Disclosure: Thank you to Hilton and ShopStyle for sponsoring today’s post.

If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s traveling. I’ve always prided myself on this skill. Let me clarify further as anybody can be pretty darn good at relaxing with a Mai Tai in hand. However, not everybody can be relaxing with a Mai Tai in hand at a fancy hotel that didn’t cost you a fortune to stay there. That’s where the skilled part comes in. It’s always been a passion of mine if you will, to find the best place that I can stay at for the lowest price. Time and time again I’ve managed to get Shawn and me 5-star vacations at half the price you would normally pay. How might you ask? It’s a good thing we’re friends, allow me to fill you in on some of my top travel secrets:

1. Book when brand new. Before I go anywhere, I start by searching for brand new hotels. For one, there is nothing better than staying at the latest and greatest in my opinion but secondly, I’ve often found that when staying at a place soon after it’s opened you will pay significantly lower prices than you normally would; as the hotel is still settling in and fine tuning everything [I’ll take patience with fine tuning any day over a hefty bill at the end of a trip].
2. Travel during off season times. We all know that when you travel over spring break, Thanksgiving or Christmas that it’s going to cost you more than normal [blame it on supply and demand, that pesky little thing]. Because of this, Shawn has always chosen to take our major vacations during the slow seasons for the hospitality industry. Our preferred travel times are early February and late October. If you’re able to steer clear of main dates, you’ll not only experience lower prices but opportunities for upgrades due to low capacity and also won’t have to fight off lines and people when trying to order that Mai Tai I spoke of earlier.
3. Last but not least — sign up, enroll, and get yourself set-up with airline and hotel programs. I can’t recommend this one enough. For years I put off enrolling in any of these things because I “didn’t want to take the time to do so”. Good news kids — it’s approximately 1 minute of your life. The other good news – it’s FREE. By enrolling in these programs, you can earn points or miles, score free upgrades or benefits and save money on your overall cost, all for spending that one minute of your life doing that thing you never wanted to do.

So now that we’ve got those tips out of the way – let’s put these into a tactical takeaway [what good is this post if you leave and end up doing nothing]. One program I highly recommend is the Hilton Honors program as the benefits are too good to miss out on. I recently signed up [yes, it literally took under a minute and yes, it is completely free] and now the only question left in my mind is why I didn’t do it sooner.

Within seconds of signing up, I was browsing Hilton for an upcoming trip and I instantly saw the benefits of being a member. Not only did I notice lower rates for being a member but was able to browse through a TON of amazing looking properties in destinations all over the world. The moral of the story: If your looking for a better getaway, look no further.

Bonus: Right now, when you enroll in Hilton Honors, you will get up to 20% off on your stay at select destinations*. Book now through 6/14!

Select Destinations:

1. Des Moines, Iowa
2. South Bend, Indiana
3. St. Louis, OH
4. Chicago, IL
5. Cincinnati, OH
6. Indianapolis, IN
7. Kansas City, MO

For more details simply click here to get yourself enrolled!

Traveling shouldn’t be stressful or too expensive to make happen. Hopefully these tips will help you save both time and resources when booking your next getaway. My only request? Take me with you please, I’m ready to roll…..

Outfit Details in post: Dress [size up one] // Sandals [true to size] // luggage