Slumber on the Cheap This Summer
By Sophia LaMonica
Slumber on the Cheap (Flickr: Andrew Stawarz)
With summer unofficially underway, now is the time to kick those vacation plans into high gear. For families on a budget, we’ve rounded up some top money-saving secrets to trimming precious dollars from your trip.
Book a suite for less, benefit others
Sidestep familiar hotel consolidator sites and sign-up for RoomerTravel, a unique concept that allows consumers to sell their unused rooms directly to other travelers. Built by travelers for travelers, this site is great for families who are interested in helping others. Instead of letting a hotel reservation go to waste due to a cancelled trip, now there’s a way to recoup some expenses while others can snap up the rooms for an average of nearly 40% off the original price. If you don’t see your family dream destination now, you can sign up for an “alert” that will email you when someone adds it.
“It’s all about good karma right now, so if you think about how can I actually help someone and get a better deal,” says RoomerTravel’s managing director Richie Karaburun, a seasoned travel expert and father of two boys ages 8 and 12.
(MORE: Find more fantastic family-friendly vacation deals.)
Be spontaneous, save big
Surprise your family with a last minute kid-friendly getaway. With HotelTonight, the world’s first 100% mobile hotel booking app, late birds are getting the fatter- and cheaper- worms for a change. Designed for budget-savvy travelers who relish a trip taken on a whim, HotelTonight connects the best family friendly hotels with unbooked rooms to travelers who can snap them up for discounts as steep as 70%. HT is free for both Android and Iphone users and its handpicked inventory is organized by style and location, so you can search by family-friendly destinations and snap up a sweet spot to sleep on the cheap.
Try out the simple life, for a song
Stay on a Farm (Flickr: Paul VanDerWerf)
Consider eschewing traditional lodging and stay on a farm. As part of the blossoming agritourism trend, farms across the world are offering families rural (and affordable) experiences of a lifetime. FarmStayUS features family focused farm stays. Liberty Hill Farm in Rochester, Vermont is home to 270 Rebeth Holstein cows and possibly the family vacation of a lifetime for only $120 per night, including breakfast.
(MORE: Find more kid-friendly hotel deals in Vermont.)
Pitch a tent, save a bundle
Camp (Flickr: Gopal Vijayaraghavan)
Camping makes for an inexpensive, eco-friendly family vacation that brings everyone together under one tent. On Pismo Beach in Santa Barbara, California, a family can set up camp for just $35 per night. If there’s a senior in the group, a $2.00 discount applies. The caveat here is that most major holiday weekends are subject to special rates and often require reservations in advance.
Sophia LaMonica contributed this to www.MiniTime.com
