DALLAS — There’s Black Friday. Then Small Business Saturday. And, of course, Cyber Monday.
But have you heard about the newest addition, Travel Tuesday?
“It started in that era where people would do Thanksgiving together and then the next day they would go hit the stores for Black Friday and they would do that really through the weekend,” said Summer Hull, director of content at The Points Guy. “And then by the time Tuesday came around, you already had all the stuff you needed, and so travel companies started putting their trips on sale.”
That was back in 2016.
Since then, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving has become synonymous with travel bargains and deals on everything from rental cars to airfare, cruises and hotels.
This year, we saw Southwest Airlines slash ticket prices by 30%, Marriott offering a 20% discount on bookings and cruise lines like Royal Caribbean and Carnival boasting deals for up to 50% off.
If you missed the deals this year, don’t worry -- we’ve got you covered with tips for the next year.
The first one? Start looking early. The same way Black Friday deals are starting the week of at this point, a lot of travel steals drop early too.
“Tuesday is still a thing, but really it starts now around Thanksgiving,” Hull said. “It's really now a multi-day event.“
The next tip: It’s easy to get overwhelmed with all of the potential offerings, so it’s best to have an idea of what you’re looking for, and to lean on the experts to show you where to find it.
“Use curated lists,” Hull said. “There are travel experts, including here at The Points Guy, that [put] together these curated list of deals for weeks... So don't feel like you've got to do all the research yourself. Go to one of those curated lists and quickly spot the deals that you want.”
Finally, if you want to check and see if your flight deal is actually a steal before you book it, there’s resources for that, too. Google Flights and Skiplagged, for instance, will let you know if your flight is cheaper than normal.