The idea of a vacation is great, but some people may find it daunting to try and plan for one. Booking flights, finding hotels; we all want the best bang for our buck while taking a vacation that will be enjoyable and memorable. Sometimes you may just want to find the best way to get from point A to point B in a particular city and there are apps that will assist with that as well.
Here are 10 money saving apps that will help take the guesswork out of your planning and allow you to find the best vacation or the best route your money can buy.
Hopper
Hopper is another app that was developed in Canada. It is a data-driven app that will help you save money on flights, hotels, and rental cars. Users of the app save an average of $65 per trip.
Hopper
Hopper uses data to predict future flight and hotel prices with 95% accuracy which allows you to plan for the future. The app will also notify you if there is a deal. With the app, you can freeze prices if you need more time to think about it and do more planning.
Trips booked through Hopper are flexible and you can opt for refundable ticket plans. If a flight is delayed or you miss a connection, you can instantly rebook without extra fees by using Hopper’s disruption rebooking service.
Star rating:
App Store: 4.7
Google Play: 3.5
Busbud
Busbud is a Canadian app that was developed in Montreal. The app covers bus routes in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia making it possible for locals and tourists alike to reach their destination.
Busbud
The app partners with more than 4, 500 bus companies providing a search engine and a booking platform to allow for ease of use. The app serves 21, 000 cities that include 3.8 million bus routes in 84 countries across the world.
The app will allow you to search your destination and see which bus routes service the area where you can then compare your options and the prices.
The app also allows you to save money by offering discount codes.
Star rating:
App Store: 3.7
Google Play: 4.5
Hardbacon
Though not specifically a travel app, Hardbacon, which is a financial app that was developed in Canada, can help you plan and save for your next trip. Harbacon has a budgeting feature that can assist users with setting financial goals that will help get you going on your next vacation. Aside from helping to save for the trip, the app has a feature that can be used to monitor your spending while you are away.
Hardbacon
Hardbacon can also help you to save on your travel insurance by allowing you to compare insurance options across multiple companies. This will help you find the most competitive prices for the insurance package that suits your needs when you are traveling to another destination.
Star rating:
App Store: 4.3
Google Play: not yet rated
Kayak
Kayak is an app that will search hundreds of travel sites to locate the best deal and exactly what you need for your trip. It can search for inexpensive flights, hotel deals, and car rentals.
Kayak
You can also search for specific parameters such as nonstop flights, pet friendly hotels, and rental of a specific vehicle make and model.
Using the mobile app provides an advantage as they will offer mobile only deals that you can take advantage of. It also allows you to save deals to your watch list so you can track the prices to see if it drops before you book. You can also set price alerts so that you will be notified if the price drops.
If you are not sure where you can travel on your budget, you can use the Explore feature of the app. Set your budget and the app will search for travel destinations that fall within your price range.
Star rating:
App Store: 4.7
Google Play: 4.6
Transit App
The Transit app is an app that was developed in Canada. It is an app that will help to simplify your commute and it features over 200 cities across the world. They are working hard to expand and support even more regions.
Transit App
The app allows you to search departure times for public transport to see when the transit will be at your local stop. You can plan your trip using real-time data and the app will even let you know how many minutes you have before you should leave in order to reach your destination on time.
The app allows you to see all of your options at one time so you can decide which is best. It will give details about Uber, Bikeshar, Carshare and more. This allows you to compare the options and make the best and most convenient choice.
Using this app can help you to save money by comparing all of the available options from a single app.
Star rating:
App Store: 4.7
Google Play: 4.1
HotelTonight
HotelTonight is able to offer discounted rooms ensuring you get the best rate available. Hotels give discounts on empty rooms and HotelTonight passes the savings on to you.
HotelTonight
This app is great for planning in advance or finding a great deal on a room for a last minute stay. You are able to search by city, attraction, or map location to find a hotel that is suited to your needs.
The app also includes customer reviews for hotels along with pictures and ratings.
The more you use the app, the more you can save. The HotelTonight Perks program offers better deals the more you book through them.
Star rating:
App Store: 4.8
Google Play: 4.4
Gas Buddy
Gas Buddy is an app that is convenient for planning a road trip in Canada or the United States. It helps you find the places with the cheapest gas and best fuel savings along your route.
GasBuddy
GasBuddy covers over 150,000 gas stations across North America. The app is easy to use. All you have to do is open the app, search for gas stations and you will find the cheapest gas in the vicinity.
GasBuddy also features daily draws for users to win free gas which will help your budget go even farther.
GasBuddy has an in-app Drives program that will help you learn to be more fuel-efficient so that you will waste less fuel. You earn a savings score based on your driving habits. Higher scores will help you to save even more on gas.
You will also receive alerts if fuel prices are on the rise so you can get gas before price increases hit the pumps.
Star rating:
App Store: 4.7
Google Play: 4.4
Airbnb
Airbnb allows you to discover millions of places to stay. You can look for a lakeside cottage or an apartment in the heart of a city. You can then book your stay directly in the app.
Airbnb App
If you are flexible about where you stay, you can let the app find places for you for specific dates or flexible dates up to a year in advance.
If you are a new user, you will get a discount off your first stay which is a great way to save some money. Another way to save money using Airbnb is to contact the host directly. Sometimes, the host will be open to offering a discounted price if you ask! Just remember to be courteous when asking if a lower rate is feasible.
Star rating:
App Store: 4.8
Google Play: 4.5
Skyscanner
Skyscanner allows you to book everything you need for your trip all from one app. The app will help you to find the best value flights for your travel dates and also offer suggestions for the cheapest months and dates to fly.
Skyscanner
The app also lets you compare hotel deals and deals on rental vehicles. Skyscanner does not charge any booking fees so there are no hidden costs for using the app.
Skyscanner can help you to find seasonal deals and great prices on weekend getaways. If you don’t know where you want to go, use the Search Everywhere feature to find top deals on departures from a chosen airport.
Star rating:
App Store: 4.8
Google Play: 4.6
Flush App
If you are traveling out of your local area and are unfamiliar with your new location, the Flush App is a must have.
Flush
The app can help you find the closest public washrooms. This can also help if you are in countries where you have to pay to use the washroom. The app will help you find the least expensive or free washrooms in the area.
The app has over 200. 000 washrooms in its database. You can search a specific location or open the app and pan around the map to see what is near you.
Star rating:
App Store: 4.6
Google Play: 3.7
These apps will not only help you save money, but they will also make travel more convenient and easy to navigate.
About The Author: Arthur Dubois
Passionate about personal finance and financial technology, Arthur Dubois is a writer and SEO specialist at Hardbacon. Since his arrival in Canada, he’s built his credit score from nothing.
Arthur invests in the stock market but doesn’t pay any fees because he uses National Bank Direct Brokerage online broker and Wealthsimple’s robo-advisor. He pays for his subscriptions online with his KOHO prepaid card, and uses his Tangerine credit card for most of his in-store purchases. When he buys bitcoins, it’s with the BitBuy online platform. Of course it goes without saying that he uses the Hardbacon app so that he can manage all of his finances from one convenient place.
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