Saving on Vacation Housing

When I learned recently that my sister is moving to Florida, I was so excited that I almost peed my pants. After the screaming subsided, my sis asked what all the commotion was about, and I proceeded to respond incoherently, mumbling, laughing and hooting like a crazy person. She hung up.

I gathered my wits and called her back to explain: I'm so excited about taking my unborn baby to both see her in Florida and to ride all of the Disney World rides for a fraction of the cost (read: no hotel fees!). I might even make this dream-come-true an annual vacation destination, if my sister can tolerate me and the fam for a week or so per year.

This, of course, brought me to brainstorm ways that other families can save on vacation destination housing. Join me as I take a look at some cheap accommodation how-to's for any location!

Find Affordable Housing

First and foremost on the savings itinerary for any vacation is the housing costs. If you can luck out like I did, you could stay with family or friends for all of your vacay or for a portion of the trip. But if you're miles from a friendly face, here are a few other options that can help alleviate hotel costs:

• Check Out Couch Surfing – Depending on the size of your travel group, CouchSurfing.org may be a wonderful option. The site allows you to befriend people in other locations in order to trade in-home hosting. So if you don't mind putting up a family from Italy for a week, you could crash at their home during your vacation.
• Try Swapping Houses – Another option for free accommodations is to agree to house swap. Sites like HomeExchange.com can pair you up with a family looking to stay in your area while you visit theirs. During that week or so, you basically exchange homes; they live in yours while you live in theirs.
• Go in Halfsies – If depending on the goodness of strangers isn't your thing, renting a home with a large group could save you some cash. This often works best for family reunions or vacations with friends because the more adults contributing to the cost of renting a vacation home, the cheaper the rental fee when split between you.
• Book a Hostel – Hostels are very popular overseas, but they are also more common now in larger U.S. cities. The accommodations are very basic, and you will most likely share a bathroom with strangers. But the cost is a fraction of a hotel booking.
• Try Out Half-Price Online Rentals – Websites like Priceline.com can get you great deals on hotel rooms if you're flexible. Sites like these work with hotels to help them book unused rooms at about half price, on average

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Personally, I haven't tried couch surfing or house swapping, but I'd love to do so. Sometime soon, perhaps. Splitting accommodation costs with family, booking a hostel and scoring deals through websites have all worked for me in the past, though. I hope some or all of these can work for you and your family as well.

Readers, if you have any other accommodation tips, we'd love to hear them!

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