After flights, accommodation will be one of your biggest expenses when traveling. If you’re a budget traveler, then you’re going to want to figure out ways to keep the costs down. Cheaper accommodation costs means you can travel for longer, take more frequent trips or even splash out on expensive accommodation towards the end of your trip – it’s up to you! There are a few types of accommodation that you can use, that will cut costs down. Here are our suggestions of tips for saving money on accommodation:
Credit: “Apartment” by Kavanjin Croatia Apartments
1) Rent Apartments
Renting apartments can be considerably cheaper than booking a room in a hotel. The other added bonus if often you’ll get an equipped kitchen, which means that you can cook some meals at home – at least breakfast. During the course of a few weeks, this can cut your holiday costs back dramatically. Most apartments tend to be in residential areas which means you will often have a local grocery or supermarket near by, which is much cheaper than buying your food from convenience stores that tend to be scattered around hotels. If you’re traveling with a family, staying in an apartment is more comfortable because you’ll have ample space.
2) House Swap
If you’re going to be going somewhere for a length of time and leaving your home vacant, why not turn it into a house swap? If you can find someone who is leaving their house for a few weeks and coming to your city, a house swap wound be a great way for you both to save money. There are numerous house swapping websites set up so you can browse people’s profiles, locations and travel plans.
Credit: “Apartment” by Loozrboy on Flickr
3) Housesit
What could be better than free accommodation? Not much. Many people need someone to tend to their animals or garden while they’re away, which has lead to a number of housesitting websites being created. There are numerous housesitting opportunities worldwide. Chances are, where you want to go there’s someone who needs some pets minded or plants watered. Why not cut down the costs of your trip considerably and help someone else out?
4) Couchsurfing
As mentioned in our budget tips article, Couchsurfing is a great way to reduce accommodation costs while making some new friends. The premise is, someone offers up their couch (or spare room if they have one) to a traveler and allows them to stay for free, for a few days. This is a great way to get a local insight into a new place, all while saving money and making new friends.
It doesn’t have to cost a fortune to explore the world. With these tips for saving money on accommodation you can dramatically reduce the cost of traveling so that you can travel longer and more often.
