Travel Club leveraging
I love traveling! Experiencing different cultures and meeting new people!
My dilemma was how to travel more often. And do so on a budget, as I still grind at a 9 to 5 to make ends meet.
I looked at a few vacation groups and decided to become a member to take advantage of volume booking.
Although it isn’t necessary to join a Travel Club to take vacations, you can however leverage the perks they offer, experience more destinations, and vacation more often.
The benefits offered to members of Vacation Groups and Travel Clubs will vary, but I can share what i’ve learned from the one I joined.
If you are looking to travel more on a budget, and open to joining a travel club, here are three things to keep in mind as well as a couple simple things that you do everyday that may earn you some travel points. At least in the case of my particular Travel Club, which is DreamTrips.
Thing 1.
Take advantage of the featured deals if you can (The ones scheduled 45 – 60 days out). The destination may not even have been on your radar. But by remaining open minded, you will get to visit and experience even more places and book them more often as they are typically super reasonable in price, due to volume pricing.
Think of it like baseball. A batter at the plate, may or may not always get the perfect pitch he is looking for, but swinging at a descent pitch may still yield a score!
At the time of this writing as an example, you could book the upcoming featured trip to Shanghai, China or Cyprus, Greece in the Mediterranean for as low as $350- $400 for a 3-4 night stay with a few meals and excursions included! (Per person, Based on Double Occupancy). The only thing missing in the awesome picture of the shores of Cyprus is YOU!
Please note that the aforementioned prices are member only prices and do not include airline tickets. Airfare is NOT included as members are travelling from various countries.
Thing 2.
Rack up travel points by leveraging everyday necessities. Again, speaking as a DreamTrips member. By taking advantage of their middle membership (Gold), I earn points by:
Eating Out. Which my family does at least once a week anyway, so why not leverage it towards a vacation. Check with your particular club or membership and see if they offer this.
You can average about 30pts or more every weekend, I earned 26pts off the above dinner alone (there were three of us). If you average 30 pts a weekend at $1 per point, that grants you about 120pts ($120) to apply toward a trip. I will mention that points allowed per trip will also vary.
Shopping Online. This works especially good if you have a particular hobby. For me, its electronics. By ordering gadgets from places like Best Buy or Walmart, I also earns points towards my next trip.
Thing 3.
Some of these vacation clubs also offer savings outside of points earned, as they partner with various companies, vendors and merchants to beef up their benefits. Besides electronics, I’m also a movie junkie. So being able to utilize discounts at both AMC and Regal Theaters (in my area) is an awesome perk at least for me. Dollar saved Dollar earned.
Becoming a Member
Membership costs will depend on the tier you choose, and each dollar spent signing up as well as monthly amount counts as a point towards a trip!
It is possible to produce a very similar accommodation costs when using sites such as booking.com. The difference I see by going through Travel Clubs such as DreamTrips are the meals, excursions and transportation to and from the airport.
No matter how you get there, leverage what you can and vacation more!
