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Traveling is fun, but it can be expensive too – if you are not careful, your savings can quickly disappear. But provided you plan carefully and take the right approach, you can still stay in some really special places, even if you are working with a relatively small budget.
As you will see, it is even possible to treat yourself to a night somewhere like the Marriott on the Falls. Staying in a Fallsview room will make your visit to see Niagara Falls even more special.
Plan and Book your Accommodation Ahead
Finding a great hotel on arrival can work out great, but it’s a risky – you might not be able to find anywhere. Plus, there is a good chance that you will have to pay the top rate for your accommodation.
A much better approach is to plan and book ahead. When you see a good deal on a nice hotel room, you can book it. But keep on searching up until a few days before your arrival date. Then, if you see a better deal you can cancel and book that one instead.
But you need to be careful when taking this approach. The “free to cancel” terms many hotel booking websites offer do not necessarily apply for every hotel on the site. Therefore, it’s important that you double-check everything before completing each booking.
Sign up for Price Alerts
You may also want to sign up for price alerts from some popular booking websites. Kayak offers a particularly good one.
They enable you to set up an alert for a specific hotel and date combination. Or for a type of hotel and destination. You can also stipulate the maximum amount you want to pay.
If a room becomes available that fits your criteria, you are notified. It is wise to choose to be notified of these deals via phone. These special deals go fast, especially for the more high-end hotels.
Being alerted via phone rather than by email ensures you are made aware the moment the deal becomes available. You can respond immediately and book it before someone else does.
Use Loyalty Points to Treat Yourself to Luxury Accommodation
It is possible to use air miles, loyalty points and credit card points to pay for hotel rooms. There are limits on which hotels and other types of accommodation accept them, but in large towns and cities there are usually a lot more options and it won’t be hard to find a hotel you like.
It is effectively a free room, so these schemes are well worth looking into and taking advantage of.
Be Willing to Try Something Different
Some forms of accommodation are much cheaper than others, some are even free. For example, if you are willing to help someone out and work for them they may provide a free room as part of the deal. This article tells you more about traveling in this way and lists 16 places you can stay that operate on this basis, I have done this a few times myself and loved the experience.
If you are planning to stay somewhere for a few months, you could also consider staying with people who are looking for someone to help with the family. A quick search will usually uncover opportunities of this nature.
