Traveling is one of life’s immense pleasures, but getaways have a financial side too. The key to maximizing your budget and getting more out of your trip, says Alaina Fingal, founder of budgeting site The Organized Money, is to plan ahead, stay vigilant and explore all your options for saving. Here’s how.
Before you book anything, check the features on your credit cards; there may be hotel, rental car or airline discounts you’re unaware of. The Citi Strata Premier℠ Card, for example, offers $100 off a single hotel stay of $500 or more excluding taxes and fees) once a calendar year when booked through Citi Travel.com℠.
It’s not just discounts you should be looking for either. Some credit cards include perks that can make traveling smoother, such as access to certain airport lounges. If you’re considering buying travel insurance, first find out whether your credit card already offers travel protection benefits and make sure to understand the terms, conditions and restrictions of those benefits. Citi Strata Premier provides travel insurance protection for trip delays, trip cancellations and interruptions, and lost or damaged luggage, for instance, along with rental car insurance.
Travel can be a big expense – but that also means it’s a great way to rack up points, cash back, or miles that can be redeemed for great rewards depending on the credit card you have, Plus, there may be other credit card benefits to enjoy as well. “I never miss a chance to get rewards from travel,” says Fingal. Say you’re enrolled in Citi’s Spend and Save program, for example: Purchases made using your enrolled Citibank® Debit Card will round up to the next whole dollar — the difference is automatically added from your designated checking account to your designated savings account.
One word of advice, no matter which credit or debit card you plan on using during your trip: Let your bank or credit card company know in advance when and where you’ll be traveling. Sharing this via the app or by calling the toll-free number can help you avoid having your accounts frozen due to possible fraud alerts.
If you’re traveling internationally, exchanging currency at a favorable rate helps make your dollars work harder. You’ll also want to consider using a credit card or debit card that charges no foreign transaction fees and offers a competitive exchange rate. With Citi Priority, for example, there are no foreign exchange fees when you use your Citibank debit card abroad to make purchases and cash withdrawals.
If your card doesn’t offer these features, there is a workaround. Many hotels, restaurants and retailers will give you the option to charge a purchase in dollars or the country’s currency. Choosing the latter will often give you a better exchange rate, notes Jay Zagorsky, clinical associate professor of markets, public policy and law at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business.
You’ll also likely need cash for incidentals, tips and outings where your credit or debit card aren’t an option, such as local markets or street vendors – and you may find you can get good exchange rates for cash before you depart, from your own bank. Citi Priority, Citigold® and Citigold® Private Client customers, for example, can have foreign currency delivered the next business day to their home, office or nearest branch, with exchange and delivery fees waived and currency converted at a competitive rate.
For the many wonderful surprises that travel brings, there are, at times, some unwelcome ones too. For Fingal, it was the $1,000 in phone charges she racked up while overseas. To minimize your phone bill, call your carrier in advance to ask if they offer deals for international plans. If not, consider swapping your current SIM card with an international one, which will automatically connect to a lower-cost overseas network. Certain Wi-Fi and private messaging apps can also help lessen the data load.
Travelers are naturally great targets for crime, in part because they’re navigating unfamiliar territory, or planning to. Before booking a trip or taking advantage of a travel offer, do a search online (including key words like “scam” and “complaint”) to see what others have said about the company. You’ll also want to verify that the company’s site is legitimate – some fraudsters set up sites that look like car rental or airport check-in services and ask for your money or personal information via deal forms or applications. Additionally, if you’re asked to pay with gift cards, wire transfers or cryptocurrency, the travel offer is likely a scam.
Keep in mind that when you have an issue with your travel, it’s tempting to post publicly on social media to get a speedy response, but that’s risky; scammers often use imposter accounts to contact travelers, pretending to offer customer service to obtain personal information or money. The best approach is to message the company in a personal channel or talk with a representative via the chat feature or phone number on the official company website.