Here's What Happens When Costco Books Your Vacation

Costco is a great place to find discounts on everyday groceries and household items and even some big-ticket purchases like TVs, furniture, and cars. But did you know that Costco can help book your vacation?

That's right: Costco Travel offers member-exclusive deals on hotels, rental cars, cruises, and vacation packages. This could be another great reason to buy a Costco membership.

Let's look at how Costco Travel works, and why it could be a good choice to book your vacation with Costco.

Costco Travel: A travel agency for Costco members

Costco Travel is part of the larger Costco Wholesale company, and you'll see big signs for Costco Travel at every Costco warehouse location. Basically, Costco Travel is like an in-house travel agency just for Costco members. In the same way that Costco warehouse stores give Costco members exclusive deals on groceries, laptop computers, and rotisserie chickens, Costco Travel offers special travel discounts.

Costco Travel does not offer standalone flights. If you just want to book a flight, you'll have to use a different travel website or search tool. But Costco Travel does offer:

• Cruises
• Hotels (which can include flights)
• Rental cars
• Vacation packages (which can include flights)

Costco Travel might not be the best deal for standalone hotel bookings. I'm going to be traveling and staying at a hotel next month, and I did a price check to compare my existing reservation's rate (that I got from my hotel loyalty program) with Costco Travel's hotel price. Costco's price was the same as the hotel loyalty program.

Instead, the best value with Costco Travel might come from booking cruises or entire vacation packages. Many vacation bookings on Costco will give you a special discount in the form of a Digital Costco Shop Card based on the cost of your travel package. This could be a better reward than even the best credit cards! Fortunately, Costco offers a wide selection of places you can travel if you let Costco book your vacation for you.

Where can you go with Costco Travel?

Costco Travel offers a wide range of vacation destinations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, and as far away as Fiji. You can also use Costco to book cruises all over the world, from Alaska to the Mediterranean to Bali and Western Australia.

Here are a few exciting travel experiences that you can enjoy when Costco books your vacation (listed on the Costco Travel website as of May 20, 2024).

Alaska: Kirkland Signature Denali Explorer Cruisetour

Want to see some of the most wondrous sites of Alaska, while also enjoying a cruise through the Pacific Northwest? This Kirkland Signature cruise experience departs from Vancouver and gives you 11 nights of travel adventures -- including an Alaska train ride to Denali and adventurous tours of Denali National Park.

Dominican Republic: Hyatt Ziva Cap Cana Resort Package

This all-inclusive resort package gives you a Caribbean beachfront experience, with unlimited food and (nearly) unlimited drinks. Hyatt Ziva Cap Cana is a resort for all ages, and it offers some impressive amenities like swim-up bars, infinity pools, and a water park. The resort gets great reviews from Costco members, who say it's family-friendly and an easy place to take kids.

Portugal: 10-night Group Luxury Tour

Portugal has a sunny Mediterranean climate, delicious food and wine, and gorgeous historic architecture. This 10-night tour gives you exclusive experiences and encounters with Portuguese culture, like live Fado music, wine tastings, private cruises, and cave outings, a cooking class to learn how to make pastéis de nata (Portuguese custard tarts), and before-hours access to Livraria Lello, one of the world's oldest bookstores.

Costco Travel: High marks for customer service

Based on the Costco member reviews, Costco's vacation picks are generally excellent. And in case you run into issues or need help, Costco Travel gets high praise for its customer service. Costco Travel members on Reddit have commented about how helpful the customer service was, such as a time when a rental car company issued unfair charges, and Costco quickly got the charges refunded.

If you're on the fence about whether you feel comfortable booking a vacation with Costco, you can feel confident that -- just like with Costco's generous returns policy -- Costco customer service will have your back.

Bottom line

I'm a longtime Costco member and I love Costco for thousands of reasons, but I personally have not tried Costco Travel (yet). However, I have a friend who used Costco Travel to book a family vacation in London, including hotels and flights. He said it was a marvelous experience and a great value for money!

I would totally try Costco Travel, because I trust Costco to give me a great experience at a lower-than-expected price. With Costco, the biggest value of membership is not just the price, it's trusting Costco to "curate" great deals for you -- and this can be especially helpful if you want to go on a cruise, or go on an all-inclusive resort vacation in another country where you haven't been before. Costco Travel can be your concierge to help you find great places that you can trust, at a lower price than you could get for yourself.