A travel expert has explained exactly when to book to save the most money on your holidays.
Andrea Knowles, a budgeting expert at vouchers.co.uk, has shared the exact number of days ahead of your flight that you should book to maximise your chances of getting a bargain.
She also recommends doing plenty of research into baggage allowances and finding an apartment with the right white goods if you want to keep the cost of your trip down.
Which payment method you decide to use to fork out for the trip, as well as what day of the week to book a cruise, are also crucial, Andrea claims.
Check out her top eight tips for saving money on holidays below...
1. Book your accommodation before your flight
When booking a holiday, many people start the process by looking for the cheapest flights, however, this is rarely the best practice.
As your accommodation is likely to be your most expensive cost, it should, therefore, be your priority when booking as you can generate the biggest savings.
When searching for your dream accommodation, just make sure that you’re looking in areas that are accessible via an airport that you’re willing to travel to.
2. Book your flights 56 days before you want to travel
After analysing more than 13.2 billion prices across 100 popular routes, the travel search engine, Momondo, found that booking a flight 56 days in advance turns out to be the cheapest.
However, this also factors in sales so make sure to take it with a pinch of salt. Book in advance if you’re in doubt.
3. Find out which airlines offer free luggage upgrades
Whilst many airlines such as Ryanair and Jet2 used to allow you to travel with a carry-on small suitcase for free, this is no longer the case. (We've got a guide to airline hand luggage rules to give you a helping hand).
You often don’t realise how much more expensive it becomes with those extra bag fees until you go to book – which can cause some serious problems if you’ve already booked your accommodation and are tied to specific dates.
With this in mind, it’s definitely worth booking all of your flights via Google Flights as they let you search with a ‘carry-on bag’ option ticked – showing you the true price of a flight.
4. Look for holiday rentals with a washing machine
Another way to skip the cost of adding luggage to your flights is to book self-catering accommodation with a washing machine.
Airbnb allows you to search for properties with this specific feature, allowing you to pack light and wash your clothes whilst you’re out there.
In addition, you should also look for accommodation with a kitchen so you can save money by not having to eat out for all three meals per day.
5. Book cruises on Thursdays
The price of a cruise can fluctuate throughout the year and is dependent on several factors, such as if there’s been an increase in bookings or the total availability left.
However, research from Cruise Critic has revealed that prices tend to drop mid-week, with booking on a Thursday likely to get you the best deal.
6. Book package holidays on Monday
It also turns out that there’s a best day to book a package holiday.
A former Thomas Cook insider revealed that they always give their best deals on a Monday, as the prices are sometimes dropped to try and entice customers who’ve had a quote at the weekend, but not completed a booking.
7. Always clear your cookies before booking a holiday to save sneaky charges
If you’ve been searching for a holiday for a while, you should definitely clear your browser cookies before booking.
For those that don’t know, cookies are bits of data stored in your browser that store data of the websites that you’ve visited.
Travel websites can then use this information to hike up prices simply because they know that you’ve visited their site and plan on booking. You should, therefore, always clear them before booking.
8. Pay for your holiday with a credit card to financially cover any misfortunes
If your holiday costs more than £100, purchase it with a credit card so that you’re covered if anything goes wrong.
Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act means that the credit card company is liable to pay out if anything goes wrong.
For example, the cost of your flight is covered if the airline goes bust, or the cost of your holiday if the holiday company goes bust.
Another example is if you had to buy more expensive flights to get home after an airline went bust.
However, it’s also important to know what isn’t covered – such as if you buy a ‘flight only’ from a travel agent, as they’re classified as a third party and only contracted to provide the ticket and not the flight.
Or alternatively, if the airline that you’re using went bust but you decided to extend your stay, you won’t be able to claim the extra costs.
