Costco Travel Deals – Ways to Save On Travel by Booking Costco Vacations!
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Costco Travel Deals – Ways to Save on Travel by Booking Costco Vacations
If you are looking for more tips on ways to save on travel, check out Costco Travel! Costco Travel will help you save on everything from Cruises, to Theme Park vacations, to car rentals and more. We shared how you can save on Disneyland packages by using Costco Vacations in our How to Save on Hotels at Disneyland post.
Costco is a trusted name and we have heard from many Thrifty NW Mom readers who love to shop Costco for that reason, in addition to the savings, and that applies to Costco Travel as well. Not only can they save, but are also comfortable that they will get a quality vacation, without a bunch of hidden costs, when they book with Costco.
Tips on using Costco Vacations to save money:
- You must be a Costco Member to use the Costco Vacation services. We do share ways to save on a Costco Membership here.
- From time to time, Costco Travel will offer limited-time Kirkland Signature™ departures and exotic destinations that you will not find elsewhere, so you can get exclusive deals as well as save!
- Look for “Buyers Choice” packages. These can offer you the best savings, as a bundled travel offer. They will be noted as Buyers Choice on the offer.
- If you are an Executive member, sometimes you will be eligible for special upgrades (like room upgrades, cruise ship credits, etc). Look for the black Costco Executive Member card icon next to offers to denote those special upgrades.
- If you are a Costco Executive Member, travel purchases are now included to receive an annual 2% Reward on Costco Travel purchases
- Be sure to shop around to ensure you are comfortable with the Costco deals. Although they do have good offers, you can sometimes find a cheaper rate by booking through discount hotel suppliers, etc. If your primary goal is ease of planning and to save some at the same time, then Costco Travel can be a good option. They also often offer extras (like character dining vouchers with Disneyland packages) that can help you save more if you plan to do some of those activities too.
- I have found them to be a great option if there are not hot deals available for your destination. Even if you end up paying close to the same price for your package, you will often get many extras that will really save you once you are at your destination (like resort credit, etc).
- Although we have heard that customer service is great, it is based on the West Coast so you will limited to help during Pacific time. This could cause issues if you need help when in different time zones, so just something to be aware of.
More ways to save on Travel at Costco:
In addition to saving on travel packages by shopping directly through Costco Travel, you can also save at your destination by using some of these offers available through Costco.com or in store.
Car Rental Savings Tips:
- You can compare the prices for several different car rental services through Costco’s system (such as Alamo, Avis, Budget & Enterprise) to find the best deal for you.
- You must be 25 to rent from Costco
- One additional driver fee waived
- There are no cancellation fees if you book online for your car rental – this means that you can periodically check back & see if there are better rates & then cancel your previous reservation to get a better deal. We have done this several times before & ended up with a lower rate
- Look at upgrades – You may be able to get a larger car at a better price than a smaller car you were looking at. This has happened to us several times that we were looking at a smaller car & then found the larger, upgraded car was even a better price. So make sure to check several different sized cars to compare prices.
- Generally it’s best to book at least 30 days before your trip for the best prices, but do check back to make sure there aren’t any better prices that may pop up
- What you see is what you get – when you book thru Costco, you will know the price of your car rental, with no extra charges or fees added on last minute
Gift Card Savings:
**Update – there is a hot deal on a Southwest Airlines Gift Card right now:
Wow, here is a rare deal to save on airfare. Get a $500 Southwest Airlines Gift Card for $449 on Costco right now. What is really great about this is that it works like cash, so you can still use it on any of the airline sales to save even more!
- Costco will often offer some great gift card deals in their stores that can help you save on dining and entertainment for your vacations. You can often find things like movie ticket deals, restaurant gift cards discounted, and even theme park tickets at some locations.
- You can also check to see what gift card deals Costco has available online. These offerings are more limited than in store, sometimes, but it’s still a great resource. Often they offer Go Cards for multiple locations (they allow you admission to a cities most popular attractions at a discounted rate), Discount Legoland Tickets, Waterparks, and more!
- You can also buy discounted gift cards to some National Chain restaurants to help save on food when traveling. We bought a McCormick & Schmick discounted gift card on a previous trip to Disneyland. We then ate at the restaurant during their Happy Hour specials, and between the savings on the gift card and the restaurant promotion we saved a ton!
- Check out any Travel Gift Card deals here too.
Getaways & Tourist Attractions Savings:
- If you’re looking for a quick getaway, check out the current Getaway & Tourist Attractions page. Not only will you often find savings on things like zip lines, short cruises, and more, you can also find savings on Hotels! The best part about many of the hotel deals is that they are gift cards, so you could use them with other offers like promotional pricing deals from the hotels usually (for example, they are currently offering a $100 voucher for $79 to the Inn at Spanish Head on the Oregon Coast). The gift cards then act like cash, so if you shop carefully and find a special rate at that hotel you can book that and get that deal, plus the $21.01 you saved on the gift cards!
- If you like to play Golf on vacation, be sure to see if Costco is offering any special Golf deals for your destination here.
- Be sure to check out the Costco Travel Deals page here too, for more current travel specials.
Have you booked a trip through Costco Travel? Do you have any additional tips to add to the list, or feedback (positive or negative) that would be helpful to others thinking of using them?
Costco also has the option on some airfare and hotel packages to pay for your package in installments. The balance must be paid 30 days prior to departure.
That’s a great tip & reminder – thanks Tiffani!