When planning a vacation, budget is the first thing to consider.
For me, I feel I work hard for my money and want to make sure I get the most out of it wherever I spend it. So when I’m headed out on a vacation I try to get the cheapest flights possible and lodging that strikes a good balance of price, location, and comfort.
One thing you may not think of before your trip is how you might run into hidden fees at the airport or on your trip.
The tourism industry is evolving a breakneck speed, and with that, there are countless companies, airlines, hotels, taxi companies, shuttle companies, and more that are looking to squeeze you for every penny they can.
Tourism is a highly competitive industry and as a result, companies are finding sneakier ways every year to take your money, sometimes against your will.
It’s critical to avoid these money traps if you are going to keep a budget and get the most out of your vacation time. Not only does running into hidden fees cost you money, but it can be infuriating and get you in a really bad mood and vacations are not meant to be stressful, so I’ll try to share a few tips on how to avoid hidden fees on your next trip.
How to Avoid Hidden Fees While Traveling
When you go to book flights online, many times you’ll just consider price, how many stops, etc before booking. One other thing you should definitely consider though is additional fees.
#1 Checked Bags Fees
This is especially true if you need to take a checked bag on your trip. Checked bags are probably the number one way that people get hit with extra fees when they fly. Before you book, look up the airline’s baggage policy and make sure the prices are not unreasonable. If they do charge for baggage, how much do they charge and consider if there are ways to get free or a reduced price for checked bags.
If you can, try to pay for baggage upgrades before you get to the airport. Some airlines, like Lion Air in Indonesia for example, can overcharge you drastically for bags when you arrive at the airport. In the case of Lion Air many customers report paying up to $15/kg for checked bags.
That can cost as much as $600 USD for two large checked bags unless you avoid that specific situation and buy Lion Air baggage in advance.
#2 Boarding Pass Printing Fees
Other fees you might run into at the airport might include charges for printing boarding passes, changing your flight times or dates, or sometimes the airlines will just straight up sell your seats and leave you high and dry!
The best way to avoid running into issues like these is to do your research before you book with an airline. If it’s a trusted airline you have flown with many times you probably know how their fees work and know what to expect. However, if it’s an airline you don’t know well, do a bit of searching around before you commit to putting your vacation in their hands.
Some will offer a free app that you can use to access your boarding pass. Some will even inform you to print your own boarding passes ahead of time for a nominal fee.
Administrative services at the ticket booth will often cost money for this convenience.
#3 Hotel Fees
Hidden fees can be anywhere along your trip, when you book your hotel, sometimes they will offer an airport shuttle and make it sound like no big deal, only to see later that your credit card will be charged after checkout for the shuttle.
Hotels and resorts especially can have very sneaky hidden fees that they just charge you for without any real warning about them. You can use resortfeechecker.com to do research beforehand if you’re looking to stay at a resort or hotel.
As an example, if you stay at a certain hotel in Vegas you can expect to pay the following fees:
- Breakfast fee: between $20 and $30 per person (approximately)
- Fee for in-room wireless Internet: $44.22 per night (rates may vary)
- Self-parking fee: $18 per day
- Valet parking fee: $30 per day
- Pet fee: $125.00 per accommodation, per night
- Rollaway bed fee: $50.0 per day
That’s a lot of fees to take into consideration. Better to do a bit of research before you book than find out about these fees before it’s too late.
Too many times people get hit with these fees and end up spending hundreds of dollars on resort fees or charges for having a safe in your room (seriously, google it, that’s a thing).
#4 Tour Fees
Getting from A to B can be a challenge as well. It seems like nowadays everyone in the tourism industry is trying to charge fees for random things wherever they can.
Go on a snorkeling tour and you might need to pay extra to rent a snorkel, oh and another fee if you want fins too.
They’ll be sure to not tell you about those fees till you’re in the boat and offshore so make sure you ask in advance. I even rented a little canoe in Nepal for about $5, then after renting the boat and paying them, they told us we have to rent life jackets for another $5 per person.
Final Thoughts
Hidden fees like these are all over the place when you travel. The best way to deal with it is to be diligent every step of the way.
There are many ways you can get charged fees tacked onto your travels, but there’s also a lot of great tools out there for avoiding fees and doing research about certain companies before you book with them.
We hope that by reading this, it will help you think about your travel budget a little differently and stay alert to potential fees. When a price looks too good to be true, it probably is. Consider what hidden fees might be just under the surface.
If you have any questions for us about how to find the best deals or resolve travel woes, feel free to reach out to us via e-mail.
Thank you for reading and happy travels!
Join Alex and Larry on our journey, as we find love, eat great food, and travel to beautiful destinations. #weloveeattravel