Costco is much more than just $1.50 hot dog meals and great bulk buys. They now have a little-known travel website appropriately called “Costco Travel” and it’s a very promising way to score major deals on cruises, theme park tickets, and vacation packages. Here’s what you need to know, along with some insider tips to use Costco travel to save really big on your next family vacation.

What Exactly is Costco Travel?

It’s an online travel booking website, available exclusively for Costco members.

Let’s be clear, it’s NOT like Expedia or Orbitz. Meaning you cannot book a single flight or night in a specific hotel.

Instead, Costco Travel uses their enormous buying power to buy & build vacation packages, theme park tickets, and cruises to specific destinations and pass the savings along to their members.

The destinations include top vacation spots like Hawaii, Caribbean, Europe, Florida, Vegas, and Mexico to name a few

How Does Costco Get the Best Travel Deals?

Think of Costco Travel as bulk buying for vacations.

So instead of negotiating the best deal on a 5 gallon tub of mayo, they’re using their buying power to buy cruises and vacation packages at a bulk rate.

Because of this, Costco members get to shop their travel site for deals that’re often 20-50% less than “normal” travel agents or travel sites.

See Also: Google Flights: 8 Insider Tips and Tricks To Score Cheap Airfare

Types of Travel Deals?

Here are the best deals that Costco members can currently snag.

• Cruises – The next time you’re looking into booking a cruise, check out this page at Costco Travel. Costco passes along terrific deals from lines like Carnival, Disney, Holland America, Norwegian, Princess, and Royal Caribbean to name a few. One cruise deal that caught my eye was from Royal Caribbean and was for 7-nights to the southern Caribbean for only $559 per person. The best part? The cruise deal includes a free $70 Costco Cash Card.
• Theme Parks – Use Costco’s buying power to save money at places like Disneyland, Disney World, and Universal Orlando.
• Vacation Packages – Here is where you can potentially save the most money when planning your family’s vacation. Packages include airfare, hotel, and often rental car or free transportation to and from the airport. I recently priced a family vacation to Maui for 5 and the trip was $469 less than anywhere else I could find it.
• Rental Cars – While Costco limits you to only Avis, Enterprise, Budget, and Alamo, the deals are often better than you’ll find anywhere else. Why? Well, they automatically “shop all coupons, codes and discounts for the lowest prices”. Plus, Costco members also receive one additional driver fee waived. Exclusive Costco coupons include free car upgrades along with free days when you reserve 5 days or more.

Also, when booking a hotel, look for partner hotel deals at Best Western and Hyatt.

See Also: 7 Brilliant Travel Tips That’ll Save You BIG on Lodging and Airfare

BONUS: Insider Costco Travel Tips and Tricks

Time to take this article to the next level. Here are some tips and tricks to maximize your travel savings with Costco.

• Executive Costco Member? – If you are, look for travel deals marked as “Executive Special” and score things like room upgrades, shipboard credits, spa credits, and other cool perks.
• Look for Kirkland Signature Travel Deals – Just like the Kirkland brands offers great values inside the warehouse, their travel deals will give you the same benefit. This is especially true with Kirkland Signature cruises which will score you free credits, cruise excursions, and even free room upgrades.
• 10% Off at Best Western & Hyatt – Book at these 2 partner hotel chains and get 10% off your room rate.
• Book with Enterprise Rental Car – By doing so, Costco Travel will score you an additional 10% off your car rental rate.
• Look for “Included Extras” – Don’t gloss over these. You’ll want to book Costco vacation packages and cruises that list many of these (Be aware that not all do). The “extras” include room upgrades, free breakfast, free transportation to and from the airport, resort credits, and rental car upgrade. Believe me, these will save you a TON of money and make your trip more enjoyable.
• Last-Minute Cruises – Very few Costco members are aware of the “last-minute cruise” section on the Costco Travel site. If you have some flexibility in your schedule, and can set sail within the next 30-45 days, you can book a last-minute cruise and save up to 40%.

Ask the Reader: Have you checked out Costco Travel before? If so, what savings were you able to score?

By Kyle James

Photo by Costco Travel.

Over the past couple years I’ve researched and written about almost twenty secret menus. From Starbucks, to In-N-Out Burger, to McDonald’s, all of the secret menu items I’ve discovered have been a fun way to discover new restaurant favorites. So I figured it was time to make it easy for you to find all of the hidden menus without having to search my blog. Below are all of the secret menus I’ve investigated and written about. Have fun with it!

[mv_create key=”1″ thumbnail=”https://www.rather-be-shopping.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/innout-3.png” title=”19 Secret Menus That’ll Change Your Life” type=”list”]Ask the Reader: Have you ever ordered something from a “secret menu”? If so, was it a tasty surprise or not worth the effort?

By Kyle James

Photo by Mike Mozart.

As I’ve talked about in the past, Amazon no longer offers price adjustments on anything besides HDTV’s. Totally silly that they changed their policy as it’s costing the company money as savvy shoppers simply return items and buy them at the new lower price. But with that said, I recently discovered a clever workaround to this new Amazon policy. When shopping on Amazon, consider buying from 3rd party sellers as most will happily offer you a price adjustment if their price drops within a reasonable period of time. Here are the details…

Here’s what you need to know to add this tip to your savings toolbox:

– When shopping on Amazon.com, start making it a habit to see if 3rd party sellers are selling the item for the same price as Amazon, or less.

– For this hack to work, the item has to be sold by a 3rd party and not fulfilled by Amazon.

– If you can afford to wait a little longer to get the item, and it’s competitively priced, buy from the 3rd party seller.

– Keep an eye on the price of the items you’ve purchased in the past 30 days. Tip: On significant purchases, I like to set a calendar alert on my smartphone to remind myself to check on any price adjustment opportunities.

– When you find a 3rd party seller (that you bought from) has dropped their price, go to the item’s product page and click on the sellers name to visit their Amazon page. See image below to see where to click.

Then on their Amazon page, click on “Ask a Question” or call their customer service number if available and politely ask them if a price adjustment is available.

Many, if not most, 3rd party Amazon sellers try hard to protect their reputation and will happily offer you a price adjustment within 14-30 days after your item is delivered.

Rate of success? I’ve tried this 11 times over the past 6 months and got a price adjustment (within 48 hours) 8 separate times. Not too shabby.

I’ve also received several emails from Amazon shoppers the past few months who’ve had success with this little trick.

It’s worth nothing that this hack won’t make sense on every item, especially for Prime members who want the item delivered in 2 days.

The good news is that many 3rd party Amazon sellers also offer free shipping, but it’ll usually take 5 business days for the package to get to your front door.

But if you’re not in a hurry to get the item, and the price tends to fluctuate, it’s worth your time to shop 3rd party sellers on Amazon knowing that a price adjustment is a viable option.

If you want to stick to “Prime eligible items” the only way you can get price protection is to return the item to Amazon and re-buy it at the lower price. It’s a time consuming drill but worth it for significant purchases.

Mileage will obviously vary with this hack as 3rd party sellers on Amazon aren’t beholden to a price protection policy.

But the good news for us shoppers is that many sellers will happily give you price protection as it gives them a “leg up” over Amazon. Not to mention it inevitably creates loyal customers who’ll buy from them again.

Ask the Reader: Have you ever dealt with 3rd party sellers on Amazon? If so, have you ever received a price adjustment when their price dropped?

By Kyle James