This is the guaranteed way to save money on your holiday

WE FALL into the same habits when planning our holiday. But this little change of perspective could help you save some serious bucks.

IF YOU’RE looking for ways to save money on travel, there are loads of different options to consider.

Aside from the obvious benefits of accruing points with your favourite travel credit card, you can rack up cash back, book cheap package deals and travel off-peak, for instance.

Still, I feel like a lot of people make a huge mistake when it comes to saving money on travel. Instead of letting the deals determine their plans, they come up with a dream destination then try to find a deal that fits.

This can be an expensive mistake since a) you might not find any amazing deals where you want to travel for your specific dates, b) award availability could be scarce if you want to travel somewhere during peak travel season, and c) you’re limiting your options.

How many times have you heard someone say one of the following: “I want to go to Hawaii over Christmas break but can’t find award availability or affordable flights!” or “Flights to Rome during July are outrageous. I can’t afford it” or “I really want to go to Bora Bora or Maldives for my honeymoon, and nowhere else will cut it”.

As a person who writes about travel, I hear this kind of stuff all the time. People get their hearts set on a destination and timeline and decide nothing else is good enough.

Unfortunately, this strategy is rarely the best way to save money.

WHY YOU SHOULD ‘DEAL SHOP’ INSTEAD

Instead, it’s best to let the deals guide your plans — and not the other way around.

Why? Because letting the deals decide where you go will give you access to the best award availability and sales.

I’m not saying you have to travel to places you’re not interested in — instead, you should come up with a list of destinations you would like to visit instead of just one or two. That way, you can pounce when you find the award availability you want.

Simply look at costs before deciding where to go.

Here’s why this strategy works so well:

1. You can take advantage of airline deals

One of the most important reasons to shop deals is because there are so many crazy airfare sales all the time. If you’re flexible on where you go and when, you can save a boatload of money while checking out destinations you may not see otherwise.

As an example, I booked flights into Madrid and home from Paris for $495 per person on Delta for my kid’s school break after finding an airfare sale on TheFlightDeal.com.

If I had my heart set on another destination for the holidays, I wouldn’t have been able to make this work. But since we’re flexible and I thought my kids would enjoy this part of Europe, we struck while the iron was hot. And since I had flexible rewards points on hand, I was able to book some pretty cool condos for this trip through Chase Ultimate Rewards.

2. Shop availability with your airline miles

While airfare sales make it easy to save money if you’re flexible, the same can be said for airline miles. If you’re willing to consider a few different options versus only one, you can typically find better availability for your dates.

3. Get some crazy bang for your buck with hotel points

The same can be said for hotel points. Let’s say you have free nights and hotel points with a few different loyalty programs. If you have your heart set on a single hotel, you’ll have to figure out flights to get there and all your other travel arrangements. But if you’re willing to consider a few different top hotel options with your points and various hotel credit cards, you can search for flight award availability that will coincide.

It’s pretty likely searching a few different hotel/flight options will leave you with a clear winner that is more affordable/feasible than the rest.

THE BOTTOM LINE

If you obsess over a single destination all the time, you will pay more money for travel. If you come up with a list of top destinations and let the deals decide, you will ultimately save.

The more flexible you are, the more options you’ll have. And when it comes to saving money on travel, more options means more savings every single time.

This article originally appeared on Frugal Travel Guy.