I Saved Over $900 on My Family Vacation By Using Trip Advisor
On the fence about TripAdvisor? Here are 6 solid reasons why your vacation planning should start on their site.
Planning a summer vacation?
It’s that time of the year when the sun is hotter and vacations are being planned! The process of booking a vacation can easily turn from exciting to overwhelming. My family and I just took a vacation and I can wholeheartedly say that using TripAdvisor made the planning process so much easier all while soaking in some fun under the sun on a budget!
My husband recently got a new remote job that’s based in Orlando and had to fly down for some training. After some consideration, we figured this could be the perfect excuse to have some family time and plan a vacation! We planned this trip for mid-June when our three kids were out of school. Since my husband would be meeting us down there, it was time to embark on the plane with just me and the kiddos! ✈️
TripAdvisor to the planning rescue!
We sought out some help from TripAdvisor, and the stress of planning seamlessly disappeared. Even better, we saved so much money on the hotel and activities… but more on that later. 😉
I know how expensive traveling can get, so I tried to save money literally anywhere I could. I bought some reusable water bottles from Dollar Tree and used them throughout the trip so we never had to buy bottled water. I also bought a mini waffle maker and pancake mix, so we’d enjoy a delicious breakfast every day right in our room!
We had a blast at Margaritaville Orlando! After all the fun and money I saved thanks to planning this trip with TripAdvisor, I realized how lucky I am to reap all these benefits. Because of this, I need to share with the Hip onlinemunity what the perks are of planning a trip with TripAdvisor! There are even more hacks and benefits if you beonlinee a Plus member, so keep on reading to find out all the benefits.
Here are some benefits of booking with TripAdvisor:
1. Easily find hundreds of resort options!
Once you select a location to travel to, it can get pretty stressful to figure out where to stay. In my opinion, there’s no better place to show the top results and most highly rated resorts. There’s a calendar outlining which dates are considered average, cheaper, and pricier.
We chose to stay at Margaritaville, and this feature helped so much with our booking process. We originally were going to travel during spring break, but once we saw how much more expensive it was, we decided to wait until June. It ended up being cheaper and more convenient since our kids were out of school!
There are also a bunch of filters you can apply if you’re a little picky! Free cancelation, reserve now and pay later, and special offers are some of the most valuable filters in my opinion. You can even browse all-inclusive options and pick your price range!
2. Browse fun activities that are nearby your vacation destination.
There are so many incredible things to do in Orlando, which is one of the reasons why we chose it! With so many options, we didn’t know where to begin. Since we were staying at Margaritaville, we knew we were in an area with tons of fun things to do! Tripadvisor reonlinemended Island H2O Water Park and it was a blast!
It was only a 3-minute walk from our resort. It was also reonlinemended we grab season passes at $69 each as opposed to $44+ each for a day pass. This way we were able to enjoy the water park almost every day we were there, even if it was just for a few hours! Thanks to TripAdvisor, we were able to plan these visits in advance as opposed to when we arrived!
No matter what you or your family is into, you can also book your activities directly on TripAdvisor’s website. Although not every activity is available on this, there are so many to choose from. If you purchase something then find the tickets cheaper elsewhere, no need to worry; TripAdvisor will actually refund you the difference! It’s kind of a no-brainer, right?
3. Gather restaurant reonlinemendations while reading reviews.
Finding restaurants and choosing where to eat can be super stressful. Luckily, there’s an entire section on TripAdvisor dedicated to restaurants and food! 🍝 Most of the time, we tried to eat affordably, whether that be making sandwiches or Chipotle. When we did decide to splurge, it was easy to find highly rated restaurants.
Our favorite meal, by far, was called The Mexican Camel, and this restaurant alone will forever make me read TripAdvisor reviews before dining out! It was affordable, delicious, and local, which was a refreshing break from chains. Even when I’m home I plan on using these reviews for when we look for places to eat out!
There are even more benefits if you beonlinee a TripAdvisor Plus member:
1. Beonlinee a Plus member and save $300 on your first trip.
It costs $99 annually to beonlinee a TripAdvisor Plus member. Trust me – it’s so worth it! You’re guaranteed to save at least $300 on your first trip. We paid around $209 a night for Margaritaville in Orlando because of our membership. Directly on Margaritaville’s website, the same exact room was over $300 a night. We ended up saving over $900!! 🤯
If you’re not sure if you’re ready to beonlinee a Plus member, you can sign up for a 90-day risk-free trial. And if you don’t make any bookings during this time, you’ll get your money back. You have nothing to lose and only potential savings to gain!
2. Save 10% on excursions booked on TripAdvisor as a Plus member.
It was crucial for us to find some fun activities at the most affordable rate possible to keep our kiddos entertained. As a plus member, you’ll get 10% off all experiences on TripAdvisor’s “Things to Do” section. For us, we decided to go to the Museum of Illusions Orlando, which would usually be around $143 in total for the five of us. With the Plus discount, it was under $100, and we all had a blast!
3. Score perks exclusively for Plus members from TripAdvisor’s partners.
As a Plus member, your benefits exceed TripAdvisor! This includes car rental and flight discounts. You can join the Dollar Flight Club, where you’re notified of the best deals to fly – all for a dollar a year! They’re also connected with Hertz, where you’ll be able to upgrade to Elite status and grab some member-only exclusive savings.
For our family, it just seemed more realistic and cost-efficient to rent a car, especially when onlineparing the ride share prices we’d have to pay to get everywhere. We had a limit of 50 miles a day, which was more than enough to get to and from the resort, shops, and other activities!
I’m so glad my family was able to take this trip, not only to take advantage of visiting my husband while he assimilates into his new job, but to also spend some fun family time together without spending a fortune! I’d like to think I can do it all, but making the trip planning process simple with TripAdvisor was an affordable luxury I’ll continue to use for each and every trip. My Plus membership has paid for itself tenfold, and I can’t wait to see how much we can save on future trips!
Any reonlinemendations for our next trip Hip2Savers?! 🏝🌆🏔
