I’m a frequent flyer and here are 10 hacks to make your 2025 vacation more luxurious – from SPEAKING to a travel agency to a loyalty program that gives you 50% off luxury hotel stays

I’m Gilbert Ott, frequent flyer and founder of a travel site godsavethepoints.comand I have 10 top tips to make your next trip more luxurious.

If you follow my advice, you can get a flat bed back on the plane for around £1,300 ($1,999), get your money back if the weather turns bad, and don’t waste time trying TikTok hacks that just don’t work.

My list also includes ways to avoid the crowds at popular tourist destinations and why going back in time and picking up the phone to talk to a travel agent can pay off.

Read on to find out more and let me know what you think in the comments.

Book early and remember to be flexible

Long-haul flatbeds in business class for around £1,300 ($1,999) return? You bet. Most of the time you just have to be confident about the journey. Yes, most airlines now offer their best discounts and prices for the earliest bookings and the least flexibility.

If you’re locked into a wedding or set dates and want the best experience for the least money, make it a habit to look and book sooner. For example, book for January 2026 in January 2025 if there is a big sale.

Another good tip? Book flight and hotel packages directly with airlines as they often reduce prices if you arrange accommodation through them.

Gilbert Ott, frequent flyer and founder of travel site godsavethepoints.com, has 10 top tips to take your luxury to the next level on your next trip

There are real occasions when ‘flight + hotel’ can be cheaper than flight alone.

Go back in time and pick up the phone

For some of the smartest hotel deals – those that include free daily breakfast and an upgrade – pick up the phone and talk to a travel agent.

Travel agents are back at the center of travel planning and have special hotel benefits that you normally can’t find anywhere else, and often for the same price you would pay online without the benefits.

Don’t waste their time if you look nonchalant.

Good weather or your money back

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but there are some startups in the travel industry that guarantee good weather, or your money back – for a price, of course.

Sensitive And Weather promise are two companies that lead the way in travel satisfaction. They offer insurance products that allow you to buy guarantees for your trip, such as sun for a beach holiday, and you can get full compensation for every day the weather does not cooperate.

Research subscription discounts

Pay £93 ($118) and you can save thousands instantly. It sounds too good to be true, but it isn’t. This is the contribution for ‘Infidelity‘, the rather brilliant new ‘loyalty’ program from Ennismore, a brand behind the likes of Hoxton, SLS, Mondriaan and SO/hotels worldwide.

For some of the smartest hotel deals — those that include free daily breakfast and an upgrade — pick up the phone and talk to a travel agent, says Gilbert

Membership gets you free coffee in any of the hotels every day of the year (and that alone can cover all your costs), but the gem is that all newly opened hotels get a 50 percent discount and you get a real 20 percent discount your first time in a hotel, new or not.

Crazy – and true.

I booked SLS Playa Mujeres in Mexico and saved $2,800 (£2,284), taking me from $750 room nights to $375.

Consider “nearby” airports for big savings

Google Flights lets you enter up to five – yes five – departure and destination cities at once, meaning you can instantly compare how much it costs to get to different places with one search. You can use this in two ways. Suppose you want to go to Buenos Aires, but prices from London are expensive.

You can enter cities you would like to fly, drive or train to, such as Amsterdam, Paris and others, and see if you can save enough if you leave from one of these cities.

This can also be a gem when choosing a destination, for example if you want to go to South America, but are open to Rio, Buenos Aires, Santiago or Bogota. Enter everything in the destination search box and the cheapest option will appear.

Dive into points

Points used to be called frequent flyer miles and that was a terrible misnomer. In today’s world it’s less about frequent flying and more about frequent buying.

You can earn points through daily activities, with or without a credit card.

At the very least, points can be a discount on a flight, and at best they can be first-class for next to nothing, somewhere far away and exotic.

Picking out your favorite airline and looking at their ‘earning partners’ is a great way to start. When it comes to focal points, use wise.memaking it easier for you to find flights.

Find the next popular travel destination

The harder a destination is to reach, the more likely other people won’t bother getting there, Gilbert notes

If you want to take your travels to the next level in 2025, be open to new and perhaps more exotic destinations, or ones that require an additional boat, train or flight.

The harder a destination is to get to, the more other people are likely not to bother getting there – and that’s often where you’ll find better savings and better trips.

For example, while Mykonos can feel a special kind of crazy, other islands just a ferry ride away are still relatively idyllic.

Stop messing around with stupid ‘hacks’

TikTok can show you many wonderful things, from recipes to new dance moves, but most travel hacks won’t help.

Save yourself money by not wasting your valuable time trying things that don’t yield much.

The days when you can change the country or currency on the website to save on hotels or flights are very limited and only rare exceptions exist where significant savings can be made.

If you spend five hours trying just to save $10, something tells me you actually missed out on that deal.

Take advantage of member prices online

Due to hotel pricing rules, you often have to be a ‘member’ of a site (which can be as simple as sharing your email address) to see their ‘special’ prices.

By getting your email, booking sites and hotels themselves can undercut publicly available prices, as it is perfectly legal and okay for them to show ‘closed environment’ discounts.

Try the new travel apps

From Turo, which is basically the Airbnb of car rentals (and even has nice cars). Resort passwhere you can easily buy a day ticket for a hotel swimming pool, and Wandera holiday home company that guarantees fast WiFi and dedicated work spaces, there are so many ‘new’ ways to experience travel.

Do your research, not all of these platforms are right for everyone, but they are a great tool to add to the arsenal while looking for savings.

I was able to rent a Tesla Model Y in California Turo for less than a standard car from a leading rental company – and the host picked up the car and returned it.