Use a site like Skyscanner to compare airline fares across multiple airlines. The more flexible you are with your travel dates and times, the more likely you are to find a good deal. Some experts believe that the best deals are available when you book at least eight weeks before you fly. While flight pricing algorithms vary across destination, route and airline, you may find that the optimal booking window is from three weeks to three and a half months in advance.
When doing an online search for your flight, clear your cache and go incognito. Airlines track your behaviour via cookies so if you’ve searched for a flight route previously and come back to purchase it later, the airline is alerted to your interest and may raise the price slightly. So, browse in incognito mode to get around this.
If it gives you a thrill to get the best possible deal, go a step further and play around with switching your VPN to a different country. Different prices are sometimes offered to people searching from different countries. While this can be slightly time consuming, the savings can be significant.
For frequent travellers, a travel-friendly credit card like Standard Chartered’s Rewards+ Credit Card may reward you as you spend.
This Rewards+ Credit Card allows you to earn up to 10x rewards points for every S$1 spent in a currency that is not Singapore Dollars, upto 20,000 reward points per year, on eligible retail, dining and travel transactions, with no minimum spend required*. So even as you buy a café breakfast or that pair of must-have heels when you are on holiday, you are getting rewarded as you spend.
Additionally, using a credit card offers you benefits beyond just rewards. Carrying large amounts of cash on your travels puts you at risk of theft. Using credit cards does away with the need to carry a lot of cash in hand, or losing money converting unspent cash back into Singapore dollars at home. And with a card like the Rewards+ Credit Card, the more you charge to it, the more you are rewarded!
Signing up for the loyalty programme of your favourite hotel chain can pay off nicely. Just like other loyalty programmes, hotel loyalty programmes allow you to accumulate points over time and eventually cash them in for discounts or free nights. Browse around a little to identify hotel chains that offer good reward programmes and see which of these offer the winning combination – locations that you would travel to, accommodation that you like, and rates that appeal to you.
You could also consider signing up to a hotel booking website like Agoda or Hotels.com . Hotels.com, for instance, offers discounted “secret prices” if you are signed-in as a member.
If you have the luxury of time, set price alerts with your preferred airline for a date, destination or flight you have your eye on. When there’s a price drop, you’ll be alerted via e-mail.
Love these travel hacks as much as we do? Don’t forget to sign up for Standard Chartered’s Rewards+ Credit Card1 to start earning rewards as you spend on your next overseas travel.
