Social media has caused a revolution in the travel world, and that’s a great thing. Literally any likes, follows, hashtags and reviews can potentially translate into discounts and freebies, and many people are hunting for them. Young people like us are one of the leading groups when it comes to travel, but we often don’t have as much money as older or more settled travelers. More than ever, we are looking for ways to reduce the cost of our vacations.
In fact, cost is an important consideration for all generations right now. The cost of living is getting higher every month and many young people are seeing their pay further eroded by student debt. Even though international travel is more accessible than ever before, we need to use every opportunity to save money.
In my experience, social media has emerged as an unexpected source of great deals and discounts on travel. Many businesses foster their profiles and reward their followers with nice gifts while special aggregator websites crawl the internet and provide information on the best travel deals around the world.
Want to know how to find the best travel deals on social media and start saving money? Okay, let’s find out!
The Best Travel Deals on Social Media
1) Follow Budget Travel Bloggers
Many travel bloggers have limited amounts of money to spend on traveling as they start out just like you – backpacking the globe and sharing their stories. They know how important it is to stretch your dollar as far as possible. They share real-life experiences on their blogs, identify helpful spending tips and always seem to know where the next hot budget travel destination is located.
In addition their websites are wells of information on budget travel to all sorts of countries and cities, listing free things to do, how to have fun like a local or ways to travel and save money at the same time. Not reading these, would be a los – so before you do anything else, turn to (budget) travel bloggers like , , , 0r for advice.
And don’t forget to check out Travelettes’ own too!
2) Travel Deals on Facebook
Facebook offers a lot of great deals for travelers – you just need to follow the right pages and keep up with updates on a regular basis. Often businesses, like hotels or tour companies will announce special deals on Facebook first or even limit these deals to their followers.
But how can you find Facebook pages that will be interesting for you? It’s simple and effortless: use Facebook search button and type in the necessary keywords. In fact you don’t even have to follow crazy amounts of hotels, all you should do it type these keywords in the search bar: “discounts” “hotel” “city”. You’ll see the offers you need right away. To improve the quality of the results, select Posts in the bar just below the search (you can check other options as well).
People, who follow official pages of any businesses on Facebook, often get rewarded for liking, commenting and being an active subscriber. It’s a well-known marketing method, which benefits both the companies and their customers. Here are some Facebook pages that regularly post great discounts: , , , , , or .
Some restaurants offer discounts or even free meals for anybody who checks in at their location on Facebook – always keep your eyes peeled for signs around the places you eat!
So, to cut the long story short, in order to save money, you should take advantage of Facebook and like away!
3) Travel Deals on Twitter
Apart from Facebook, Twitter is of course also a great place to find discounts and offers for travelers. Again, to find them, you can either follow relevant company or aggregator accounts and read their latest tweets, or use hashtags which will allow you to see wider lists of offers.
Many of the Facebook pages we recommended, also have useful Twitter accounts. But there is more! For instance, if you’re looking for cheap plane tickets, you can follow @ and get great airfare deals. Following major airlines and hotels in general is a good idea, as they often post about deals, special offers and discounts. Tourism boards often host giveaways via Twitter, so if you already have your mind set on a destination, check them out too.
Good hashtags to keep up to date with are or to search for the greatest offers.
4) Participate in Instagram Contests
Often, tourism boards, hotels and airline companies organize contests on Instagram and other social media to grow brand awareness. These contests are a perfect opportunity for you to get discounts and prizes. In most cases, all you have to do is share a photo or video using a particular hashtag.
5) Install Apps to Find Quick Hotels and Cheap Flights
I’m sure you know that using the right travel apps can also help you save money on travel. Here are some of my top suggestions:
- – predicts the future of airfare prices to help you save up to 40 percent on your next flight. Available for iOS and Android.
- Hotel Tonight (read the ) – find cheap hotel deals at the last minute and up to a week in advance. iOS and Android versions are available.
- – helps to find cheap flights by enabling to book with multiple stops and then deplane. There are iOS and Android versions.
- – compares prices from popular travel sites to give the user the ability to select the best deals. Download it from App Store and Google Play.
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Time to Hunt for Travel Deals!
Liking and following the pages of hotels, airlines, restaurants and other companies is the easiest and most effective way to find special offers and discounts. Social media offers great platforms for advertisements, and many companies take advantage of that to keep in touch with their customers and offer them the best deals.
Check your feed, follow the updates and you will eventually find the best bargain for you!
What is the best travel deal you’ve ever found on social media?
This is a guest post by Lucy Benton.
Lucy Benton is a writing coach, an editor who finds her passion in expressing own thoughts as a blogger and currently works at . She is constantly looking for the ways to improve her skills and expertise. Also Lucy has her own blog where you can check her last publications.
