The term luxury travel means that your vacation experience is above average. Unless you’re wealthy or affluent, you’ll need to use some luxury travel hacks to get the maximum effect from your budget. You may never be part of the Monaco scene, but you can feel like a VIP to some extent and indulge in fine accommodations, comfortable transportation, or amazing surroundings.

Upgrading your vacation could mean saving up more money for your trip, but some luxury travel hacks rely more on strategic choices than money. You can achieve luxury results by choosing carefully how and when you spend your money. Sometimes an extra expense can go a long way toward transforming your trip from OK to fabulous.

Decide Where to Focus Your Budget

Luxury by definition is a premium product or service. A luxury makes you feel special or delights your senses in some way. Because you don’t have infinite resources, you should think about WHAT products or services would elevate your vacation to a luxury vacation.

Vacation spending breaks down into roughly three categories:

• Transportation
• Accommodations, food, and services
• Destination

If you can’t afford to splurge in all of these areas, decide where a luxury upgrade would please you the most.

Maybe you hate the act of traveling. The crowds, the shuttles, the cramped seating, and every part of slogging through a transit system depresses you. Getting there is not half the fun. As far as you’re concerned, the fun starts once you get there.

People who dislike traveling in “steerage” might really value spending extra dollars to alleviate the pain of travel. This could mean flying first class. You get more room during the flight, and you will appreciate every inch.

Of course, many people will put up with the discomfort of being transported like bananas so that they can reach a cool place. If that’s the way you feel, you can direct the bulk of your budget to fancy accommodations, a popular destination, or both.

Pinching pennies on transportation frees up your budget for a luxury vacation rental or stay at a nice resort hotel instead of a mediocre one. You might splurge on good food, spa services, or entertainment.

As for popular destinations, demand can make everything cost more to go there. If an in-demand location is on your bucket list, you can spend what it takes to get there but stay at more modest accommodations.

Luxury Travel Hacks for Your Consideration

Private airport transportation

Hiring a chauffeur to drive you or your group to the airport and pick you up is an easy luxury travel hack. You can be taken right to your terminal and picked up outside the terminal when you get home. You also get to avoid the cost of long-term airport parking and instead put that money toward a comfortable and prestigious transport experience to and from the airport.

A private car or van ride spares you from driving when you’re tired, and it’s no problem if you want to indulge in an alcohol drink.

The experience makes you feel special and lessens the hassle of using the airport. It’s a convenient choice whether you’re elderly, have young children, or your group just wants to get the party started.

Shop for cheap flights

Scooping up an airline deal can leave you with more money to spend on the finer things during your trip or make it possible to visit a luxurious destination that would normally be too pricey for you.

Flexibility is the key to taking advantage of cheap flight deals. If you have the freedom to take some time off on short notice, you’re in a position to buy last-minute deals when an airline is trying to fill up a plane and will offer discounts.

Patience is another factor in your favor. If you can buy a flight months ahead of time, then you might get a discount by committing early.

Find good airline deals by monitoring:

• Google Flights
• Expedia
• Priceline
• Orbitz
• Momondo

Also look into which air carriers service the destinations that interest you. Explore their websites for deals directly from the company. Those cheap flights at the travel sites are based on rates that the airlines are willing to accept. If you go straight to the airline, you might save even more because the airline doesn’t have to pay the travel site for making the sale. Joining a rewards program at an airline could make an exotic destination more affordable or help you upgrade to first class.

Book a charter flight

A private flight may not be as ludicrous as you think. Charter and fly-share companies have made private air travel feasible for more people than ever before. You might book as part of a small group, join a larger group, or buy into a fly share similar to a timeshare condo.

Boarding your own private charter flight liberates you from the hell that is most airline travel these days, and it might not cost you much more. Mobile apps and online marketplaces connect charter companies with a growing group of people willing to treat themselves to a private flight experience.

Explore the possibilities of flight chartering:

Wheels Up
JetASAP
FlyJets

You might discover that private flights really are among affordable luxury upgrades for your vacation.

Seek out exclusive accommodations

By exclusive, I mean staying somewhere that caters to people who desire more privacy than guests can expect at a hotel, motel, or campground. You get privacy by choosing some kind of luxury vacation rental. These can be individual properties or a grouping of condos or villas at private club, gated community, or resort.

Golfing destinations often use the format of renting luxury villas within private country clubs. One example is Bella Collina in Florida. Although members may live at the gated community, a portion of the community actively caters to vacationers and seasonal visitors. Your accommodations will provide temporary access to some or all of the club’s amenities, like the golf course or beach.

Staying at an exclusive resort means that you avoid crowds and have more elbow room and privacy. This differs from many all-inclusive resorts that rely on placing guests in a hotel tower. That format places you in a busy place, but a private club resort spreads people out and creates the aura of a community as opposed to a hive of strangers.

Make Your Luxury Dollars Work Hard

Any vacation is expensive these days. With a few tweeks, you can get the maximum luxury impact for each dollar.

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