Travel In Style For Less

We found plenty of backdoor, budget-friendly strategies to indulge yourself on vacation.

- Miriam Cross

Penthouse suites and first-class seats to Europe may be extravagant, but there are a slew of ways to snag fivestar hotels, roomy airline seats and private tours for a lot less than you’d expect. We rounded up ways to wrangle upgrades and price breaks on luxury experiences. Bonus: We also found places to go and ways to get there using these strategies.

ACCOMMODATIONS

Share a ritzy rental. Splitting a luxury residence with friends and family can be far cheaper on a per-room basis than dividing your group among luxury or even midrange hotel rooms, says Jen O’Neal, president of Tripping .com, a search aggregator for vacation rentals. For example, a room at Jade Mountain, considered one of the most decadent resorts in Saint Lucia, ranges from $1,110 to $3,480 per night for a couple. But the island’s four-bedroom Tamarind House, which sleeps up to six adults and two children, averages $814 per night on HomeAway.com and commands views of the striking Piton mountains. You get a private pool and can arrange for tennis lessons, massages and a private chef.

Check out five-star hotels. Five-star ratings—typically assigned by national tourism authorities or online travel sites, such as Expedia—indicate hotels with a high level of luxury, multiple dining options and an array of services and amenities. When searching for a hotel, don’t assume this top tier is out of reach until you check the prices.

For instance, the average daily rate at a five-star hotel last September was $417 in Zurich, $424 in London and $559 in New York City, reports Expedia. But that same month, five-star lodging averaged only $111 per night in Kuala Lumpur, $142 in Bangkok, $215 in Berlin and $259 in Las Vegas.