Money Management

A luxury hotel elevates your travel experience. Check out the destinations that have five-star hotels at an affordable price. 

You can have an amazing travel experience at any type of accommodation. I’ve enjoyed trips where I rented a cheap room on Airbnb, and plenty of backpackers have had a great time staying at hostels. But there’s something special about staying at a luxury hotel and getting the royal treatment.

These hotels are usually expensive. Luxury comes at a cost, after all. Five-star hotels can cost $500 to $1,000 or more per night, which is above most people’s budgets. When you’re trying to improve your finances, spending that much on a hotel may be out of the question.

However, there’s also a way to get the luxury experience at a much lower cost: Visit a more affordable destination. Not sure where to go? In Skyscanner’s Travel Trends 2024 Report, it listed some of the destinations with the most affordable five-star hotels, with prices as low as $102 per night.

Destinations with the most affordable five-star hotels

Here’s Skyscanner’s list of some of the best-value five-star stays around the world:

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: $102 per nightHoi An, Vietnam: $117 per nightTirana, Albania: $140 per nightChiang Mai, Thailand: $146 per nightBrno, Czech Republic: $156 per night

Those were the average prices per night on Skyscanner between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2023, for stays booked throughout 2023.

So if you’re looking for the five-star experience without a five-star price, you have options. There are plenty of destinations that are popular with travelers on a budget. In any of the cities listed above, you could stay five nights at a luxury hotel for less than $1,000.

More ways to book luxury hotel stays for less

We’ve covered one of the best ways to save on luxury hotel stays. But going somewhere because of price isn’t always an option. Maybe you already have plans to visit a specific destination, or you’re simply interested in a city that’s on the expensive side.

There are other methods to save on hotels, no matter where you go. Here are the methods I use and recommend for booking luxury hotels at a lower price.

Do a price comparison on multiple booking sites. Google Hotels is perfect for this, because it provides a list of the sites where you can book a hotel and the nightly rate at each one.Go to the hotel’s offers page to look for deals. Some hotels have special offers available online, such as a discounted nightly rate or a complimentary daily breakfast.Sign up for hotel loyalty programs. As a member, you’ll earn points every time you stay with that hotel. If you stay with a hotel often, you’ll eventually have enough points for a free stay.Check out the best hotel credit cards. Many of these include an annual free night certificate. These can be valuable, especially if you redeem them at an expensive five-star hotel (make sure to check the rules for the certificate for any exclusions). When you use a hotel credit card, you also earn points in that hotel’s loyalty program, so earning enough for a free stay happens much faster.Travel in the offseason. Hotels are much more expensive during an area’s peak travel season. Consider visiting at another time of year. It could cut your hotel costs in half, and there won’t be nearly as many people, which means fewer lines and sold-out activities.

A five-star hotel isn’t a must-have every time you travel, but it can make for an incredible getaway. It doesn’t need to cost thousands, either. All those tips can help — I’ve personally saved thousands on hotel stays with travel credit cards. For a very budget-friendly stay, you can also plan your next trip to one of those affordable destinations.

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The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.Citigroup is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Lyle Daly has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Want to see your long-term savings take off? Read on to see how. 

Last year, Northwestern Mutual reported that the average American had $89,300 saved for retirement. If you’re in your 20s or 30s, that’s certainly a respectable balance. If you’re older, you may want to start ramping up on savings in your brokerage account to avoid a financial crunch later in life.

Meanwhile, one of your financial goals for 2024 may be to boost your retirement savings. To pull that off, use these tricks.

1. Save your entire raise if you can

Maybe your apartment lease recently came up for renewal and your rent is now costing you $80 more per month. If that’s the case, you may need to dip into your 2024 raise to cover the difference. But if your living costs haven’t risen this year and your pay has, you have a prime opportunity to grow your IRA or 401(k) balance.

Take a look at how much larger your paychecks are this year, and, if possible, allocate that extra sum to your retirement savings. But do it soon — you don’t want to get used to having that extra money to spend. If you wait too long, you might sign up for a service or subscription that becomes difficult to cancel, leaving you with less money to save.

2. Claim every dollar your employer will give you in your 401(k)

One common benefit offered by employers is a 401(k) plan. And yours might come with a decent-sized match.

Vanguard reports that as of last year, 95% of its plans offered a matching contribution. So it’s important to understand how your match works and claim it in full.

Remember, when you get free money from your employer in your 401(k), you also get to invest that money. The stock market’s annual average return over the past 50 years has been 10%. If your employer gives you a $3,000 match this year that you invest over the next 25 years at that same return, it’ll be worth about $32,500.

3. Automate the process so you can stay on track

The great thing about saving for retirement in a 401(k) plan is that your contributions are taken as automatic payroll deductions once you tell your employer how much you want to put into your plan. You don’t have to remember to write a check to your 401(k) every month. Rather, the amount you get in your paycheck is less the money you’ve put into your 401(k).

If you don’t have access to a 401(k) and are limited to an IRA, it’s best to make that plan work similarly so you’re not tempted to spend the money you’re supposed to be setting aside for retirement. All you really need to do is set up an automatic transfer from your checking account to your IRA every month. It’s a good way to stay on track and grow your savings nicely.

A boosted retirement plan could do a lot of great things for your future. Follow these tips to grow your savings in 2024.

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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Airlines charge extra fees for checked and sometimes even carry-on luggage. Save on travel by learning the best ways to avoid these fees. 

Flying is already expensive enough. The average cost for domestic airfare was $367.79, according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. It gets even more expensive if you’re charged baggage fees.

Most of the major U.S. airlines charge $30 for your first checked bag and $40 for your second. Airlines also charge these baggage fees each way. On a round trip, you’re paying baggage fees twice. Southwest Airlines is the exception. It lets you check two bags free of charge, so making it your airline of choice is one way to avoid bag fees.

But that might not always be an option, or you may just prefer flying with other airlines. Here’s what you can do to never pay baggage fees when you fly.

1. Always check what’s included in the ticket you’re booking

This is a simple one, but not everybody does it. Before you buy a ticket, check the baggage allowance. You can find this on the airline’s website — look for its baggage policy.

If you buy the lowest-priced airfare you find, that may be the airline’s basic economy option. Basic economy fares normally don’t include any baggage, outside of a personal item. You’ll need to pay extra even for a carry-on.

If the airfare you find is with a budget airline, it could have the same type of policy with its tickets. In that case, you’ll need to pay extra to bring a carry-on or checked luggage.

2. Get an airline credit card that includes a free checked bag

One of the most common perks of airline credit cards is a free checked bag. The cards that have this feature charge annual fees, normally starting at $95 to $99. I haven’t seen any no annual fee credit cards that get you free checked luggage.

Still, if you take two round-trip flights per year and check a bag each time, you could save $120 in checked-bag fees. This perk may also apply to travel companions on the same reservation, too. If your spouse or anyone else is flying with you, they could also check a bag free of charge.

An airline credit card can be a smart financial move if you fly with the same airline often. You’ll earn miles in the airline’s frequent flyer program on your credit card purchases, so you can get free flights more quickly. Many airline cards also have other valuable benefits, such as:

Access to the airline’s loungesPriority check-in and boardingDiscounts on in-flight purchases

3. Learn how to pack better and travel light

Frequent flyers always talk about how great it is to be “team carry-on,” and they’re right. It’s more comfortable to travel light, and you don’t need to worry about how you’ll avoid checked bag fees.

The No. 1 piece of advice I can give you is to buy packing cubes. I held off on getting these for years, thinking “How much of a difference could those really make?” A huge difference, as it turns out. Packing cubes make it so much easier to maximize space and keep everything organized.

Another item I’d recommend is a set of TSA-friendly toiletry bottles. I know that one of the reasons to check a bag is because of the 3.4-ounce size limit on liquids. You probably don’t want to buy new toiletries everywhere you go. With toiletry bottles, you can put everything you need for a trip in bottles that are under the limit.

4. Upgrade your airfare

In economy, there’s usually a fee for each checked bag. But everything above that cabin includes up to two free checked bags.

If you know you’re going to bring bags, it could make more sense to book premium economy, or even business class. The tickets are more expensive, but you won’t need to worry about strict baggage rules. You’ll also have a better travel experience and, most importantly, a larger seat. You can sometimes upgrade your economy seat before the flight at a reasonable cost. Or, you can book a premium seat from the beginning.

One of the ways to get around the higher price of premium economy and business class is to pay for your seat with miles. You can earn miles with airline credit cards, as mentioned earlier. There are also travel credit cards that aren’t tied to a specific airline, which are a good option if you aren’t loyal to any particular carrier.

Airline baggage fees can be annoying, but it’s not hard to avoid them. Now that you know how, you can save that $60 or more in fees round-trip and use it to enjoy your vacation.

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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.Lyle Daly has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Southwest Airlines. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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