Opinion
Seven secrets to getting juicy deals on retirement travel
Bec Wilson
Money contributorAs retirement approaches, the hunger to travel for many people intensifies. There’s nothing like the knowledge that you have 15–20 summers of good health left during which you can get travel insurance to motivate you to book and explore the world.
Plus, you don’t have to travel during school holidays anymore, so there’s more time – and more savings.
Being savvy with your money and points can snag you some excellent travel deals in your later years.Credit: Simon Letch
The sector serving retirees with travel is packed with well-kept secrets. And today, I’m going to share a few of the finest ones with you as well as my tips on how to be smarter about travel in this stage.
Think about your next three-year travel plan strategically. Most people plan their retirement travel up to three years ahead in their heads and in their retirement budgets, so why not formalise it a little bit more and call it your travel strategic plan.
Both premium travellers and bargain hunters can benefit from knowing where they want to go well ahead of time and knowing what should be on their itineraries. It also helps, while keeping an eye out for appropriate early bird and opportunistic deals, to know the difference.
It’s easy to get tricked if you haven’t done the strategic research on what’s included in offers by the major companies and what a good deal needs to be really good.
Learn the early bird booking windows. If you dream of a trip to Europe during peak season, it’s quite likely you will have to pay peak season prices. If that’s the case, the best pricing you might be able to get is the early bird pricing released by travel operators and airlines, usually nine to 11 months ahead of departure.
These early bird fares are usually released with limited capacity and a limited window for booking. Once they’re gone, the prices rise with demand.
Consider travelling in shoulder seasons to save. The one thing most retirees have is the luxury of time. It allows two things – to travel outside school holidays in the shoulder seasons either side of peak season, when prices are almost always lower, but the experience is similar. You can either pocket the savings or use that time to travel slower, really taking in the destinations of your dreams.
Know the companies that serve solo travellers well and look out for “no solo supplement” deals. More than 25 per cent of over 50s tell me they will be travelling solo. And this can be tricky when you recognise that the travel industry is built on selling rooms with two-person beds for two people to share the cost of.
Solo travellers can avoid the dreaded solo supplement by looking for the few bold companies that offer dedicated solo rooms or tours and booking early. These rooms book very quickly when released.
Several of the major cruise companies offer smaller but well-designed single cabins and some even organise collaborative dining. Some luxury hotels are offering beautiful yet smaller single rooms.
My favourite tip for solo travellers is to sign up to the email lists for tour, river cruise and cruise companies and look out for “no solo supplement” package deals. Many offer these as tours and cruises get closer to departures as a way of discounting or filling up their vacancies without dropping their in-market standard prices.
If you’re smart and opportunistic, you can snag a much better price than the standard solo supplement might offer you. Do your homework.
Understand your alternatives to “flying flat”. Everyone wants to fly business class in retirement on long-haul flights, but not everyone can afford or justify it. There are other alternatives you can consider such as booking an economy fare that gets you to Europe over a two to three-day period and includes a stopover in one of the major hubs, allowing you to rest, do a little touring and arrive in Europe without swollen legs, a crooked neck and terrible jet lag.
These packages are often some of their best fares, and if you’ve got time on your side, you can really enjoy it. Or, you might want to consider a round-the-world ticket flying you through Europe and America, allowing you a stopover on each leg for a similar price to flying to Europe alone.
Learn how to use airline currencies. There are two major currencies that airlines offer – points and status. Points are best used to snag yourself an upgrade on a long haul trip or on domestic flight bookings when you can really get bang for your point. Status is used to access airline lounges.
How to know a bargain when you see it. As companies get closer to departure dates, if they have vacancies, they may release that inventory as “hot deals”, two-for-one offers and no solo supplement deals – but they usually only offer these actively to their private mailing lists and through a handful of travel agents.
These offers can be incredible, or they can be carefully constructed to look like a good deal but maybe aren’t as good as you think. You have to know your travel to know the difference.
Bec Wilson is the author of the bestseller How to Have an Epic Retirement. She writes a weekly newsletter at www.epicretirement.net and she is the host of the Prime Time podcast.
- Advice given in this article is general in nature and is not intended to influence readers’ decisions about investing or financial products. They should always seek their own professional advice that takes into account their own personal circumstances before making financial decisions.
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