Black Friday Travel Deals: What to Do (and Not Do) When Booking

Black Friday, Cyber Monday and — yes — Travel Tuesday offer great opportunities to save money on gifts, electronics and more. But what about for travel? Are those airfare and hotel deals really deals? Or are they just a marketing opportunity for companies looking to cash in on the buying frenzy?

The answer: both. Deals are out there, but some supposedly great prices are often misleading or exaggerated relative to the deals you can find throughout the year. Then again, some of the best travel deals of the entire year come out on Black Friday (and into the extended holiday deals season which includes Cyber Monday and Travel Tuesday).

» Learn more: What to Buy (and Skip) on Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2023

Here are seven ways to avoid getting burned on travel deals this Black Friday:

Let's say you spot a great airfare deal on Cyber Monday. Don’t wait until Travel Tuesday to book it. Even if the sale technically extends through then, someone else might have nabbed the last available seat listed.

If you find a truly unbelievable airfare, book it now. You'll have 24 hours to think it over at no monetary cost because the U.S. Department of Transportation requires that air carriers allow reservations to be canceled within 24 hours of booking without penalty.

Assuming the airfare deal is a price you’d be willing to pay on a flight you want, then lock it in. If airfares drop further on Travel Tuesday, you can cancel that flight (within 24 hours, of course) and rebook the better deal.

Or maybe you got the lowest fare, but after thinking it over, you realize the trip doesn't make sense. As long as you cancel within 24 hours of booking, your plane tickets are refundable and you won't be subject to any cancellation fees.

The only cost to you is the time and energy needed to book and cancel.

Speaking of cancellations, understand your airline or hotel's change and cancellation policy before you book. Many have especially sneaky terms like "no cancellations," so make sure you read the fine print.

After all, a fully refundable $209-a-night hotel room may be a better deal for you than the Black Friday sale on the same room going for $199 where you have to pay upfront and it's non-refundable.

While you can always cancel airfare within 24 hours of booking for a full refund and with no other penalty, refunds are less easy to come for pretty much every other situation (aside from the airline canceling your flight on you). With most airfares, it's unlikely you'll get a full cash refund, particularly on nonrefundable airline tickets.

As far as hotels go, the rules vary widely. Some hotels let you cancel with a full refund three days before arrival, while others make it a week. Many are moving toward a 30-day deadline. Penalties differ, too. “Fully prepaid” room rates often mean you lose 100% of the cost if you can’t make the trip for any reason, including serious illness. Others charge a one-night penalty.

Search prices now, then search them again in the days leading up to Black Friday. Shoppers looking to buy a gaming console or big-screen TV have a good idea of what the product normally costs. That’s harder for folks shopping for travel. Hotel rates and airfares fluctuate from season to season, and sometimes even daily. Deals pitched as “amazing” or “unbelievable” may be more hype than substance.

NerdWallet has done some of the homework for you by tracking the Cyber Monday and Travel Tuesday 2023 deals we believe to be good.

Other tools, like Google Flights, can also help you understand whether prices are below average. With Google Flights, you can find the flight you intend to book, and a graph will appear on the page telling you how prices compare for that flight versus what they had been previously posted for. Google's enormous trove of data also predicts whether fares will likely go if you wait to book.

Speaking of Google Flights, that's just one of the myriad flight tracking tools you should consider using to compare prices.

Google Flights is good, though it's not the only tool to consider. Skyscanner posts helpful information about Black Friday travel offers. Check the “Deals” tabs on travel booking sites like Expedia and Travelocity, as well as on airline and hotel websites. Deal specialists like Travelzoo and Groupon can be useful, too. And Going, formerly known as Scott's Cheap Flight offers both a paid and free service to send deal alerts right to your inbox.

Depending on where you want to go, this could be the time to sign up for an airline or hotel rewards credit card, especially one offering a bonus. Assuming you're doing above-average spending during the holiday season, this could be an excellent time to apply for a travel credit card with a sign-up bonus.

Of course, points and miles aren't the only reason to hold a travel credit card (and perhaps even better, a premium travel credit card). An excellent travel credit card can give you extra benefits when you're on vacation, such as access to Priority Pass airport lounges. Many also carry less glitzy, but more valuable benefits, such as credit cards that offer travel insurance.

» Learn more: The best travel credit cards

More hotels are tacking on a resort fee on top of their daily rate and claiming it covers things like free daily newspapers, Wi-Fi or pool towels. The average resort fee is $42.41 per night, according to a NerdWallet analysis. NerdWallet looked at more than 100 U.S. hotels with January 2023 check-in dates as part of its 2023 Best-Of Awards to see which hotels have the best and worst fees.

That figure represents nearly 11% of the overall nightly cost. And many hotels don't make that fee upfront when they advertise their low Black Friday or Travel Tuesday deals. What's worse is that a deal for 50% off the room rate typically only applies to the room rate. The resort fee likely won't be discounted.

Read the terms of your hotel booking before you calculate the final cost of that hotel.

Just like how you should calculate resort figures in the final figure, account for taxes too.

When you search for package deals, the price you see could have the tax already included. If you search for hotels separately, you’re more likely to see a pre-tax price. When you’re comparing rates (especially when you’re comparing packages to the cost of booking the flight) of car and hotel separately, note whether the tax is included to ensure an apples-to-apples comparison.