Ways to save while Road Tripping

[msmama]

We're planning on a southerly road trip at the end of the summer and my planning is adding up $$$. What are some ways to save that I may not have thought of? I belong to several hotel chain rewards programs and have a Chase Sapphire card which gives me 2% on "travel" which I assume counts as hotels. I haven't started booking hotels yet, but I'll probably have several windows open to find the best deals. My Disney card gets me 2% on gas and restaurants.

I'm saving for a DCL cruise and flights home from Europe so I'm trying not to use points (which would obviously save me $$).

I figured I wouldn't be the only one who could use road tripping savings. Thanks!

 

[robinb]

You can use Priceline or Hotwire to book your hotels.

 

[PhoenixStrength]

We just did a 2 week road trip in April, and the biggest money saving we found while on the trip was to stay at hotels that have a fridge and, if possible, microwave. We often didn't eat all of our dinner and having food leftover that we could eat for breakfast saved us money, and time! We also brought a soft sided cooler with us and a large ice pack so that if we still had leftovers after that we could bring them with us. We would put the ice pack in the freezer section of the room fridge (or just in the fridge if it didn't have a freezer slot) so that we could keep using it. We wound up spending half the amount we thought we would on food thanks to these tricks.

 

[pigletto]

Food will be your biggest cost saver. Pack your snacks, eat from a cooler , prepare meals in a room with a kitchen , book rooms with free breakfast etc. I do a little of this on most trips and then splurge where I want to instead of on a bunch a fast food that I don’t need or want .

 

[melissalovesfigment]

We have the Chase Sapphire Reserve. I'm not sure how the points compare and I know you are trying to save points but the best value we have found is transferring points to Hyatt. You can find some Hyatt Place hotels for 5,000 Hyatt points and our Chase points transfer 1:1. We always stay at a Hyatt Place with points if we can.

We also pack a cooler with turkey, carrots, grapes, and drinks. This is our lunch most days. We stay in hotels that provide breakfast so that is 2 meals checked off for the day. I'm not sure what the rules are with Covid but we usually do a "fast casual" or takeout dinner and bring it back to the hotel. We like to eat in the breakfast or bar area. If they don't serve their own dinner, we have never been questioned on this. I hate trying to eat as a family in a hotel room if there isn't an actual table for us to eat around.

 

[barkley]

all of the above and-

call hotels directly (don't choose the option for 'reservations', you want to get a live person on site-it's usually front desk) and find out what rate you can get booking directly through them vs. online or though one of the travel sites. i had a recent emergent need for 3 nite stay locally and i got a much better rate through the front desk than any other resource i found online.

if you belong to a credit union see if they have any special offers on rewards based credit cards. ours is doing one now where if you spend $1000 in the first 3 months you get what equates to $150 in 'rewards' (transaction erasers, gift cards, you can buy airline points). this is ON TOP of the 3% travel rewards they offer. we already have that card so we did'nt get the $150 but we still got the 3% plus our hilton membership (we stayed at a hampton) rewarded us another 3% (i have mine tied to my amazon account so i get the dollar for dollar value).


check what gas runs in the different places you are going so you can plan ahead. crossing state lines can make a HUGE difference, so someone visiting where i live could see a difference of almost $1 per gallon between my state and the one 5 minutes down the road.

know of restaurants you want to go to? see if they have free clubs to sign up for, but make sure to time it out to sign up no more than a week before you will arrive b/c the freebie offers (appetizers, desserts usually) often are only good for a week once they hit your inbox.

take laundry tablets or make little ziplock bags of detergent so you don't overpay for the stupidly overpriced little boxes at hotels.

 

[HeatherC]

We are big road trip fans and have done cross country as well as several week ones. What surprised me the most was to NOT be brand loyal with hotels. Many many times it was cheaper by a ton to stay at another brand of hotel than what we would normally. (Marriotts for us).

Once you have your route and stops planned, head over to TripAdvisors travel forums and also check the hotel reviews for “best” rated hotels in each area you want to stay. By doing this, we stayed in some great places we normally wouldn’t have ever heard of or considered and every time they turned out to be great for our needs and saved us a ton of money.

On our longer trips, I have packed a small induction cooktop along with an electric kettle. With those two things, no matter where we stayed, I was able to whip up easy meals. We always ‘try’ to book places that have fridges and microwaves, but if they didn’t we were still able to cook and heat things up quickly and these two items don’t take up much space at all.

Another thing that worked for us was to eat our biggest meal at lunch. Lunch menus are usually cheaper and we could then reheat leftovers for dinner late if we were even hungry.

I also recommend bringing a wide mouth container that you can put ice in so when the ice melts in your cooler you don’t have wet food. I use a Rubbermaid pitcher that has flat sides so it packs easy and a nice big top so we can just fill it up with ice from the hotels.

We also bring Yeti or Hydroflask water bottles. Keeps drinks cold forever and saves a ton over buying drinks. I also throw some flavor packs in just in case someone wants lemonade, fruit punch, or some flavor besides plain water.

Have a blast! Road tripping is such fun!

 

[barkley]

I also recommend bringing a wide mouth container that you can put ice in so when the ice melts in your cooler you don’t have wet food. I use a Rubbermaid pitcher that has flat sides so it packs easy and a nice big top so we can just fill it up with ice from the hotels.

we've done the same but with gallon ziplock bags (cheapest brand with zippers-they don't leak as easily as traditional closures). fill, drain, refill.


we always check to see if places we are traveling to or through have a community calendar online site b/c we've had a blast attending public events that aren't largely advertised. we've attended little to large community events that provided free attendance, spectacular well priced food (greek festivals are AWESOME), and great entertainment. it's also an illuminating way of experiencing the places you are traveling within.

 

[LovesTimone]

Yes to all of the above...

Love the PP with the suggestion on checking out local calendars, I was going to post this tip you can find some really fun things to do.

You can find some free ways or low cost ways to spend the day, and have a really good time. We have found arts and crafts show, Greek Festivals, German Oktoberfest at a local Church and yes they had a beer cart, and some amazing German food, the meals coupons were like 5 bucks and the amount of food was crazy, ... Jazz or Symphony music on the square, make sure to have a camp chair for the just in case's. Every other kinda festival you can think of, Blueberry, Corn, Strawberry, Pumpkin, Squash, and Sausage festival, all offering music which some was really great local talent, and on and on the list goes. We have even went to a 4H event, which I have to say was really fun, there was a rodeo, kids showing their animals, kids selling preserves which I have to say that we tried some peach preserves this teenager was selling she had won the blue ribbon, and I can not tell you how Delicious it was, we bought like 6 jars of the peach and 3 jars each of the wild blackberry, and strawberry.

Another spot is we like to check out downtown areas, in small town the little shops, and local restaurants. What main street used to be like.

You can always do breakfast in the room, simple cereal and milk would get you going. Lunch out, and just something simple for dinner like a sandwiches in the room...

Having a good cooler is important, as well as some paper plates, plastic forks, spoons, and knives, napkins and/or paper towels, ziploc baggies.

Free Breakfast at the hotel is another great way to save money.

Gas is always a few cents cheaper off the interstates.

Make sure to have your car serviced, oil changed, tires rotated, make sure you have a spare tire, jack, whatever you need for a flat tire, Flashlights, and some type of tool kit, make sure AAA or whatever is up to date for the emergencies.

Have a safe and fun trip...

 

[Babyblue2]

Freeze water bottles to reduce the need for ice. Plus it'll be icy cold to drink later. As others have mentioned, pack your own food and easy to prepare in hotel rooms. There are all sorts of hacks for cooking in a hotel room. No one likes to feel stuffed in a room so search around and/or even ask the front desk clerks for the best happy hour in town for appetizer and drink specials. I've filled on appetizers myself. House wine and $5 meatballs, yes please!

Gas - Gas Buddy app will be your friend. It shows the nearest station prices so you can make an informed decision. Locally, I know two stations that are close to a highway that is 0.15 higher than the rest that are further away from the exit. The app is free.

Activities - Google search for free or cheap fun ideas. I personally like to hike or take strolls at a neighborhood park.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Just so you know bringing things to use to cook food with in a hotel room is against fire code so I would not do it. And the food odor in the hallway will be a dead giveaway that you are cooking. You could risk being kicked out without a refund. We fill large 64 oz juice containers with water and freeze the bottles. They last a long time in a cooler because they are big solid blocks of ice that take longer to thaw. We just did a day and a half trip to Cedar Point and the two bottles we took with us were still pretty much frozen when we left to come home.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

We travel a lot..
Packing food was our biggest saver.
I never plan out my hotels , when we are tired of driving I look up ahead and use Priceline last minute deals. Somedays we feel like we want to keep going... especially on the way to somewhere cool.

 

[MrsPete]

You can use Priceline or Hotwire to book your hotels.

I used to LOVE Priceline (and was really good at bidding for travel), but it's not what it used to be.

Food will be your biggest cost saver. Pack your snacks, eat from a cooler , prepare meals in a room with a kitchen , book rooms with free breakfast etc. I do a little of this on most trips and then splurge where I want to instead of on a bunch a fast food that I don’t need or want .

Yes, you have little control over gas costs and hotel costs ... but food is an easy place to save.

call hotels directly (don't choose the option for 'reservations', you want to get a live person on site-it's usually front desk) and find out what rate you can get booking directly through them vs. online or though one of the travel sites.

Yes, it takes a little extra time, but sometimes you "win".

take laundry tablets or make little ziplock bags of detergent so you don't overpay for the stupidly overpriced little boxes at hotels.

Small savings, but every bit helps.

Free Breakfast at the hotel is another great way to save money.

Yes, when we do a road trip, we consider a perfect meal day:
- Breakfast included in the cost of the room.
- One restaurant meal.
- One "from the cooler meal".

Another idea: share a meal. My husband and I often order a large meal and share it (rather than have leftovers that must be stored in a cooler on the road).

 

[Tiberella626]

A few things we are looking at:

Drury inns offer a "light dinner" in addition to breakfast.

Some credit cards allow you to redeem points for gas cards and restaurants, a few free lunches would come in handy.

Look at Tupperware (yup it's still around) they have some neat microwave cooking stuff, spaghetti, eggs even a cake in the "stack cooker". This stuff can come in handy if you are limited to a microwave for cooking.

If you have an Aldi near by, use it!! Some stuff if not great, but most is fine if not great.