Folks are starting to book summer travel despite inflation concerns. Hayley Berg, chief economist at online travel agency Hopper, joined Cheddar News to provide tips on how to save when planning your trip.

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Stretching Your Dollar: Saving Money on Summer Getaways

It is time for stretching your dollar where we give you tangible tips to help you make the most of your money. And today we're talking travel, believe it or not summer right around the corner and now might be your best time to book those summer trips with inflation still high and money tight. For many Americans we want to share are some simple tips that can help you save hundreds on your getaway joined now by Haley Berg, lead economist at the online travel agency, Hopper Ha. It's great to see you and let's start here with airfare. What's the ideal time frame for booking domestic and international flights? The sweet spot for booking domestic flights is about three or three or four months before your departure date. So because that's when you should start monitoring, you want to book about 1 to 2 months in advance for domestic, 3 to 5 months for international. So for those travelers who are headed on international trips this summer now is the best time to prices are only going to rise from here on out. So you know, get out those apps and start booking or you'll miss out on the lowest prices. Ok. That's super helpful. Um especially as prices are still elevated. Haley. Are there specific times of the day or even days of the week where you might be able to edge out a better deal when it comes to plane tickets. Everyone wants that golden rule of if I book on a Tuesday at six AM on a private browser, I'm gonna get the best deal, but the reality is the best deal for your trip might be available any day of the week, any time of the day, use a price monitoring tool like the Hopper app, it's gonna give you live updates via notification when prices are at the lowest and then you can book with all of the data book when prices are the lowest and don't have to worry about a certain day or a certain time of day. But when you book isn't always as important as when you fly. If you can fly midweek, you can actually shave about 100 to $200 off domestic and international flights just because you're flying on one of those less popular days of the week. What about bundling uh bundling a flight, perhaps a rental car, even a hotel Haley does that usually lead to a deal or can you often end up spending more bundles are a great way to get a good deal on a trip. Sometimes they're called package holidays, but they come with some butts if you are looking for a lot of flexibility. You want to try out different hotels, you don't typically have that much flexibility with these bundled or package rates. So know what you're getting before you book a package rate. Know what kind of flexibility there is if your plans change, do you have any ability to change the dates on one thing but not another? But as long as it meets your expectations for what you need for your trip bundling can be a great way to save a little bit. What about destination if you do want to save? Uh Would you recommend Haley maybe picking a place that is a little bit off the beaten path. Absolutely not just because of price but also because of crowds. We know that Europe, for example, is super popular during the summer. The top destinations London, Paris, Rome, they gonna be packed with travelers and air fares will be high because those flights are gonna be full consider destinations off the beaten path. That might be a little less expensive. My favorite example right now is Portugal, you can get really low airfare from east coast cities, direct to Portugal to Lisbon and Porto less expensive than a lot of other countries in Europe. But they give you access to the whole continent and the cost of staying and tourism in that country is much lower than many others. So alternate destinations can be a great way to either make more out of the budget you have or spend a little less but still get that bucket list trip in. I like it. Um Haley just in about 30 seconds or so. Any other travel tips for people that have the itch to get out this summer, skip the Saturday night hotel stay. You pay a premium of 20% or more just to stay on Saturday. So if you wanna do a getaway shift that to Sunday, Monday, even Thursday, Friday because you will overpay for Saturday night. All right. I like it. Haley. Beg lead economist at the online travel agency, Hopper Haley. Thank you.