Travel Deal of the Day (December 9, 2008)

In these days of harder economic times, if you decide to go away on a vacation, you likely are more focused on making your money go farther. One way to do so is to stay at a less expensive hotel on the first and/or last night of your hotel stay.

The Deal:
If you are going on a vacation to a nice resort, you are paying for the various amenities of that resort – pools, skiing access, exercise facilities, spa, sauna/steam room and/or other facilities. To lower the overall cost of your trip, consider staying at a lower priced (basic) hotel on the first and/or last night of your stay especially if you are flying into your destination late and/or are leaving from your destination early. If you fly to your destination late and stay near the airport at a inexpensive three or four star hotel (using Priceline), you may save $100/$200/$300. You can get up early the next morning and use all of the facilities of your primary resort (even if you cannot check-in early, usually you can use all hotel facilities before check-in on the day of check-in). If you are flying out of your destination very early, you can check-out of your resort on the day before your flight but stay at the resort all day long (most hotels will let you use all hotel facilities on the date of check-out even after you checked-out of the room). Then, you can stay by the airport at an inexpensive (Priceline) airport hotel for your early flight the next day. This suggestion may not work for everyone – but if you are trying to make your vacation budget go further, this may work for you.