The holidays are right around the corner and if you're planning to fly home or maybe get away to somewhere new, you're going to want to start planning that trip sooner rather than later.
Alice Ford is an Emmy-nominated travel host and she sat down with Scripps News to share some of her top tips for saving money and finding inspiration on destinations to visit this holiday travel season.
According to recent trends, what should travelers know before they book their next trip?
"Well, this year people are already booking earlier than usual, so prices are actually trending higher — unfortunately," said Ford. "We're seeing about a 10% increase already for Thanksgiving travel and 7% for Christmas, holidays — and this is for airfare. So you'll want to book early — that's for sure — and definitely start looking now."
A lot of people have predicted this travel season won't be as busy. So are people actually packing up and visiting different destinations?
"Yeah, we're seeing a lot more domestic travel happening than international," said Ford. "But yes, people are still traveling, especially when it comes to holiday travel. People are still trying to get out and do the family travel. I am seeing a downturn in Airbnb bookings. Basically, across the United States travel is trending down. But holiday travel is still trending up and we're seeing prices rise because of that."
"There are some booking windows that are going to be kind of perfect for people," she added. "Booking airfare, it's looking like about 35 days out for Thanksgiving travel, which puts us around the end of October. And for Christmas you'll want to book about 50 or so days in advance — so start looking mid-October, which is coming up. But you'll want to book by at least mid-November at the latest."
Are there any tech tools you'd recommend people use to help book their next trip?
"Yes, there's a new tool that Google Flights is using — it's actually an AI-powered tool. " said Ford. "So, much like you can go into ChatGPT and write a phase or an entire sentence, you can now go into Google Flights and say something like, 'I'm looking for a ten-day ski vacation that has cozy cabin vibes but great skiing,' and then Google will actually search tons of different flight deals all around the world."
"You can tell it where you'd like to start out as far as your airport," she added. "You can also say, like, price range as well and it will give you a whole idea list of places with actual airfare and hotels to kind of get your thoughts going on where you might want to go."
Watch our full interview with Emmy-nominated travel host Alice Ford in the video player above for more money-saving tips. Also hear her list of top destinations to visit this holiday season.
