Posted on April 26th, 2022

Travelers are feeling the squeeze. Rising prices related to inflation, employment shortages and supply chain slowdowns are hitting the travel industry, just as summer travel planning — compounded by pent-up demand — peaks.

Prices for consumer goods were up 8.5 percent in March compared to March 2021, with airfares, up 23.6 percent, beating that. The return of leisure travel has bumped nightly hotel prices up 11.7 percent on average, to $148, according to the hospitality benchmarking firm STR, compared to 2019 at $132. Rental cars, gas and even Uber rides — up 12 percent recently, according to the marketing research firm NielsenIQ — are siphoning travel budgets.

When the going gets expensive, the frugal get smarter. You may spend more time planning your vacations while pursuing thrifty strategies, but the following tips provide a return on that investment.

On the road

High gas prices are a headwind. In a March survey from the market research firm Longwoods International, 38 percent of respondents said the rising cost of gas would greatly impact their travel decisions in the next six months.

Rental car prices are expected to remain high throughout the year, as agencies run short on inventory after selling much of it at the height of the pandemic and unable to replenish their fleets because of supply chain challenges. The travel search engine Kayak recently put the average rental car price at $101 a day in summer, up 67 percent over 2019.

To save, consider a Costco membership ($60 to $120) for access to its travel department’s rental car deals; a recent search found a daily savings of $30 on a rental in San Francisco. The free service Autoslash uses your memberships in clubs like Costco and services like AAA to find discount rentals and then tracks them to see if the price drops.

Electric vehicles are one way around gas hikes. They’re still scarce as rentals, but Hertz now advertises them in seven U.S. airports and recently announced a deal with the Swedish electric carmaker Polestar to buy 65,000 E.V.s over five years, with availability expected this spring in Europe and, by year end, in North America and Australia.

Stateside, Hertz currently rents high-end Teslas. A recent search in Atlanta turned up a Tesla for $156 a day (compared to about $85 for a sedan getting 27 miles per gallon). Unless you’re planning an epic trip, it’s hard to imagine how those gas savings would exceed the E.V. rental bill, though the latter will reduce emissions.

The car-sharing service Turo says demand for electric cars has been booming with more than 13,000 rented in the last month. The platform has more affordable electric models available, reducing both gas and tailpipe emissions. A recent search in Los Angeles, for example, turned up Polestars for under $100 a day.

Original article: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/20/travel/budget-travel-inflation.html