7 Ways to Manage Holiday Travel Costs This Season

For many, the holiday season features joyful celebrations and time spent with loved ones. But for some, it can be stressful once holiday travel — and the steep expenses that come with it — are added into the mix.

Most Canadians (71%) plan to spend money on 2024 holiday travel-related expenses, according to a survey conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of NerdWallet among 1,016 Canadian adults ages 18 and older. Of these holiday travelers, 3 in 5 (60%) plan to take action in order to save money on their upcoming holiday travel expenses, such as staying with friends and family instead of at a hotel or motel (26%), driving instead of flying (21%), or using credit card points/miles to cover expenses (16%).

If you plan to book holiday travel this season, the clock is ticking. Here are some expert tips to help you score the best deals while there’s still time.

1. Build a budget based on your values

Before you book any holiday travel, think about what you value most and budget accordingly, advises Bruce Sellery, CEO of Credit Canada, a nonprofit debt consolidation and credit counselling agency.

In other words, decide if being with family, going on a longer trip or visiting a unique destination is most important to you, and build your itinerary and budget based on that, Sellery says.

“Keep the big picture in mind and acknowledge that there are trade-offs you are going to need to make,” Sellery says. “Otherwise, what you’re left with is a big credit card debt that costs you a massive amount of money in interest. And that could be with you for months or years.”

About half of Canadians (49%) put holiday travel expenses on a credit card last year; among them, more than 1 in 4 (27%) have yet to fully pay off that debt, according to the NerdWallet survey.

2. Consider home exchanges

One way Sellery says his family saves money on overnight accommodations is by doing home exchanges instead of staying at pricey hotels or Airbnbs.

“It’s the best thing ever,” Sellery says of home exchanges. “It can be a game changer. We’ve been home-exchanging our house for two years, and we can now stay anywhere we want.”

Platforms such as HomeExchange.com (which Sellery uses faithfully) charge members an annual fee to connect with other homeowners who want to swap places in a reciprocal stay — you stay at their place and they stay at yours.

If the resident of an available home isn’t interested in your place, you can offer them points to stay at another member’s home elsewhere, according to the company’s website.

3. Redeem credit card points and other rewards

If you’ve accrued a nice stash of points or other rewards on your credit card, the holidays are a great time to use them. The only downside is that some travel rewards programs may have holiday blackout dates.

Plus, your points don’t stretch as far during the holidays when airlines and hotels typically charge the highest point premiums. That means you might exhaust all of your points — or not have enough to fully cover your trip.

4. Take advantage of credit card perks

Some of the best travel credit cards come with sweet perks like airport lounge access, travel insurance, free checked bags, priority boarding and free WiFi — all of which can come in handy during the holiday travel season.

When choosing a travel credit card, pay attention to the rewards type, sign-up bonus, extra membership perks, earning rate versus your spending and the annual fee.

If you plan to use the card abroad, pay attention to the foreign transaction fees, says Saijal Patel, founder and CEO of Saij Elle, a Toronto-based financial coaching and wellness company. She notes that most credit cards charge a foreign transaction fee of 2% to 3% on each purchase made in a foreign currency.

“That’s on top of the currency exchange rate, so that can really add up,” Patel points out.

5. Choose flexible travel dates

When you book airfares or hotel stays, set your search parameters to flexible dates. You’ll be able to see if other dates close to your desired travel dates are less expensive, Sellery says.

Also, consider traveling on the day of a holiday to cut costs. For instance, flights on Christmas or New Year’s Day are much cheaper than a few days earlier because there’s less demand; most people want to be at their destination by then.

6. Book directly with vendors

Third-party aggregator booking sites are a great place to research options, but comparing prices with the vendor directly could lead to sizable savings.

“[H]otels often pay significant commissions to third-party booking sites like Expedia, which can be around 15% to 25% per booking,” Patel explains. “By contacting the hotel directly, you may negotiate for better rates than what you’re being quoted on those third-party sites, and you may get added benefits like free breakfast, room upgrades or waived resort fees.”

Don’t forget to mention if you’re a loyalty member or if you found a cheaper rate on another website; many hotels will try to match or beat it, Patel adds.

7. Try travel insurance

Illness, injury, bad weather or other surprise events can throw a last-minute wrench into your holiday travel plans. While it’s an additional up-front cost, travel insurance can help you recoup your travel costs if the unexpected happens, Patel says.

Some credit cards offer travel insurance coverage for emergency travel medical, trip cancellation/interruption, delayed or lost baggage and auto rental collision/loss damage. Read the fine print of the coverage terms and conditions to understand what is (and isn’t) covered, keeping in mind you may need to purchase a separate policy to fully protect your trip.

“Coverage for trip cancellations, medical emergencies or lost luggage can prevent unforeseen expenses from derailing your budget,” Patel says.

Survey Method

This survey was conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of NerdWallet from September 23-26, 2024 among 1,016 Canadian adults ages 18 and older, among whome 722 plan to spend money on flights/hotels this upcoming holiday season. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the sample data is accurate to within +/- 3.6 percentage points using a 95% confidence level. This credible interval will be wider among subsets of the surveyed population of interest. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables and subgroup sample sizes, please contact Bria Weaver, [email protected].