HAVING travelled to 41 countries, as well as presented travel shows including A Place in the Sun, its safe to say I’ve learned a few money saving tricks along the way.
And as a mum trying to pinch the pennies on a family holiday, I realised two huge mistakes people make when it came to booking hotels – and it saved me hundreds.
A big way to save money is hotel hopping – and this isn’t just for the luxury travellers and celebrities.
The money hack means you can save if instead of one hotel for a week, you try two.
This works by booking the more expensive place midweek, as this is when rates are lower.
You then move to the cheaper hotel when prices go up, which is usually at the weekend.
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I realised this when travelling as a family of four, in Göcek, Turkey.
The small marina town is full of expensive boutique hotels, so prices can easily spiral when trying to find space for both parents and kids.
Instead, we split our Turkey trip between Dalaman and Göcek, as midweek, we spotted a suite in a five-star area for £105 a night, hundreds cheaper than a weekend stay.
But don’t just stop there as it isn’t the only way to get a bargain.
We saved even more by calling the hotel, rather than just clicking the book button.
When I call a hotel, I don’t haggle — I just ask one simple question: “What’s the best price you can do if we book direct?”
After chatting to them, not only did they drop the price from £105 to £80 a night, but they also threw in free breakfast for all four of us, which would cost £15 each per night.
Over five nights, that alone would have added up fast.
In the end we paid just £400 for five nights midweek, while the exact same suite at the weekend would have cost £200 a night alone.
Had we stayed on for the full week, the total would have jumped sharply — for the same room.
So instead, we packed up and moved on, and got a mini-adventure out of it.
Once you realise hotel prices change by the night, you stop booking holidays by the week and start booking them properly.
We used the same approach in Spain, where we booked a five-star hotel on the Costa del Sol midweek, then a smaller hotel in Cádiz at the weekend for £95 a night.
ONE EXTRA HACK: “five-star location” without five-star prices
We also save money by staying in an apartment or Airbnb in a five-star area, instead of an all-inclusive resort.
For a family of four, we found an apartment to fit us all for £110 a night, compared to a nearby resort suite which was £280 a night.
We travel as a family of four for 12 weeks of the year and It’s the one habit that’s saved our family the most money — and given us our best memories.