Hotel and rental car owners don’t just offer you discounts at random, you have to ask for it work for it, and sometimes, these discounts aren’t even worth it, well unless you’re looking to traveling during off peak season where there is at most a 50% discount. But let’s face it, we travel during peak season because this is the season when we actually have time to travel. So aside from waiting for your favorite hotel’s tirade of discounts during off peak season, when you can’t really travel and then end up not traveling at all, why not take the initiative and find your own ways to cheap travel, make your own discount.

– While there is no specific ‘best day to book’, there is an approximate best period before travel in which to make your reservations. As a general rule, tour operators slash the prices on hotel and flight deals in the period around six to eight weeks before departure date — which may be why one study estimated that 53 days before departure is often the ideal booking time

– Check detour flights other than the straight one you’re bound to get when you inquire. You can get cheaper overall prices if you choose to book two flights instead of one. Some people have been able to save as much as $2000 by doing this.

– It is always better to buy food at the grocery and cook it yourself rather than eating everyday at a restaurant. You won’t want to spend all of your pocket money on food. Restaurants tend to have cheap and sometimes unhealthy food, ensure your own health as well as your pockets health by cooking your own, that is, after all, the reason why there’s a stove in your hotel room.

– Travel to places which boast of natural beauty but have lower costs of living, prices here tend to be lower. Take the Philippines or Malaysia for example, both have great views and tourist spots but come without the hassle of overpricing, English speaking natives are also a plus for these countries.

– If you’re planning to stay for more than a week, call the hotel that you’d want to stay in and ask for week long stay discounts, these can range for percentages off your room price or even a “free day.”

– Package deals usually save a lot, airfare and lodgings combined into one are usually cheaper compared to paying for them separately. Some travel agencies even provide trio packages which include airfare, hotel and car rental, you can save a lot if you have the industriousness to canvass.

– Find web-only discounts or coupons which some hotels and airline owners provide especially for those willing to reserve online. You can save as much as 50% on your travel costs by going this way.

– Finally, this tip is easier said than done, but once you get the hang of it you’ll never look back. When you travel hand luggage only you save on time spent waiting by the carousel, you remove the risk that your luggage gets lost in transit, and you save on baggage charges.  You might like to fly out with hand luggage and back with a hold bag, in order to shop until you drop while you’re away, but at the very least it’s a good idea to make part of your journey with just the hand luggage included in your ticket price.

Compare here the hotel rates from over 50 hotel booking sites