From app aggregation to crowdsourcing itineraries, technology makes travel better.
From app aggregation to crowdsourcing itineraries, technology makes travel better.
If the hassle and cost of planning a holiday puts you off, you can breathe easier if you’re willing to integrate some tech into your prep. It’s easy to penny-pinch, but there’s more to holidaying than mitigating the cost factor.
USING AIRBNB FOR BETTER, CHEAPER ACCOMMODATION
On the surface, accommodation-booking apps such as Airbnb seem like an affordable and reasonable alternative to swanky hotels in unfamiliar places. However, it’s always up to the user to come up with better ways to use an existing service.
During a recent office visit to Airbnb, the brilliant workers in the Singapore team told us that the app has a value-added experience for your trips. Some of the popular Airbnb listings double as a cultural petri-dish of the country itself – sometimes, the host is genuinely interested in meeting people from all over the world, and this in turns gives the traveler a great local guide at no extra cost. At other times, the accommodation itself is decorated in the spirit of the host country while adding to the homely ambience. While boutique hotels do offer interesting décor, Airbnb listings tend to take it a step further with extremely attractive furnishing with a personal touch from the host themselves.
Even if you don’t get any of these experiences, the best listings on the app do end up with some random perks – like having breakfast prepared for you by meticulous hosts, or getting a going-away party on your last day of visit. At its bare minimum, you can still find really affordable places to stay in if you’re not interested in all these fringe benefits – such as a week-long stay in a user-verified hostel at a fraction of your flight ticket’s cost.
Besides using common sense to protect yourself on such platforms, the only caveat is the extra time needed to research for a suitable dwelling for your perfect holiday purpose – a honeymoon is, after all, very different from a backpacking trip. Also, Airbnb hosts are not hoteliers from the tourism industry – so if you are expecting to be pampered like royalty, our Google Hotel Finder tip (below) might be a better match for you.
So before you hit that “book now” button for your favorite hotel chain, you can always consider alternatives like Airbnb. If you’re adventurous enough, you can look into the riskier couch-surfing culture, where like-minded people let travelers crash at their place for free.
USING SKYSCANNER TO CUT DOWN ON RESEARCH FOR FLIGHTS
Your travel-loving buddies would be savvy enough to sign up for airline newsletters and budget-hunting websites for cheaper-than-usual flights. The time invested into these habits, however, can be unrealistic for working professionals. Mobile apps that help to aggregate flight availability across a variety of airlines can help to cut down on searching for travel dates at reasonable prices. There are many – Expedia and KAYAK are some examples that bundle hotel and flight arrangements together. Of all these aggregation apps, we feel that the Skyscanner Flights app is one of the better ones for flight booking, thanks to the prices it can get, the user-friendly interface, and its compatibility with a wide range of traditional and lowcost airlines.
For starters, the app is an aggregating platform for airlines and travel agents. This means that Skyscanner is actually capable of searching for the best prices across various agent sites and airline webpages in one fell swoop. This alone helps to cut down the time needed to trawl through the big names one site at a time, since the search engine allows you to indicate your favorites.
If the lure of less legwork isn’t strong enough, perhaps its intuitive interface would. The Skyscanner’s UI on the app and the desktop website is capable of remembering your previous searches, so you can have the luxury of researching flights without re-entering all your preferred details. This alone saves plenty of time when you do repeated checks for updates, and the mobile format lets you do your due diligence while you’re in commute.
Finally, the service itself is legit – if you see a booking you like, Skyscanner actually takes you to the page of the airline of your choice so you can complete the booking through the airline itself.
EVEN GOOGLE MAPS HAS A HOTEL-BOOKING SOLUTION
Google Hotel Finder has been around long enough to reliably provide deals within the realm of traditional hotel bookings, but it takes a little Google-fu to truly get the most out of this rarely promoted service.
To initiate the search, visit the Google Maps search engine page, but by keying in “Hotels in” followed by your destination of choice (for example, “hotels in Singapore”). Instead of pulling up a list of travel agents, the search engine will instead show a list of big-brand hotels dotted across Google Maps, the star ratings based on Google user recommendations, and a price tag that gives a ballpark on your expected per-night expenses. Chain hotels generally have uniform service standards, and this in turn makes Google Hotel Finder a great way to scout for deals directly from the hotels at a single glance. Clicking on the action cards in Google Maps will eventually bring you to the hotel’s webpage for room reservations.
The added benefit that Google has up against other online agents is none other than the Google Maps integration itself. If you’re looking for hotels that are easily accessible to your places of interest, there’s no need to venture outside of their interface. You can also do other types of vacation research from the map by searching for directions and commuting instructions, on top of checking out facilities around your area for preparing your holiday. Looking out for convenience stores and good restaurants around your hotel is a great way to get started.
CROWDSOURCING ITINERARIES TO CUSTOMIZE YOURS
Going the extra mile
Technology is great in putting everything together, but maximizing your holiday experience requires an eye for detail. Here are some little-known, old-school facts about preparing for a vacation that can actually make a difference to paying less or getting more.
Ripe for cancellation:
People who make a booking directly with the hotel may have a choice to cancel their reservations just 24 to 48 hours before their stay. This in turn frees up the rooms for reservations again, but these rooms will be at lower-than-usual rates to other lucky folks.
The 11th hour flight:
Airlines do cut prices if they cannot fill planes for any upcoming flights. When your favorite airline does their weekly price update, give it a glance and see if you can catch a cheap flight out for the coming weekend.
Hump day:
The cheapest flights to the same destinations are usually the ones that depart on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and it’s truer for short distance travel. If you can manage your itinerary or annual leave to accommodate a mid-week flight, the money saved can go into other travel expenses.
It’s my birthday:
While checking in, don’t forget to tell your hotel’s receptionist if you happen to be traveling because of a special occasion that’s personal and relatable (wedding anniversary, birthday, etc.). Most established hotels in touristy locations or big cities are all about their patron’s experiences, so there’s a chance that you’ll receive complimentary boosts to your stay – ranging from a simple redecoration of your room, to a free upgrade in room quality. Be polite, and tipping the agent can help too.
