5 Ways to Save on Stays Without Using Points

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1. Maximize Card Benefits with Travel Credits and Offers

Credit cards aren’t just about earning points—many come with travel credits that can significantly reduce your accommodation expenses. For example, cards like the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve® both offer generous annual travel credits. But, with those credits are you really strategically thinking about where to place those to stretch how far they can go?

For example, Megan applied one of her credits towards a hotel stay in Fort William, Scotland, where rooms were running between $400 and $500 per stay. By using the credit wisely, she drastically reduced her out-of-pocket costs. 🙌

Plus, don’t forget to browse through your card offers monthly and as you’re planning your trips to make sure you’re not leaving money or points on the table.

2. Leverage Free Night Awards

Of course, we love our free night awards around here! 😍 These come with several of our favorite hotel cobranded cards and occasionally with a welcome offer. While these are often used for splurging on luxurious stays, Megan recommends using them strategically to fill in the gaps between long-term stays.

On her trip, she used three free night awards—one with Hilton, one with IHG, and one with Hyatt— all in between longer-term bookings.

3. Housesitting: The Budget Traveler’s Best-Kept Secret

Admittedly, this one is not for everyone, but it is a really fun way to make long term tavel a reality. If you’re new to housesitting, in short, you typically get to stay somewhere for free in exchange for watching someone’s house and (usually) pets.

TrustedHousesitters is a popular site to use for this (and the one Megan goes through on all of her stays!).

Initially hesitant, Megan now loves housesitting and incorporates it into every long-term trip. It also offers the convenience of a home, which allows you to save on food costs by cooking your meals.

For long-term stays, Megan recommends filtering house sits by duration, opting for opportunities of two weeks or more to really settle into a new place. This strategy also opens up opportunities in areas you may not have originally considered visiting, offering a unique perspective on a region.

4. Ask for Long-Term Stay Discounts

Whether you're staying in a hotel or booking through Airbnb, asking for a long-term discount can often lead to substantial savings. Follow Mike’s lead on this in this newsletter. He landed a discount on a long-term Hyatt stay which is pretty epic!

Megan more commonly does this with vacation rentals like AirBnb. Either in person or through messaging can successfully work!

Another spin on this tip — Megan met up with a friend in Edinburgh who sublet an apartment for a month thanks to a previous Airbnb host he met in the city. Don’t be afraid to make connections and ask for help along the way on your travel journey!

5. Use Positioning Hotels for Strategic Savings

Much like positioning flights to save on airfare, you can position yourself with hotels to reduce accommodation costs. Of course, you can use this by staying long term in a less touristy area near the most popular cities. Or you can position yourself between one stay and the next.

For instance, Megan opted to stay in Queensferry, Scotland—less expensive than nearby Edinburgh or Stirling—before continuing her journey. This "positioning" saved her significant money, allowing her to explore the surrounding area while staying within budget.

Another example is staying at an airport hotel in Amsterdam on the last leg of her trip. While she was still exploring the city, choosing an airport hotel for the final night of her stay saved points and money, positioning her perfectly for her flight the next day.

The Bottom Line

Incorporating these five tips—maximizing card benefits, leveraging free nights, house sitting, asking for long-term discounts, and using positioning hotels—will help you stretch your travel budget further, especially on long-term trips. Whether you're exploring the Highlands of Scotland or hopping between European capitals, these strategies ensure that your accommodation costs won’t eat into your adventure funds.

Happy travels!