Travel Deal Tips and Tricks

By Kameron Nesen
June 9, 2009

With the current economic situation travel deals are abundant and flooding the internet. Although Mexico is known for its good deals (with the American dollar against the Peso) here are some additional travel tips and tricks to even further maximize your savings.

1. Do your research.
The internet is a wonderful resource for information. I would suggest typing in a keyword Google search "Mexico travel deals" and see what pops up in the search engines. There are ALWAYS travel deals available.

2. Travel Off Season
It is always a time to get a bargain if you chose your destination travel during the off season. To lower your airline fee, traveling on a weekday always helps.

3. Negotiate
Once you have done your research online, I would contact the source directly. For instance - If you see that American Airlines is offering the best online deal, I would make a call to the airline direct and negotiate. Sometimes they are web offers only, but sometimes you can get a very friendly agent that will give you a better hook up.

4. Use Points or Rewards
If you have a credit card that offers a rewards program (I personally have a Platinum Amex and they have a fabulous program) make sure you call the travel department and see if they are offering any specials. Usually you need to book these pretty far in advance (at least 30 days) so be prepared.

5. Take Advantage of Package Deals and Specials
Usually you can find companies that offer sweet deals on hotel, car and airline packages. This is a great way to get the best bang for your buck, along with the added convenience of planning your vacation all from one single source.

Check out current Villa Group Package Offers here.

6. Travel in a Group
If you can arrange to travel with a group, you will always get a better rate. Sometimes these packages are offered through universities, churches, rotary clubs, AARP, AAA, B&B specials etc.

7. Last Minute Offers - Take the risk.
Although travel typically should be booked in advance for the lowest rates, when it comes to Mexico, this can be just the opposite. So even if it is a few days before, don't be discouraged. Sometimes you can get an even better deal.

My Online Travel Picks:

The Villa Group
villagroupresorts.com
The homepage offers all the options from special spa and meal packages, best rate guarantee to last minute savings.

Mexicana
mexicana.com
They have a current promotion running on cheap flights to Mexico from several destinations through May 30, 2009.

Lowfares
lowfares.com
This one is cool because it lets you chose 3 competitive travel sites to compare. For instance, I chose Cheap Tickets, Travelocity and Expedia for my comparison.

Trip Advisor
tripadvisor.com
Air Watch Alert - They will monitor your desired flight destination and will alert you when the price falls. Kind of like watching the stock market but for flying!

Kayak
Kayak
I personally like this one as it simplifies your search and lists your destination choices in a column along the right hand side. Kayak's selling point is that they boast their service pools from over 100 travel sites offering the customer the best deal around.