There are so many great affordable luxury travel hacks out there these days, making luxury holidays even more accessible than ever. One of the most obvious luxury travel hacks is one which often gets overlooked; travelling as a couple. If you can split your costs between two people, such as for hotel rooms and car hire, it minimises your spending and allows for cheap luxury holidays. Plus there are plenty of great travel deals for couples out there just waiting to be made the most of! Below you’ll find some useful tips for travelling as a couple, splitting travel costs and making your luxury holiday more affordable…
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Benefits of Travelling as a Couple
Splitting Hotel Costs
One of the most obvious benefits of travelling as a couple is being able to share a hotel room and split the cost. A double room is often not too much more expensive than a single room at many hotels, but when there’s two of you, you can split the cost in half. This makes staying at luxurious hotels much more affordable.
Making the Most of Couples Deals
Another benefit of travelling as a couple is that you can make the most of certain deals and offers to keep your luxury holiday within your budget. There are plenty of travel companies out there offering special couples holiday deals and packages for two people.
Check out websites such as Luxury Escapes, Tripadeal, Webjet Exclusives and Secret Escapes for affordable deals on luxury hotels and trips for two.
Once on holiday, you can also use couples deals to save money on activities and food, with websites such as Scoopon or Groupon offering luxury travel experiences for two including helicopter rides, wine tasting and meals at a fraction of the normal price.
Splitting the Cost of Internal Travel
When travelling with your partner you can split the cost of travel once you’re in your destination. Of course this doesn’t apply to the likes of planes and trains, however, when there’s two of you, jumping in a taxi or hiring a car to explore while travelling may actually work out cheaper than buying two lots of tickets for other forms of public transport such as the train or the metro. Plus, taxis and cars are far more comfortable!
Celebrating Special Occasions
If you’re travelling as a couple at a special time, such as an anniversary or your honeymoon, hotels and restaurants will often give you a complimentary gift or upgrade. Don’t be afraid to let people know if you’re celebrating something special while on holiday in order to make your trip even more luxurious.
Having Someone Special to Share the Experience With
Splitting costs aside, travelling with your partner is an extremely special experience, especially when it comes to luxury travel. What could be better than sharing a beautiful hotel room, a romantic dinner in a beautiful destination or a moonlight swim with your other half?
Tips for Splitting Costs when Travelling as a Couple
Set your Budget in Advance
Before you start planning your trip, make sure to establish what ‘affordable luxury’ means to you both and work out your travel budget as a couple. People can have very different opinions on how much they want to spend on a holiday, whether that’s on the flights, accommodation or spending money once you’re there. Setting out a budget for the entire trip is an important part of travelling as a couple, luxury or not.
Have a Partially Shared Travel Fund
One way of organising your budget when travelling as a couple is to pool your money into a separate travel account and use this both to book the trip and to pay for joint expenses while you’re away. Flights, hotels, travel, food and attraction tickets can all be paid for using the joint fund.
Just make sure you both have a small amount of individual spending money too for personal items such as snacks or souvenirs that you wouldn’t want to buy using the joint fund.
The Best Travel Rewards Cards for Couples
If you’re booking larger expenses such as flights and hotels together through a joint fund, make sure you get an account which offers travel benefits or the option of building up membership points.
With the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Card (which is free for your first year) you can earn double membership points for booking with many of Amex’s travel partners. These points can then be transferred to over 15 major frequent flyer and hotel programmes. Cardholders also get two complimentary lounge visits per year, a hire car class upgrade with Hertz and a room upgrade where available at over 350 hotels globally including Hilton, InterContinental and Sofitel.
If you’re based in Australia, great options for credit cards which can earn you frequent flyer points include the Qantas American Express Discovery Card or American Express Velocity Escape Card, both of which have a $0 annual fee and you can earn uncapped points to be used on future trips.
For those based in the UK, another great joint account for couples who love to travel is the British Airways American Express Credit Card (no fees) on which you can collect Avios Points to be used on flights, hotels and car hire. The great thing about this card is that you can get 2-for-1 travel with a Companion Voucher when you spend £20,000 each membership year on the card, which you can use to take your other half with you on the same flight when you redeem Avios for a British Airways reward flight.
The Best Joint Travel Cards for Couples
When you’re spending abroad, also make sure you have a card with no international charges. Great bank accounts for spending while travelling include Starling, which has no foreign fees whatsoever, and Monzo and Revolut, which both have fee-free spending and cash withdrawals up to £200 a month. Use one of these for your joint expenses while travelling and you won’t be hit with a load of extra fees when you return.
Or just Take it in Turns to Pay
Alternatively, if you’re in a fairly new relationship or you simply wouldn’t consider getting a joint account for travel, you can just take it in turns to pay for things. It’s easy enough to book your own individual flights, then take it in turns to pay for accommodation, dinners and attractions while you’re away. It’s a simple and fair option for travelling as a couple and splitting costs.
We hope this post has given you some helpful advice on travelling as a couple and splitting costs for cheap luxury travel.