I save $20,000 a year with these 5 simple travel hacks

Here are some really basic and easy things I do to save money on travel every year that don't involve points or cards.

1: Rent Other Peoples' Houses

For any company team travel, we rent AirBnB houses, not hotel rooms. Half the cost, twice the fun and amenities. When on vacation, we'll stay somewhere cheap most the trip and splurge on a couple nights in an amazing hotel.

2: Rent Other Peoples' Cars

I rent peoples' used cars on Turo. Half the cost of normal rental cars, twice the speed and badass-ness. I'm talking Lincoln MKZ $30/day or for a special occasion or celebration, 700hp Dodge Challenger Hellcat that does 0-60 in 3.6 seconds for $130/day. You'll pay $350/day for a base model sports car on Hertz Luxury.  

3: Flying Slow Times

I fly when no one else wants to. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Saturdays, super early mornings, late nights. I plan flight dates using Google Flights price comparison calendar. Then I search Skyscanner, and Momondo. I literally let FlightsFromHome Instagram accounts decide my vacation travel, I turn on notifications, when an insanity deal like $350 round trip to Italy comes up, I book it immediately and pay for the option to cancel later if I change my mind. Delta usually has the best deals, I fly coach, have Gold Status and get upgraded free about 20% of the time.

For vacation travel, we go in the slow season weeks, no lines, no crowds, food and lodging is way cheaper. For example-> Disneyland and US resort hotels in the winter, tropical islands in the summer, Europe in the spring, anywhere in the fall, stuff like that. Google Flights shows you where those great gaps are. For last minute, short work flights I use Skiplagged app, where you can book a 2 stop flight, get off on stop 1, and save a ton, flights that are $400 the night before the trip I've gotten for under $100 in some cases.

4: Find Regretful TimeShare Owners

When possible for vacation travel, I scan Craigslist and Facebook groups and pay people pennies on the dollar to stay in their timeshare. We stayed at the Marriott Ko' Olina on Oa'hu for a week for $300. People make poor decisions with time shares, their loss is your gain. 

5: Save on Booze

I never drink alcohol. It's a scam. I still have twice as much fun for 0% the cost. Because of that, I never have to try and save money on quality food. (I will have a virgin Mojito with you and gladly make fun of myself for doing so).

How do you save on travel? Let me know in the comments!

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Who is Travis Chambers?

Founder, Chief Media Hacker at Chamber.media, an agency that makes scalable social videos; large production videos run as ads on Facebook and YouTube that drive millions in sales.  

 Travis led distribution and content strategy for "YouTube's #1 Ad of the Decade," Kobe vs. Messi with 140 million views. He's worked with brands like Yahoo, Kraft, Old Navy, Coca-Cola, and Amazon.

He's Forbes 30 Under 30 and speaks regularly at conferences.