I used to book hotels first for every trip, now I start with flights and it saves me hundreds

For years, I'd pick a city like Barcelona, find a cheap hotel, and then look for flights, which were always crazy expensive by then. Last fall, I flipped it: I set flight alerts for my free days and booked a $380 round trip to Lisbon the second the price dropped. Only THEN did I search for a place to stay, finding a great guesthouse for $45 a night. Has anyone else had way better luck planning a trip around flight deals instead of a set destination?

4 comments

4 Comments

harper_burns592mo ago

Forty-five bucks a night?!

sam_cooper11d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah, forty-five bucks is wild. That's the price of a decent pizza and a movie ticket these days. You're basically paying for a cot in a closet with a shower that might have hot water if you're lucky. Makes you wonder what corners they cut to even offer that rate.

sam_cooper2mo agoMost Upvoted

And what about the people who have to CLEAN those rooms? My cousin worked at a motel. For forty-five bucks, that's maybe twenty minutes of pay for the cleaner after the hotel takes its cut. They're rushing to flip ten rooms before lunch, missing spots, reusing sheets if it looks okay. You're not just paying for a bed, you're paying for the whole rushed system that price creates.

tyler_young2mo ago

Wait, they reuse sheets?!