Money saving hacks when booking accomo!

We love hostels, and have spent the last 10 years staying in hostels as they are a great way to meet people and fantastic if you are traveling solo. You meet new and amazing travelers from all round the world and some hostels are honestly second to none when it comes to embracing new and interesting cultures. However, as we are now in the slightly higher age bracket (Leo more than me...I'm still a spring chicken ) and our days of sweaty dorm rooms and noisy snorers are over, we are leaning towards Air B n B and Booking.com for the majority of our trip. We will also be volunteering along the way as well and you can read all about that here.

These 2 platforms have been interesting and valuable to us in NZ as we find this Air B n B a great way to meet locals and immerse in that culture, whereas with booking.com it's often to find accommodation that includes breakfast or, if a member  - a genius discount (more info below)

​Air B n B – So far into our planning and initial booking stage for the first few months of the trip we have found some amazing deals on Air B n B. The best one recently being in Santiago, Chile where Booking.com was charging $167NZD for a 2-night stay. After some research, contacting the property directly on Air B n B allowed us to book this for $66NZD for the 2 nights. WINNING. This doesn’t happen too often but shopping around is 100% the best, most effective way to save money!

We use this site a lot as when we travel we want to experience the location and meet the locals. We feel this results in a highly rewarding experience and more often than not, this is where you find out about those hidden gems – the highlights of most traveler's trips! Allowing us to meet the locals and gain and insight into their knowledge can be invaluable which to us is why this this platform is so worthwhile. If you haven’t already – sign up here and use our link to receive a $50 NZD discount off your stay and $19NZD discount off one of the activity experiences of $66 or more!

BOOKING.COM: - Booking.com has to us been our 'go to' for many years and we have used it for Brazil, Easter Island, Ecuador and both Norway and London in the past. It’s easy to use, all the photos are generally great (apart from a few dodgy. blurry ones in South America) and the reviews are from actual travelers so are pretty honest…. especially the bad ones which can be a great read! If you book regularly then you become a ‘genius’ member which unlocks an extra 10% off a lot of properties which can save you heaps a long the way. But as I mentioned before, ALWAYS do your research and compare the properties through both platforms as this alone can save you $$.

UPDATED HACK! - So, I just came across this little beauty and now I'm hitting myself as I hope it's new and I haven't been doing it wrong for years! On Booking.com, download the app on your mobile device and when booking there are a lot of properties that offer an extra 10% off - JUST TO BOOK THROUGH YOUR MOBILE PHONE!! I am completely mind blown as I have just booked Auckland Airport accommo. Through the website direct the property was $125NZD. Through Booking.com on my laptop it was $115NZD and on my phone it was $103.50NZD! Every penny counts when traveling so make sure to use this whenever possible!
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If you are new to booking.com then you can use this link when booking and it will then automatically refund you 10% of your stay after you have stayed in the location which is pretty awesome!

Please contact us if you would like any extra info though as we are more than happy to help point you in the right direction and tell you some of our fav's from our trip!

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