Image credit: TristanB, August 2004

There are tourist traps in every country that work in pretty much the same way.  We believe in letting your buck go further and in line with that, here are a few suggestions for saving money.

Airport duty free shops

There is no automatic saving in duty-free shops, and in many cases we have found that the prices are the same as in high-street shops.  (In some airports such as Heathrow, direct price comparisons are regularly conducted to ensure that you are paying no more than you would at a shop in the city.)

The bargains that are to be had in duty-free are on articles with high levels of duty, which are generally in “luxury” goods such as alcoholic drinks, and fragrances.  If you are a devotee of luxury goods then duty-free is probably going to work out well for you.

Airline duty free

When you are flying with Emirates and Qatar you have an option to put a sticker on your seat-back top which has a sleeping face, then they will skip you when they come around with the duty free cart.  If you want to save money, that is the way to go.  Airline duty-free prices are not usually all that wonderful because their profit margins are often fatter, but if you know the price elsewhere then you may be able to score a rare bargain by comparing prices.

Tourist attraction curio shops

These are often the worst offenders in charging top dollar.  One way that you can tell if a place is a tourist trap or not is by finding out if the locals buy there.  For instance the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is supported mainly by tourists.  By contrast, however, the Egyptian or Spice Market is frequented by locals buying their spices for use at home.  The quality is spoken of (positively) in hushed tones, and the prices are keen.

If you want to support the local economy by buying trinkets you will often get the same thing from a local supermarket, or even a street vendor, at substantially lower rates than at the shop at the airport.

Of course, you may have forgotten to get gifts for relatives or friends, in which case if you remember in time you can buy them a present at the airport, but then you should be prepared to pay for the convenience.

Restaurants

If you eat the local cuisine you will pay less than if you go for foods that are exotic in that location.  For instance, in Hong Kong there is a wide variety of fare from all over the world.  But even in a touristy place like Victoria Peak you will pay Yuan 50 for Chinese food, and probably over Yuan 100 if you want an Italian-style meal.

The author also experienced this in eating at a German-themed restaurant in Dalian, Northern China.  Expensive!  If you want more bang for your buck, get your teeth into the local cuisine and enjoy what the country you are visiting has to offer your palate.  After all, if you wanted to eat food from home, you could simply have stayed at home!

The key to not being caught as a tourist is to shop and eat where the locals do, where it is safe to do so.

Weekend rates

Many hotels offer a lower rate on the weekends, from Friday through to Sunday nights.  The reason?  Hotels in major cities get their regular trade from the business travellers on weekdays and so lower their prices to get higher occupancy on the weekends,

Long stays

A seven day stay is clearly going to bring in more revenue for a hotel than two or three nights.  So, to make it more appealing, they may offer a lower rate.  Or if they don’t, be sure to phone and negotiate.

Operators and travel agents

Travel agents that have a national presence and tour operators are able to negotiate discounted rates with hotels due to their larger buying power.  Even though you may have found a good price on the internet, be sure to check what rate an operator can get you.  Sometimes their rate may be the same but it could include, say, breakfast.  Or the rate could be even lower.

The price you get via the Internet may often be best for hotels in the United States, but in other countries such as China an operator will frequently beat rates obtained, because of the way business is done there.  (Some Chinese operators are online but there is no guarantee that they quote their best price there.)

Negotiate

Phone and negotiate.  We aren’t just suggesting calling and asking, “what is your best price”?  You need to try harder than that.  Get a comparative price at a different hotel chain that is of the same standard as the one you want and then ask them to match it.  In many cases they will.  It’s a tough economy out there today and everyone wants business.

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Direct website

It is often hard to find the hotel’s own home page on the web.  Many sites include the names of hotels in their pages and this results in them being ranked higher in the search engine than the hotel’s actual site.

You may need to hunt through the search results a bit in order to get the direct link.  Once you have the right page, check to see if they have the option to book online and check out the rates for the dates that you want.  Be sure to read the terms and conditions of the rates you are looking at, as cheaper rates almost always mean additional restrictions.

It is important to look for any specials on the site and note what dates they can be booked on.  Sometimes if you change your intended date by just a day you can save money.

Online hotel booking sites

Sites such as booking.com offer good rates and hotels give them better rates on occasion than you can get directly, due to their huge buying power.

Price comparison sites such as skyscanner will give you the best price from a wide range of hotel sites.

Sites like hotwire specialise in “last minute booking” specials.  You can get up to 50% off the price of bookings made at the eleventh hour.  The risk is that they may not have a room available at the specific hotel you prefer on the day/s that you require it.  You may therefore need to be a bit flexible in your arrangements.

Phone in

Phone the hotel directly and ask for reservations.  Request “the best rate that they can offer”.  While you may expect that they would give you the best rate automatically, that is not the case.  They usually have various different rates on any given day and they may offer you the “rack rate” (the standard price to the public), but not mention any specials that they are running.

Senior citizen discounts

If you’re from about 55 or over, ask if they have a senior citizen rate.  The age at which this discount is offered varies between hotels, and some do not offer a senior’s discount at all.  But there is no harm at all in asking!  Be aware that if a hotel is running a special, they won’t allow you to stack one discount on top of another, so select whichever is the cheapest.

Children

Children under 12 stay free in the same room as their parents in many hotels around the world.  In some places, this age is extended to 16 or even 18.  If you don’t mind having your children on a sleeper couch in your room and are keen to save a buck, be sure to ask what their policy is for children.

Meal costs

While checking the different rates, be sure to make meal comparisons.  It often works out cheaper to take a rate that includes breakfast than to take a lower rate that is room-only and then paying for breakfast, unless you are planning to have breakfast at a café down the road.  From our experience, when travelling overseas, try to get meals included in the up-front price.  It saves money for souvenirs and for fun activities that will make your journey memorable.

In some tourist destinations, for instance on the Indian Ocean island paradise of Mauritius, one can get half-board, which includes breakfast and dinner.  Since the hotels are designed as full-service destinations that frequently include all the entertainments you may desire, this is often the cheapest option.  If you intend seeing the sights during the day you may only need to find lunch on the road, or you can return to the hotel in the afternoon and have a drink and a Club Sandwich to tide you through to dinner.

Some resort destinations, where there is little other than the resort itself will offer full board (including lunch) but since this usually means they have an effective monopoly, they often just have a flat rate that includes all meals.  Cruise ships use a similar principle.