucks or
stretching your dollar, who doesn’t like
getting that free bowl on a box of
breakfast cereal?
Loyalty programmes are all about
getting more value for your money. Of
course, they are more holistic and go
much beyond freebies. So if your next
holiday is around the corner, here’s a
fresh take on planning it, keeping in
mind the objective of smartly reaping
rich rewards.
Opt for the off-season
If you plan to fly, travel costs generally
constitute the single largest component
of your holiday budget and can account
for almost 30% of it. To work on
bringing this expense down, plan well
in advance and choose off-season travel
dates for your destination, where you
stand to save on both airfare as well as
hotel room rates.
Be flexible with your travel dates
Additionally, since airfares tend to vary
on a day-to-day basis, if you remain
flexible with your travel dates, you can
save more by availing the lowest
possible rates. You can do this simply
by checking various combinations of
dates for your onward and return
journey.
Leverage technology to help you save
Certain meta search engines can save
you the bother of searching manually
on an ongoing basis for the best airfares
and hotel room rates. Once you opt for
notifications, you will be intimated
when the prices drop significantly.
Redeem your flying miles
Some of the largest airline loyalty
programmes come with a plethora of
benefits which encourage you to spend
wisely and save more, so if you have a
co-branded card of an airline, this
would be the time to redeem your
rewards. Depending upon your tier, you
may get a discount on flight bookings or
even a free ticket, discounts at partner
hotels and restaurants, dedicated
check-ins, excess baggage allowance,
access to airport lounges, priority
boarding, fees benefit on rescheduling
dates, waivers on select seat charges
and cancellation fees, and baggage
tagging facility.
Shop according to your baggage
allowance
If you’re planning to indulge in
shopping when out on your holiday,
bear in mind that what you buy will add
to your luggage. Shop according to your
baggage allowance and weigh your
baggage at the hotel before you leave
for the airport in order to avoid paying
for excess baggage.