The 30 tools I use to plan a budget trip can be condensed into these 10 apps.

I could write a novel on the tools that exist for planning a budget vacation. There are probably thousands of apps and websites that specialize in saving you money on travel. 

To condense this theory into a short and readable version, I’ll stick to the 30 tools I use and how they can really be condensed into 10 amazing travel apps you might already have on your phone. 

1. Kayak.  

Kayak is a doozie as far as travel intel goes. You can search cars, flights and hotels with dozens of filters. You can search flights with flexible dates and multi-city routes. You can even find budget airlines like sun-country and frontier on there. I use Kayak to get a priliminary idea of costs for airfare and hotel so I know what a bargain will look like. 

2. TripAdvisor

This is the first place I check when booking any trip! I can’t emphasize it enough.  I get an immediate idea of hotel costs in an area and suggestions on where to eat, play and explore. Many hotel sites make it difficult to get to the reviews. You need to scroll down for ages or click links -usually to TripAdvisor- in order to read reviews.

Reviews are super important for hotel bookings, unless you want to end up in a sketchy bed bug motel. (I’ve been there... not fun... read reviews). Now, I could write an entire other article on interpreting hotel reviews, but I’ll leave that for another day. 

TripAdvisor is king for research.  

3. Hotwire!

Hotwire Hot Deals, Baby! 🔥🔥 I am a huge advocate for Hotwires “hot deals”. They basically eliminate the name of the hotel or car rental agency in order to get you a better deal. When it first came out it was a terrible idea (or rather, terrible execution) because you had no idea which hotel they would stick you with. I ran an experiment to find a New Orleans hot rate hotel by comparing photos from the main lobby in Hotwire ad to photos on TripAdvisor. It took a good hour and I discovered the hotel had terrible reviews. It also was only $5 cheaper than booking on any other site.

Hotwire has since improved their Hot Rate Service. Now they narrow down the options to 4 hotels you might be getting. That’s easy! Just throw those 4 names into TripAdvisor and make sure they all meet your expectations. 

As for cars, does anyone really care what brand of car rental you get? If you do, please enlighten me. I’m not even being sarcastic, I feel like I could learn more about this topic. For me, I’ll take whichever agency has the best deal. I don’t care if they don’t reveal the name of the agency until after I book as long as I know I can get to it from the airport. They make sure you can 😉. 

4. VRBO

Okay, so you looked up your dream trip idea on TripAdvisor. You saw it was a bit outrageously priced. (San Francisco is a great example here, and a real-life one for me). Now what!? You know the cheapest hotel above a motel 6 is at least $180/night. That’s above budget. What now!? 

VRBO!! In fact, when I know I’m traveling somewhere pricey I skip the hotel search and go straight to vrbo.  

I can hear you asking “what’s VRBO!?” Or “Why VRBO and not Airbnb!!??? “ 

VRBO stands for Vacation Rentals By Owner, it’s owned by a parent company called Homeaway, and it was around way longer than Airbnb. They had some website kinks that they needed to fix and it wasn’t until competiton came along that they felt the need to fix them. Honestly, I wish there were a third option because I have some issues with both (again, an article for another day). Competition is good however, and VRBO offers better pricing than Airbnb due to the increased demand for Airbnbs. VRBO is the little secret of the rental world. 

5. Groupon

this one has a more specific purpose. Groupon is great for group tours, group trips and select hotels. Sometimes the hotel “deals” are the same deals that exist everywhere else on the internet and sometimes you really get a deal. They will often purchase blocks of hotel rooms for less and then re-sell them at the discounted price. That’s how I got my hotel room in Vegas and it was well worth it. However, the selection is limited. Many cities I’ve tried to search aren’t even an option on Groupon. Most major cities are though, so keep it in mind. Also use Groupon for group tours or over-seas adventures. Italy,  Ireland and France are often on Groupon for a significant discount with airfare. 

6. Skiplagged. 

My hands-down favorite flight research app. There is a graph that shows the cheapest days of the month to fly to/from your destination and you can toggle around it and pick the best date to fly. They also show you if there’s a cheaper option of a flight with a layover, and then you can skip the layover. It’s beautiful, try it.

AND THEY INCLUDE SOUTHWEST!

7. Google Maps

Google maps is also king. I am really big on location. It is the largest factor in where I stay or what I do on vacation. I am pretty darn responsible when it comes to drinking and driving so I want to be able to uber or walk everywhere. You bet I’m researching if Uber’s frequent the area and how many. For this I simply google “uber fare estimater” or “Lyft free estimater”. I don’t like being in the dark.  I also find the pick-up location on the uber app and see how many little cars are roaming around to get an idea of its popularity in an area. 

My favorite way to pick a lodging location is to find a point of interest on google maps and then zoom out a bit and look around at what’s in the area. For instance, If I want to be on the beach and be walking distance to restaurants I locate the select beach on google maps and toggle around to see what restaurants are near by. Then when I’m booking a hotel or rental I use the map function to find lodging near my favorite part of the beach that I found from exploring google maps. If needed I google how long the walk/uber is from my lodging to my activities BEFORE booking. 

You know what they say: Location, location, location! 

8. Airbnb

We established earlier that rentals are overal cheaper than hotels, and that my personal experience leads me to prefer VRBO to Airbnb. However, I check both because many rentals are not on both sites and you don’t want to miss a deal. 

9. Turo

This is a new and fun way to rent cars. It’s basicaly Airbnb for people’s vehicles. It sounds strange, I know, but didn’t Uber sound REALLY sketchy when it first started? Well this is similar. Turo provides airport pickup and insurance. There really is little risk in using this service unless you are a truly terrible driver or plan to spill all over the car. In that case, you’ll pay a pretty penny in fees. 

10. Hotels.com

I check Hotwire for hotels first, but if nothing there fits my needs I look at hotels.com. In fact, even if I do find something juicy I still double check Hotels.com because of their rewards program. They award a free hotel night after ten nights booked. No other budget company has this good of a program. If all the budget sites are charging the same price, why not book them all through Hotels.com and get a chance at a free night!? I say “chance” because you may not book 10 hotel nights with them in the allotted timeframe (1.5 years I believe). But, if you do end up traveling that much, wouldn’t you want a free night!?

I know I just threw a LOT of information at you about online tools, but in case you are eager for more here is my list of 30 tools I use frequently- and why.  

Airbnb - lodging

VRBO - lodging

TripAdvisor - Reviews

Groupon - lodging, packages and activities  

Travelzoo - lodging, packages and activities

livingsocial - activities  

IHG app - hotels if I have reward points from credit cards  

Marriot bonvoy app - hotels if I have reward points  

Amex app - check on my reward points  

Chase app - check on my reward points, sometimes booking through their travel site is cheaper. 

Bank of America - rewards, you get the idea.  

Southwest - Airfare that isn’t included on many budget sites  

hopper - alerts on when to book flights  

kayak cars/ kayak hotels/ kayak flights - comparing cars, flights and hotels

Skiplagged - flight timing comparison. When to fly

hotwire hotels - lodging

hotwire cars - car rental

sixt - luxury car rental at decent prices  

Turo - car rental on a budget  

google maps - how to get around, proximity of everything I need. 

Tripcase - trio detail organization  

Starbucks - where is the nearest one and can I order ahead!? (Coffee lovers rejoice!)  

Trulia - just for fun I like to look up what homes in the area cost. (Like beautiful mansions). It’s a good time.  

Vagaro -  if you are looking for spa days or fun girls trip activities. 

Lyft - transportation  

uber - transportation  

Freebird App - get cash back for using Lyft and Uber

Local transportation site - if you are visiting a large city, research the public transportation for an affordable way to get around. 

Happy travels! And feel free to reach out with any questions.  

Steph