Members of hotukdeals share their money-saving tips to help others save money when travelling abroad

London, Friday 2nd June 2017: With the summer holidays almost upon us, consumers using hotukdeals, the UK’s biggest deal-sharing community, have been sharing tips on how to save money when holidaying abroad.

 

Last year, UK holidaymakers were likely to spend, per person, an average of £974 on a summer holiday including £288 on spending money, £96 on buying new clothes and £58 on transport costs*. Here are just some of the tips that members of hotukdeals have been sharing with the rest of the community to help others save money on costs relating to going on holiday:

 

Before you fly:

 

1.      Clear your cookies and shop around – Booking flights and accommodation separately is an established way of saving money and, according to members of hotukdeals, using sites like Momondo, Skyscanner and Travel Republic are useful for comparing prices to help holidaymakers get the best deal. UniquelyMoi247, along with other members of hotukdeals, advised that as you search and compare prices online some websites track re-visits and increase prices each time, to hurry users into buying. Clearing your cookies can reset prices and avoid this trap as UniquelyMoi247 found out when they saved £70.

 

2.      Make sure your credit / debit card is abroad friendly or use a pre-paid card – Don’t rely on credit and debit cards that you would use in the UK as using them abroad will probably incur charges in the shape of non-sterling transaction fees and cash withdrawal fees – as well as unfavourable exchange rates. Members of hotukdeals suggest using specific travel credit cards such as the Halifax Clarity card, or, better still, pre-paid cards from providers such as Monzo, the start-up bank that offers a pre-paid MasterCard with zero fees, even when abroad; or Revolut who offer the RevolutCard with the real exchange rate and free spending and cash withdrawal.

 

3.      Book as much as you can in advance - Transport costs can represent a large proportion of holiday spending and comparing prices and/or advanced booking of things like airport parking, resort transfer, car hire and taxis can save you significant outlay. When hiring cars, a pre-bought car hire excess insurance policy can save money versus the car hire company’s daily cover – you can compare prices at websites like moneymaxim.co.uk. In an extreme example of planning, one member even suggested buying any gifts and souvenirs online before you go to avoid wasting time and luggage space!

 

4.      Check international roaming charges – Check whether the country that you’re travelling to has free international roaming with your network such as Three’s ‘Feel at Home’ and set appropriate usage caps so you don’t go over your allowance. You can check on your provider’s website to see which countries are included or whether you need to take out an extra plan for your holiday to cover any costs for calling, texting and browsing online. If you don’t have data allowance, download as much as you can before you go, such as google maps or city mapper for the local area and the TripAdvisor guide for example.

 

On-board:

 

5.      Avoid unnecessary costs on-board – Throwing themselves into the holiday spirit, many travellers are tempted to splash out in the airport or on the aircraft on items such as perfume and cosmetics. But is it always cheaper to do so? hotukdeals’ research was inconclusive: analysing 70 perfume products available on-board UK airlines they found that 40 times it was cheaper to buy on-board, 29 times it was cheaper to buy online and once it was the same price on-board and online**. They did find however that on-board catalogues are available online, so you can compare prices before you travel and make smart decisions once on the flight. 

 

At your destination:

 

6.      Negotiate day trips and excursions – One member of hotukdeals – Parvatik - managed to get a 30% discount by negotiating the cost of a boat trip in Tenerife, so well worth other holidaymakers trying their luck!

 

7.      Eat where the locals eat – One member suggests that tourist restaurants can be up to ten times more expensive than local restaurants. To save money when eating out holidaymakers could explore other restaurants where residents eat, saving money and absorbing some local culture.

 

For the latest travel deals as found by the members of hotukdeals, please visit http://www.hotukdeals.com/travel

 

Editor’s notes:

*Sainsbury’s Bank – August 2016 http://sainsburysbankmedia.co.uk/holidaymakers-spend-974-on-their-2016-summer-getaway/

**HotUKDeals compared the prices of 70 perfume products (some the same, some different) available to buy via on-board shops across seven airlines – EasyJet, Ryanair, Monarch, BA, Thomson, Thomas Cook and Virgin, which were available on the airline’s on-board magazines that you can view on the airline’s website. Ten products were analysed from each airline (five women’s fragrances and five men’s fragrances). HotUKDeals then used a price comparison website, Price Runner, to compare the on-board price with the high street/online price to work out which was cheaper, including delivery. 

 About hotukdeals: hotukdeals is the UK’s biggest deal-sharing community where users find, rate and share the best deals from on and off the high street every day. Members use the temperature gauge to vote on deals so other users know that the hotter the deal, the stronger the offer. hotukdeals has over 1.6m members and is a founding member of Pepper.com, the world’s largest social commerce group.

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