Getting the best travel deal has become one of the biggest games in town. The airline and hotel industries have been hammered by a wide variety of websites that do web based research and come up with lots of ways to save you money. As quickly as ways to save money are found out, companies change them or find other ways to charge up the price. So you have to stay on your toes. Here are some of the latest and greatest ways to save money.

Register For Refunds At Yapa.com

The price of airline tickets usually go up as the day of the flight gets nearer. But sometimes flights don’t fill and prices drop at the last minute. Most airlines and online travel agencies will refund you the difference between the price you paid and the current price in travel vouchers or travel credits. Yapa.com will track the fares for you and send you an email or a Tweet when the price drops. Yapa will also show you how to collect your refund.

Overseas Budget Airlines

You may have heard about Ryan Air and some of the other local budget airlines operating around Europe and Asia. Their prices can be less than half of what major airlines charge. There are more budget carriers popping up all the time. WhichBudget.com can plan an entire trip using regional budget airlines. Enter your starting and ending point and they’ll give you a list of small airlines, many of which you have probably never heard of.

Get Airfare Watchdog On Your Side

If you can keep your plans a little loose, Airfare Watchdog has a number of services for catching rock bottom prices. Their members sign up with airlines and collect promotional codes and other deals that can be passed on to other Airfare Watchdog users. Because users are members of airline websites, they get advance notice of fare sales that sometimes provide deep discounts.

When Should You Buy Your Ticket?

Knowing when to buy your ticket is key to getting the best deal. Bing Travel has a nifty price predictor that does a pretty good job of predicting which way prices are going to go. If you happen to be traveling to one of the cities they are willing to make a prediction about, it will also tell you how much confidence it has in it’s prediction.

Start As Early As Possible

You should start your fair search early, take your time, and have fun with it. One great place to start is Kayak.com, which specializes in super-cheap fares. If you can, give Kayak a range of dates and times to play with and see what it comes up with. Then try their explore tool. Put your starting point and how much you want to spend into it, and it will display a map showing how far you can go.

If you and your company want to host a meeting or have a Party in New York City, Hornblower can host the whole affair on a private yacht while you cruise around the island.

Don’t forget to read travel blogs while you are planning your trip. Things change so fast in the travel and vacation world that up to the minute advice and information can save you lots. It doesn’t hurt to leave replies to blogs that you read filling them in on interesting things that you have found.