Stretching Your Dollar: How to Travel on A Budget This Fall

<div class="block">If you weren&#39;t able to travel this summer, there is a window for best vacation deals but you have to act fast before it closes. Brett Keller, Priceline CEO, joined &#39;Stretching Your Dollar&#39; to talk about fall travel and budgeting.</div>

Stretching Your Dollar

Did you miss out on the opportunity to travel this summer? Well, right now could actually be the best time to book if you're hoping to go somewhere somewhere without breaking the bank. Our Michelle Cascio caught up with Priceline Ceo Brett Keller to find out people can travel on a budget this fall. Take a look, summer may be over, but that doesn't mean the travel season is done. What trends are you noticing for fall already? That's right, Michelle, the travel season is definitely not done yet. Um We came off of a very hot July, uh little bit of a cooling in August, but the shoulder seat is is just beginning, which means there's a lot of great opportunities for travel as we move into the fall. Uh Airlines and hotels have lowered prices. And so it's significantly cheaper to travel now than it than it has been for the last couple of months, even year. Over year, prices are down almost 15% for domestic flights and even down more for international flights. And so if you miss that opportunity to head over to Europe, which many Americans did over the last couple of months now is a great time to do that. The weather has cooled off there a little bit and of course, you can find, you know, great prices into London, Paris, Rome, all of the major hotspots in Europe. And here in the US, there's a lot of great destinations that have also lowered prices, many in Florida and some of the warmer destinations. Now, if you want to save some money, but get a vacation in, Is there a better time to travel during the fall? I know you mentioned that shoulder season. Yeah, the shoulder season will last right up until the start of the Thanksgiving travel period. And well, once Thanksgiving starts, you'll see prices rise dramatically very quickly. As many Americans will again begin to travel to see family and friends across the United States. So if you can get your travel in really right up until the third week in November and then prices will rise almost, you know, could be as much as double to some markets over that time frame and then it'll cool down a little bit. But then again, right back up again as we head into the Christmas season. Now, what are some popular destinations that you're seeing? People are going to this fall. Our top destination internationally right now is London. London has, you know, it was hot during the summer but it's picked up even more in the fall. It's a beautiful time to be there and to visit. Uh the crowds are less and of course, the weather should be, you know, reasonably good. September into October. So London very hot, uh some destinations in Asia continue to be uh on the market right now. Obviously a few places in Japan, like Tokyo, Bangkok in Thailand are also very popular here in the US. People are looking for entertainment. So New York is near the top of the list once again as people are going in for shows, shopping and other events. And uh we also see some traffic picking up, down into Florida, Miami again, picking up a lot of traffic as is San Diego and Los Cabos, Mexico. Now, if it's popular, should you avoid it? Because it may cost more money since everyone wants to go there at once. Well, you, you might think that but you know, because they're popular destinations, the airlines have opened up a lot more routes and so there's a lot more direct flights into these markets and because there's excess capacity, especially in the shoulder season, you can find some really great deals heading down into these areas. Now, any tips for families who might want to travel at this time and get a good deal. Well, uh again, Florida is always a great place for families. Orlando always hits the top of the list and Orlando has seen a bit of a reduction in traffic over the last couple of months and so now is a really great time if you can, if you can pull your kids out of school for a couple of days, do a quick trip down to uh Disneyland. That would be a nice time to do that. Priceline is actually invested a lot in our features and tool sets to help families find hotels and flights that are much more, uh let's say family friendly. So you can use filters such as finding hotels with more betting options, finding hotels that are in friendlier and safer areas for Children and that are close to lots of attractions and restaurants that are more suitable for Children. So you know, look for those types of tools as you come in and shop, it will help you really narrow down your results faster. Now, artificial intelligence is changing everything. How is Priceline utilizing A I and how can it help people save in the long run? Sure. So A I has become obviously a very hot topic here in the travel industry and Priceline released its first set of A I tools earlier this summer. And what we're finding is that these tools offer a lot more information to consumers in a way as they're moving through the booking experience in a way that we just could never service before. So for example, if you're coming in and looking for a specific hotel, a lot of questions will come up in your booking process that a traditional travel site typically is not able to answer. However, with these A I tools in place, you can ask a litany of different types of questions about the room, about the hotel, about the area eating options. And with the combination of A I with our internal data, we combine those together to come back with really informative answers to help you book much faster. Of course, it will also help on the service side, you run into issues. But really even on the trip planning an idea stage A I is able to give you a lot more opportunities to ask questions about what's right for you, particularly based on the needs that you have as a traveler. Now, any other advice for people who may want to go on vacation before the end of the year, but are concerned a little bit about the prices. Sure. Well, obviously packaging is a historical win for travelers in the travel industry. Our partners are typically more willing to discount to even deeper levels when you come in and you purchase a package. So if you're bundling your hotel and your flight together, you can usually save an average of up to 20% on that transaction. Um Even if you're looking for just a flight, add a rental car to that, we can bundle those prices together and bring the prices down even more. So, packaging is a great uh opportunity to do that. If you're looking for a warm weather destination, look for all inclusives, all inclusives, typically provide a nice discount when you take into effect the cost of the meals and entertainment associated with your trip. And they're built to help you get great value from that vacation. And thanks to Michelle and Brett for that great information.