Two-thirds of holidaymakers (65 per cent) say they try a number of “hacks” when booking a holiday online, to try and get the best deal – with comparing different travel dates to find the cheapest one topping the list.
A survey of 1,500 adults, who travel abroad, found that almost a quarter (23 per cent) admit to stressing “a lot” about securing the best holiday deal when planning a trip.
Other popular ways to save the pennies include paying for flights with a credit card, searching for flights departing on a particular weekday, to see if this is cheaper – and packing as lightly as possible, to avoid baggage charges.
And booking a hotel directly, rather than through a third-party site, rounds out the top five travel hacks people swear by.
One in six (16 per cent) even wake up early to take advantage of sales that go live first thing in the morning – while 23 per cent hide previous flight searches using browser incognito mode.
However, three-quarters of those polled (74 per cent) think booking a getaway is just “a bit of a gamble” when it comes to prices.
A spokesman for FlightsFinder.com, which commissioned the research to launch its specialist “ask the expert” function, said: “Everyone wants the best deals and cheapest flights.
“The problem consumers face is deciding which hacks are actually worth the effort, and which are not. Some might even be more hassle than they’re worth.
“The fact remains that the more rigid you are with your travel plans, the less likely it is that you’ll grab a bargain.”
Other hacks holidaymakers employ to get the best prices are to always check whether two single flights are cheaper than one return (24 per cent).
And 15 per cent search for “hidden city” or multi-city tickets – with a long stopover to squeeze in an extra day’s sightseeing in a new location.
On average, adults start planning a holiday overseas five months and one week before they actually take to the skies.
But 31 per cent aren’t very spontaneous when it comes to choosing a holiday destination.
Travellers’ top priority is the accommodation (49 per cent), followed by what the weather will be like (31 per cent).
And arranging travel insurance (18 per cent) was deemed a higher priority than picking what to pack (17 per cent), according to the OnePoll.com figures.
FlightsFinder.com has also created a quiz, to help you discover your holiday booking style – from “Travel Titan”, to “Sticker-price Sucker”.
The spokesman for the flight comparison site added: “There is still a huge demand for travel even though we are living through a cost-of-living crisis.
“Now, more than ever, it is essential that consumers educate themselves about the best money-saving tactics when looking for their next trip abroad, to save their hard-earned cash.
“That is why we launched our new “ask the expert” service, which guides consumers to the best deals online, essentially separating the wheat from the chaff.”
Top 25 hacks savvy holiday bookers swear by:
- Compare different travel dates to see if it's cheaper
- Search for flights departing on a particular day, to see if it's cheaper
- Pay for flights with a credit card
- Book a hotel directly, rather than through a third-party site
- Pack as lightly as possible to avoid baggage charges
- Search for flights six to eight weeks in advance of the trip
- Buy a package deal to make the entire trip less costly
- Compare multiple flight comparison websites
- Compare multiple airline websites directly
- Book flights in the “off season” of where you’re travelling to
- Look up when school holidays are, so as to travel outside of these times
- Clear cookies from your browser when resuming a search for flights or hotels
- Compare two one-way flights, instead of a return flight, to see if that’s cheaper
- Compare multiple travel agents directly
- Use “private” or “incognito” mode on your browser so they can’t tell you’ve already looked at flights
- Book a flight into a less busy airport
- Fly overnight to reduce costs
- Set up price alerts to be notified of price drops
- Sign up to air mile or frequent flyer programmes
- Sign up to airline flight deal newsletters
- Consider different layover options to lower the price of your overall trip
- Wake up early to take advantage of the cheaper tickets on sale at the start of the day
- Compare flights in other currencies to see if you can save money
- Search for “hidden city” tickets (where you buy a ticket with the intention of leaving the plane at a stopover, rather than the final destination)
- Use throw-away ticketing (where a round-trip flight is cheaper than your desired one-way flight, so you purchase the round trip flight and throw away the return ticket)
