Many great travel deals can be found by carefully planning in advance. But spur-of-the-moment trips can also be had for cheap if you know where to look. That’s because hotels, airlines, resorts and more are looking to fill vacant spots at the last minute.
Here are our picks for the best sites to book a great trip on short notice without blowing a crazy amount of money.
Best all around last-minute booking site: Expedia.com
Expedia.com’s last-minute booking page wins for layout as well as price and convenience. Three columns of deals under the headers “Tonight,” “This Weekend,” and “Next Weekend” show you top deals for the destination you select. You can further filter your results to see just flights, just hotels or package deals for both. Destinations include both major U.S. cities and foreign vacation spots.
Clicking on a deal will give you a page showing you pictures plus ratings, reviews and amenities. You will also see, in the case of a hotel, what other rooms are available and their prices as well. Flights work in a similar fashion. Find the destination and deal that appeals to you and you will be shown other flights leading to that destination in case you are looking for alternatives.
Of course, the best deal is flight plus hotel. Just mousing over the options will show you how much money you’ll be saving by booking them together. Just remember that the stated price doesn’t include baggage fees.
Best last-minute hotel: Hotel Tonight
This isn’t a site, but an app and it’s a life saver. Need an extra night’s stay but your hotel has no more vacancy? Score a last minute flight and need a place to stay? The ‘Hotel Tonight” app detects your location and shows you all the hotels in your area with vacancy. You can also set it to show you a city you haven’t arrived in yet…
Read more: techlicious.com
