How to reduce vacation cost by 30 percent

Plan in advance and reduce vacation cost.

Many people wonder, how we manage to have more than two long vacations in a year.
 If you make early vacation plans w.r.t. Air tickets,Hotels and Rental Car / Self Drive car, then you pretty much save on 30% of cost.
This enables you to sponsor the third trip in the same cost.

Cost comparison -

Timeline	3 months before the trip	2 weeks before the trip
People	For family of 2 Adults and child	For family of 2 Adults and child
Cost	Rs 1 Lakh	Rs 1 Lakh 30 Thousand
Airline Cost	30 Percent Cheaper	Increases by 30 percent one month before the peak season.
Hotels Cost	30 Percent Cheaper with more availablity	Less availablity of better deals

Now assume, If you plan out two vacations - it costs you approximately Rs 2 Lakh per year. Compared to Rs 2.6 lakhs which is 30% cheaper.

Tentative cost increase timeline

Air tickets

During vacation time, air tickets become costlier just before 4 to 6 weeks. There are plenty of websites for the booking flights makemytrip.com, cleartip.com,goibibo.com, etc to check on

Hotel booking

Since most of the hotels are available its easy to find the best fit at moderate prices.makemytrip.com , cleartrip.com , bookings.com , tripadvisor.cometc   

Rental car and self drive cars

You get cheaper deal and better options of vehicle bookings. Given the fact that rental car and self drive cars options are available plenty in India as well. zoomcar.com,   revv.co.in etc

Vacation planning Tips -

1. Finalize on the travel destination. I usually prefer visiting two to three near by places or cities. As hanging around one places is boring after 3 days or so.
2. Air Tickets - 
1. Check out which destinations have airports available. If there is no direct airport then you need to make choice between near by city.
2. Considering 2 to 3 days at each intermediate destination arrive at end date of the journey.
3. Once start and end date is finalized, proceed ahead with  booking the air tickets as they become to costly week on week.
4. Discounts -
1. Check on websites of your credit cards to avail any discount.
2. Usually I prefer to book tickets upfront and avoid deals which involve 10 % discount on Monday. Chances are high that  you forget  buying ticket on Monday. Its general observation, that tickets price increases on Monday morning.
3. May websites show cheaper price till the last minute and add GST just before you enter the card details. Ensure to check the total price just before that.
3. Car Rental Local Travel -
1. Self Drive -If you prefer taking self drive car then booking that takes second priority. As options are lesser. When you finalize the deal look into the following aspects
1. Finalize the route and calculate the kilometers. Add 10% buffer to it just incase you deviate from the plan.
2. Check if the rental includes petrol charges   
3. Tip - Take a chance and book a smaller car. Many a times we have got upgrade to a bigger car.
2. With driver rental car - If you are opting for rental vehicle then there are multiple options available and can be done at leisure. When you finalize the deal, ensure the following
1. Route is finalized with the operator
2. Per day charge should include car rental, petrol and per day allowance of driver.
3. If the route involves hopping multiple states, then ensure the road tax etc is included in the final cost.
4. Hotel Booking - 
1. Immediately proceed ahead booking the hotels. 
2. Please don't forget to check the Check in and Checkout time. That might save you a days hotel rent.
3. Peak Season bookings
1. Many hotel booking portals like makemytrip.com , cleartrip.com , bookings.com , tripadvisor.cometc show the rooms of your preferred hotels sold out. 
2. As the demand is more, the hotel operators prefer having direct bookings.
3. They avoid putting rooms on these portals during the peak season.
4. In this case, it makes sense to book the hotel directly.
5. You can proceed by paying nominal advance amount.
4.  Do your research on trip advisor for hotel reviews.