Tips for Travelling Less This Summer

Hey folks, you can still catch up some inexpensive travel expenses while summer is still here. Get the latest rock-bottom prices, even in a peak season.

Millions of Americans will pack their wheelie bags for vacation this summer, and the travel industry is busily preparing-by raising rates. Domestic airfares are jumping 3 to 6% and hotel rates are zooming as much as 18%. But no worries, you can game the system. These websites let you save on...

• rental cars. Most people turn to chains like Avis or Hertz when they need to rent a car, but experts say independent agencies, like those at carrentals.com and carrentalexpress.com, offer rates up to 30% lower.
• airfare. Airfarewatchdog.com employs actual people to find deals, and the result is often a better fare than you'd get at ordinary travel-booking websites. (That's because the other guys rely on automated data feeds from airlines, but some airlines reserve low fares for their own sites, which the auomated ones can't access.)
• hotels. If you're willing to gamble a bit, try hotwire.com. Pick a neighborhood and a hotel category (like 4-star), and the site finds a match-but won't name the hotel till you book it. Rates are super low because hotels can post deals without showing competitors.