My hope is that your family will travel more with these 8 Steps to Almost Free Travel: Vacation Planners Guide. Our family loves to travel, and we do it a lot! Friends are always asking me how we manage to go so often. I decided to share my top tips so you can take advantage of them, too.
In the past few years, our family has been to Mexico, Costa Rica, California, Utah, and all over Florida, where we now live. Most of the hotels and almost all of the airfare was paid for with points. In fact, I was in Arkansas last weekend for a conference, and because my husband has stayed with the hotel family I was staying at, I got an upgrade to the presidential suite! Many properties will upgrade you when you get to a certain level. If they don’t have a regular upgrade (like from an inside view to a pool view) they will upgrade you to what they do have. In my case, they only had the presidential suite! This is why it’s important to try to stay with one brand of hotels as much as you can.
How do we do it? There are a few simple steps that you can take that will start you on your way to traveling (almost) for free.
8 Steps to Almost Free Travel
1. Join the rewards program for the airline you fly most. Southwest Rapid Rewards program is my favorite.
2. Apply for a Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards credit card, or the card for your preferred airline. Google it and see if you can find a promotion. Most offer sign up promotions, and sometimes do double points. Why do I love Southwest Airlines? They are always wonderful to fly with. You get 2 free checked bags. They’re funny when they do the announcements. You can earn free drink coupons. (The announcements are even funnier after you use the drink coupons. Just sayin’.) We plan our vacations based on where Southwest flies. I will add here that we flew to Costa Rica with Jet Blue last year and loved them, too. Once you get the card, use it for everything. *Please see the note below. (Update: Air Tran is now part of Southwest which has increased their territory.
3. Apply for a hotel rewards credit card. My favorites right now are Marriott & Hilton. You can use the Southwest points for air, the Marriott or Hilton for the hotel. Many people rule out Marriott & Hilton thinking they are too expensive, but there are many lower priced hotels in the Marriott & Hilton family.
4. Always sign up for the hotel rewards program anytime you book a reservation. It’s free, and they add up! Always use it when you register at the hotel.
5. Use your rewards credit cards for everything you can. This means groceries, gas, utilities, even doctors! Here’s the key; pay it off each month! If you cannot discipline yourself to do this, stop right here. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Seriously. You can get your family in a lot of trouble by running up credit cards and not paying them off each month.
6.When staying at a hotel, eat at the hotel restaurant at least once. Many let you acquire points for that, too! Be sure to ask!
7. Don’t pay for anything with cash at the hotel. If they have a gift shop and you buy something, put it on your room. Get coffee and a bagel in the morning? Put it on your room. Those points add up!
8. Subscribe to the newsletter for the hotels you like best. They frequently have specials where you get double points if you can stay with them during certain times.
I hope this Almost Free Travel Vacation Planners Guide was helpful to you. We are able to travel so much because we do all of the above. If you want to learn more about saving for travel, check out How to Travel More This Year. You might also like 6 Tips for Vacation Packing including FREE printables for all season packing! I’d love to hear about how it’s helped you! Please come back and share in the comments below!
Mitch says
Great information. I try ot get points for every move I make, no matter how many places you go the points will add up one day.
thanks,
Mitch
admin says
Absolutely, Mitch. We have been able to travel a lot because of points. Thanks for visiting!
Kristin Wheeler (Mama Luvs Books) says
Great tips! I have been traveling for work lately, but I also want to try and find some cool places to take my family!
isis says
Awesome tips here! Hubby and I are planning to travel every year and these tips will definitely help us save money!
Kristen says
We don’t get a vaca this year but these are great tips to remember!
Thank you!
Dede says
We use our Disney rewards visa to earn gift cards for our Disney trips. I wonder if the southwest card would be a better deal though.
Kelly says
It can be a part-time job figuring out which points are better, Dede! But ask long as you are taking advantage of some of the points, you are ahead of most. I just feel like it’s free money! Thanks for visiting and taking the time to comment!
Jill McHale says
I didn’t realize you earn points by eating in the restaurants…great tip!
Kelly says
Yes, Jill! And shopping at the gift shops, too!
Shannon says
What great information, thank you for sharing.
Alexis Bertch says
Great info but I already have too many credit cards lol
Gale McCarron says
This wouldn’t be very benefitial to me since I’m disabled, but I’ll be sure to pass around the information to others. Thanks!
Kenneth Vronek says
I don’t really travel but my brother likes to take a lot of trips. I’m going to share these tips with him. Thanks.
Dawn Rader says
We signed up for many points programs in the last year or so. there are some great tips here! thanks
Jeanine says
We’ve also gotten cards for the cruise line we travel on. We charge everything then pay it when we get home and we always get perks!
courtney hennagir says
Great tips! Also,I stayed at a gorgeous inn a few summers ago and friended them on facebook.They offer discounts for returning customers and referrals.Something to check out for wherever you may be staying.
lei says
good tips. thanks
Lisa L says
Too poor at the time being to travel but in the past I used a lot of miles on the van.
Trisha B. says
This is why I use so many different rewards programs. It really does pay off eventually
Jennifer Hiles says
I’ve never really had to opportunity to travel. I always figured I couldn’t afford it. Great idea of using the credit card to get the points and then paying off each month. I think I would be pretty good at doing that. Awesome that you got upgraded to the presidential suite! I bet that wasy fun.
Gwen Stanley says
Great tips! Thanks for sharing!
sandy weinstein says
if i could afford a vac, i would use these ideas. when i have to fly i am also checking the many diff websites
Brenna Fetters says
I would so use this if we took vacations but of right now we are focusing on remodeling our home boo
Dana says
love this post=I’ve been trying to score free travel since I’ve been trying to go on one big trip every year.
Tim says
Wow, you guys are really well-traveled! Thanks for the tips!
RICHARD HICKS says
Great tips for saving on those vacations. Everyone needs a vacation and you might as well take advantage of the reward programs
Matthew Tully says
Any way I can get points if it’s free I subscribe as my money is hard earned as well. I might as well get the most out of it that I can.
Lisa Kerr says
I just signed up for Hilton Honors Points and they email specials to me all the time! Unfortunetly we dont fly much, but we are going to Cozumel next December! Thank you for sharing all your great tips!
alena svetelska says
we are planing big trip to california to universal studio,we dont travel much.But this info will be very helpfull to us,thanks!
Jasmine P says
These are some great tips to help save money when traveling!
cathy frith says
great tips but dont have the money for a vacation
Faye Rucker says
We are retired and got into a mess with credit cards over our head they are almost all paid off now less than &5,000 so No Credit Cards we still have 1 but we don’t use it All this sounds great but most people can’t do it
Laura Castellanos Rivera Rocha says
great tips love travel
Betty Baez says
Great tips! I’m sure going to sign up for hotel rewards!
Trameka Wilson says
These are great tips. Never really thought about the points system but I will have to start looking into these things.
Susan Johnson says
One of the things I do is sign up on the actual airline and hotel websites, not things like Travelzoo or whatever. The actual airlines and hotels tend to give a better discount than those sites do. Also, depending on the city you will be visiting, contact the local visitor’s center, or Chamber of Commerce, and ask if you can have guides or if they have coupons or deals you should know about. I did that when going to California, and got major discounts on park admissions and other things.
amy m says
thanks for this post!!
Judy Mitchell says
thanks for the tips i am hoping to get away a few times this year and use some of your ideas
Reanne says
Hi =D
I haven’t started doing this yet but I am planning to in the near future.
The “Credit Card Fly” is a good place to subscribe to, if this is exactly what you want to do. It give you the latest offers from different credit cards and it tells you exactly how to gain points.
ENJOY!
I hope my post was helpful
Kelly says
Thank you, Reanne. That is great information! I so appreciate you taking the time to share. Thanks for visiting!