We all want to take those trips to these exotic islands and beautiful landmarks but paying for them can be a challenge at times. Here are some resources to think about when you are ready to book your flights and hotels.
Book early
Research has shown that when you book early, you can save up to 50% on flights and up to 30% off your hotel costs. Usually, airlines and hotels will allow you to book up to six months in advance. Booking vacations this early will always be the best way to save on your trips.
Paylater Travel
Paylater Travel is a website that allows you to search and book to lock in the price of flights early. You can choose to pay in weekly or bi-weekly installments and you can be allowed up to 26 weeks to repay. I should mention that there are no interest fees or credit checks, which makes it a very suitable option for almost anyone.
Uplift
Uplift offers a similar experience to Paylater, however, it offers flexible payments for more travel options. With Uplift, you can book flights, hotels, cruises, or full-on vacation packages. There is one caveat. With Uplift, you are only allowed to book with one of the companies that are partners with them. Unlike Paylater, Uplift runs a soft credit check to determine your eligibility. They also have repayment options of up to a year.
Klarna
Klarna is one of the most useful resources when it comes to paying for most things, including travel. This is because Klarna has a lot of partners in their portfolio, but for the ones that are not partners, Klarna offers a digital card option that allows you to purchase items from more sites electronically. Unlike Paylater and Uplift, Klarna typically splits payments into four installments which are paid bi-weekly. You do occasionally have the option to extend payments. Because Klarna offers you a credit line, they do run a soft credit check to determine how much purchasing power you have. This can increase over time.
Use Points
There are several avenues to get points for travel, most of them are with credit cards but there are other ways you can accumulate points for travel outside of using credit cards. I won't spend too much time talking about credit cards in this post, instead, I will create a separate blog post regarding credit cards specifically. Have you ever heard of airline shopping portals? Airline shopping portals are a marketplace of retailers that have partnered with airlines to reward you with points that you can use to pay for travel. Several airline loyalty programs have online shopping portals where they partner with hundreds of popular retailers. These shopping portals act as a middleman between you and your shopping experience. All purchases made through these portals typically earn extra miles (points) in addition to what you already earn from your card. Consider airline online shopping portals the next time you shop. This is a quick way to increase your bonus rewards rate. Before using these portals, you will need to already have the specific airline (miles, rewards, points) account number. You may do this by applying for a credit card or signing up for a free account. Here are a few shopping portals to consider.
Delta SkyMiles Shopping
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Shopping
United Airlines MileagePlus Shopping
American Airlines AAdvantage eShopping
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