Planning a Honeymoon (whilst saving money) Online

When booking honeymoon accommodation, look outside travel packages labelled as ‘Honeymoon.’ These packages are designed to play on your emotions and may have a considerable mark up price attached. These days it is simple enough to tailor and book a holiday package completely online.

Getting Started

The first thing to do when planning your own honeymoon is to finalise the dates. Will it happen immediately after your wedding or a few weeks later?


Many people are eligible to receive discounts and have no idea. For example, if you are a member of a road service club, have private health, or belong to a union, you may be entitled to a range of discounts from accommodation, attractions, shopping and restaurants.

Once you have chosen your destination, you may want to look into buying an entertainment book. If the location is within Australia. Visit the website and browse the available vendors and businesses that offer discounts and weigh up the cost of the book to the savings. You can find some great hotel deals this way.

The Flight
There are many websites that offer you cheap flights. Webjet is a good starting point to find out which flights are available. On your departure date. Also check the date prior and the date after your proposed departure date, as sometimes you can find significant savings by changing your flight by a day. Once you have found your preferred flights, visit the airlines website and see if they are offering a cheaper price as sometimes .

The Accommodation
Booking accommodation is probably the most tedious part of planning a honeymoon. There are many websites that offer last minute prices on accommodation. They usually only offer accommodation 1 or 2 months in advance, so if booking through these sites, you need to be prepared to be patient.

Research! Research! Research!

You will find that if you are holidaying in popular tourist spots, the choice of accommodation will seem overwhelming. One way to narrow the choice down is by finding out about other people’s experiences at hotels, either through word-of –mouth or from third-party review websites.

One good website that is comprehensive and offers reviews from world-wide tourists is Trip Advisor. However, be aware, that every hotel has both positive and negative reviews. Hotels can’t please everyone, so have an open mind when reading reviews and weigh up what’s important to you.


Once you have chosen your hotel, take the time to research all the different ‘last chance’ websites that offer accommodation as you will find that there can be significant differences in price. For example, personal experience has found that Hotel Club’s website has been set-up to offer more bonus nights promotions, such as stay 3 nights and pay for 2. If you are a frequent traveller, you could also take advantage of Hotel Club’s bonus credits. Every time you book a hotel, you will receive credits to redeem the next time you book a hotel. You might also like to check out hotels website directly as they tend to offer specials to entice guests to book though them rather than a third-party site.

After you have booked the hotel and flights, you should do some research on the destination’s attractions and restaurants online as you are likely to find printable coupons that could end up saving you a bundle by the end of your honeymoon . You could also pre-book any attractions that you plan to visit to save time and money.

Planning your own honeymoon does take time and patience, but it can end up saving you money, which could mean putting that money towards having a longer honeymoon!
Links
Webjet http://www.webjet.com.au
Trip advisor http://www.tripadvisor.com
Last Chance Website
Wotif http://www.wotif.com.au
Last Minute http://www.lastminute.com.au
Hotel Club http://www.hotelclub.com.au

Free Honeymoon Accommodation

I recently came across a bride who came up with a great idea for her honeymoon. She and her fiancé was short on funds, so decided to ask a friend who lived on the Gold Coast if they would like to do a house swap for a week after their wedding.

They lived in Sydney and their Gold Coast based friend had never been to Sydney before, so she jumped at the chance for free accommodation in Sydney. As it happened, this friend was travelling to Sydney for the wedding anyway, so decided to extend her time in Sydney to have a holiday, meaning her Gold Coast home was vacant for the newlyweds.

The point of the above story is that house swapping between family and friends is a concept that may work if you have friends that span interstate (or overseas.)

The offer should be reciprocal and there are factors that you should consider such as timing. Due to conflicting schedules it may mean that your honeymoon might be delayed as your friend may not be able to take time off work that corresponds with your wedding, but if you are happy to wait for a few weeks it may be an ideal option for you.

You must also ensure that you trust your friend (or family member) to stay in your home and that they also trust you. House swapping for a honeymoon destination is not for everyone, but if your network of family and friends is vast, it might be something to consider.

SAVE ON THE HONEYOON: Honeymoon Registry

Honeymoons are expensive and it is not uncommon for couples to spend in excess of $6000. A new trend emerging in Australia is for couples to sign up for to a travel registry. Similar to a gift registry, the travel registry lists the couples planned itinerary and activities and guests can choose which to contribute to and how much. Many travel agents, such as Flight Centre and Jetset, now offer this option as well as online outlets.

More Info:

http://www.myweddingregistry.com.au

http://www.travelregistry.com.au

p.s I’d love to hear your experiences (positive or negative) using a travel registry.

Honeymoon Planning Tip #1

Before going on your honeymoon, visit your destination’s local council website, or do a google search, to see if your arrival conflicts with any major events that may affect your honeymoon. For example, honeymooning on the Gold Coast around November conflicts with Schoolies Week (which lasts around 4 weeks), may not be your idea of fun if you don’t wish to spend your honeymoon with masses on year 12 school leaver’s partying all night.