3 Travel Habits That Save Me Thousands Every Year

I'm a frequent traveler, and I like to enjoy each trip as much as possible. For that reason, I normally make sure to book business-class airfare and a nice hotel or home rental.

You might think that I'm paying a ton of money to travel this way. Indeed, I occasionally spend big on travel. It's one of the things I value most, and I save money specifically for travel, so I don't mind spending on it when necessary. But I also save thousands of dollars every year because of a few key travel habits. If you're trying to travel for less, they could help you do the same.

1. I pay for everything with travel credit cards

Travel credit cards are my favorite travel hack. Every time I spend money, I use a travel card. The only exception is transactions that can't be paid with credit cards, or when there's an extra fee involved.

Otherwise, it's going on a travel card so I can earn points. When I have enough points, I redeem them for travel purchases -- usually business-class airfare, since that's often the best deal, but sometimes I use them for hotel stays. I also open new travel cards every year. This isn't necessary, but many travel cards have large sign-up bonuses, so I do it to earn more points.

It's possible to score amazing deals with travel points you earn using credit cards. Here are a few examples of how I've saved using credit card points over the last few years:

• In 2022, I saved $7,455 on hotels in New York.
• In 2023, I saved $11,378 on business-class flights to and from Europe.
• In 2024, I've already saved $5,687 on a business-class flight to Europe again.

2. I'm flexible about when I travel

Flight and hotel prices vary quite a bit by date. Sometimes you can cut your costs in half just by traveling on a different day or week.

For example, round-trip economy flights from New York to Paris are currently $466 if you depart on March 10 and return on March 17. If you depart on March 9 and return on March 18, that drops to $328. The same is often true when you're paying with travel rewards. I recently booked a flight for 77,000 miles that cost 193,500 miles on another date.

I try to go into travel planning with as much flexibility as possible. This isn't always achievable, especially when there's a special occasion or you need to schedule travel around your work. But when you can, I recommend looking at travel prices on different dates before figuring out what time you'll take off from work. That way, you can base your travel plans around which dates have the lowest prices.

3. I spend plenty of time at each destination

I was in a bar once in Barcelona and got sucked into a conversation with some other American tourists. One of them decided to proudly explain the "best way to do Europe" to me. Spend one or two days in each hotspot, and then go party at the next place on the list. I'm paraphrasing, but there weren't exactly any finer points to this strategy. And I thought it sounded absolutely awful.

I prefer to spend more time at each place I visit. I like getting a chance to know a city and not feel like I'm rushing through it. Another perk of this approach is that it's a less expensive and less stressful way to travel.

When you bounce from place to place, you spend much more on transportation. Each new destination probably means another $50 to $100 flight or train ride. There's also the hassle of packing up, spending half a day traveling, and then settling in at your next hotel or home rental. If you have a packed itinerary, consider cutting one or two cities. It's more important to enjoy yourself than to check places off a list.

I like to recommend advice that has worked for me. These travel habits all fit the bill. They've helped me save quite a bit of money over the years, and they continue to work for me today.