Just recently I was making a reservation for my 10 years marriage anniversary and we didn't really knew where to go. Once we decided the city of our choice we choose the hotel as well and with all that we could start the negotiation with the travel agencies. Believe me, we saved a good couple hundred dollars. Anyone doing this as well?
Discounts are a great way to save money on travel and hotels. Whenever I travel, I always think about how I can save money. I travel during the off season which will entitle me to discounts on air travel and hotels. I book hotels only after consultations with various agencies and always opt for cheaper price.
To save more, we don't consult a travel agency and just source out information by ourselves. The travel agency has to earn so it is a given that you spend for the fee. For the plane ticket, we get discounted tickets from the website of the airlines particularly Cebu Pacific and Cathay Pacific. There are also sites that could help you with discounted plane tickets. For hotel accommodations, we also go online especially with booking.com which is a good one.
Quite true! I also do the same. The best thing about following your own IT is that you can budget your money and time easily, also you can find good stuff and places you can't expect to see if you follow a travel agency's IT. Here in our country we have what we call Piso fare. Instead of you paying hundred of dollars in Airfare, you are paying the fare for less, and if you are fast and lucky you can get the fare for just 2-3 Cents--The only thing you're going to worry is the Terminal Fee and the Fuel Surcharge.
I must admit that I have to travel often being a marketing professional and not all my programs are planned. We have an official reservation agency for this purpose that takes good care of our emergency needs but all my vacations are always well planned so I have never faced a confusion or reservation problem.