Whenever I travel I am always looking to find affordable accommodation, I just can’t bring myself to pay a few hundred dollars per night for accommodation, especially when you don’t use the room for much other than sleeping in and occasionally watching a little bit of t.v before bed time.
I have been an avid traveller for as long as I can remember and used to read up travel forums with every spare minute, then I started working and I didn’t have as much time to do it, however I now had the funds to travel.
I hope my experience and tips for finding affordable accommodation may help some of you out on your next trip 🙂
// Don’t discount hostels
A lot of people discount hostels and won’t even consider them. I have stayed in some really nice hostels before, and you don’t need to have dorm rooms or shared bathrooms. Often hostels will have double rooms with your own private bathroom. As an added bonus hostels generally have kitchens which means you can cook some of your own meals to save some pennies!
// Shop Around
If you see a hotel you like on a booking website, take a look at the hotel’s website just in case you can find a cheaper deal. Often the prices on the large booking websites are pretty good but occasionally you can find a slightly better price directly on the hotels website, it’s always worth the couple of minutes it takes to check.
// Package Deals
I’m not usually a fan of package deals as often they are pricey, however sometimes you can get some bargain package deals which include 5-7 nights accommodation for pretty close to what you would usually pay for just your flight. The hotel standards are usually pretty good too!
// Rent an Apartment
We were struggling to find affordable accommodation for our trip to Hawaii [as this post goes live we are likely to be sunning ourselves in Waikiki!], until I started looking at finding an apartment to rent. I stumbled across airbnb and soon found affordable apartments! If you haven’t used airbnb before but want to, use my link as you can save yourself $, I didn’t know this until after I booked or I would have tried to get a friends code!
// Extend the Search
While it’s nice to stay right in the city, often if you go just one suburb out of the main city centre you will find some bargains on hotels. You will also generally find that options for food are cheaper in these suburbs and you will also begin to feel like more of a local compared to staying right in the city centre.
// Book in advance
Often booking in advance for travel is a sure fire way to save money! Have a bit of a google on the place you are going as sometimes you will get cheaper deals when you arrive in a country compared to online. Booking in advance is generally cheaper, especially if you book your accommodation a few months in advance!
What is your top tip for finding affordable accommodation?? – Comment below and let me know, I love hearing from you.