1. Have a gourmet picnic on the plane
Business-class cabins may boast in-flight menus created by celeb chefs, but you can get the gastro cachet in an economy seat by taking a Gordon Ramsay Plane Food picnic on board. On sale in his Heathrow T5 restaurant (£11.95), the groovy little zip-up bag contains three courses (tiger-prawn salad, roasted rump of Hereford beef and brownies). Caviar House also does posh takeaways (from £16).
2. Don't blow the budget on the best hotel in town
Instead, book a top suite in a more modest hotel. You’ll get a larger, grander room and the finest views in the house. You’ll also be treated like a special guest by the hotel staff, whereas you might go unnoticed in a swankier pad full of flashier folk.
3. Play the train game
Luxuriate in a first-class carriage – for standard-class prices. In the UK, advance first-class seats often work out cheaper than standard-class returns bought on the day of travel. We found first-class fares from London to Manchester at www.virgintrains.co.uk for £34.50 each way – at £69 in total, that’s 50p less than an off-peak standard-class return bought at the station. (Book two singles and specify journey times, because open returns can cost considerably more.) Another tip: at weekends, you can often upgrade your standard-class ticket to ‘first’ on the day of travel; it costs £15 on Virgin, from £20 on East Coast (www.eastcoast.co.uk) and just £5 on South West Trains (www.southwesttrains.co.uk).
4. Go all-in to get more for your dosh
While half-board deals at posh country piles might seem excessive, they can in fact be surprisingly good value. For instance, book half board at grand country-house hotel Holbeck Ghyll in the Lake District (01539 432375, www.holbeckghyll.com; doubles from £165, B&B, or £245, half board) and you’ll pay £40 rather than £60 for a Michelin-starred three-course meal (salt cod pannacotta, braised oxtail – the works).
5. Haggle for a room upgrade
Although web-only hotel rates can seem like the cheapest option, staff at hotel reservations desks usually have the power to match discount prices – and throw in further enticements such as breakfast and spa treatments to make absolutely sure they get you through the door. Scan consolidator sites such as www.booking.com and www.hotels.com, as well as the hotel’s own website, to find the best online rate. Then call the hotel. They’ll try to match it, but ask them to throw in an upgrade, too. Think of an extra you’d particularly like and ask them to include it – anything from a better room to a free dinner. We tested this on London’s Berkeley, which was offering a room-only rate of £309 per night on the web. One call to reservations, and they threw in breakfast and a bottle of vintage champagne on arrival.
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6. Stopovers: two holidays for the price of one
Roll up, roll up: get your free holiday here! If your flight involves an overnight connection, your hotel stay is included – so you can turn an overnight stopover into a whirlwind citybreak. For example, Korean Air flies to Sydney via Seoul, but the connection requires a 10-hour wait on the ground (the onward flight leaves the next morning). This means any ticket includes a free night at a hotel – in the city or near the airport; it’s up to you. If you’ve got more time to play with, your stopover can last as long as you like – think of it as a free second holiday, on which you only have to pay for the accommodation. Not only that, indirect tickets also cost less than non-stop ones. The key is to choose a carrier that flies to your desired final destination, but stops via the airline’s hub. For example, Air Canada flies to Hawaii but stops in Vancouver on the way, while Turkish Airlines flies to Bangkok via Istanbul, and Air New Zealand goes Down Under via LA or Hong Kong. Experts such as Flight Centre (0844 800 8660, www.flightcentre.co.uk) or Trailfinders (0845 054 6060, www.trailfinders.com) can talk you through the possibilities.
7. Eat a Michelin-star meal for less
If an eatery has only recently won its Michelin star, the menu may still be affordable; and smaller, remoter restaurants may keep prices low to attract the crowds, or charge a lower price for the lunch menu. But where can you find the relevant info? On the excellent www.viamichelin.co.uk website, where you can search for Michelin-star restaurants according to city and price. Some of our favourites: Arbutus in London (www.arbutus restaurant.co.uk; prix fixe lunch £17); Convivio in New York (www.convivionyc.com; prix fixe menu from £40); and Tim Ho Wan in Hong Kong (2 Kwong Wa St), where dim sum starts at 80p!
8. Cater to your taste
High-end cottage rentals make a big fuss of leaving a posh hamper for you. Get that same luxury at more modest properties by booking an online supermarket delivery of special treats you like.
9. Sip champagne on the plane
Booked economy flights for a special-occasion weekend away? Just because you’re down the back of the plane doesn’t mean you have to put up with warm mini-bottles of sweet screw-top Sauvignon. Ask flight attendants if you can chuck a few coins at some celebratory fizz: usually they’ll sell you those 187ml mini-bottles the business-class guests drink – at very reasonable rates. SAS, the Scandinavian carrier, does Nicolas Feuillate for £8.70; Swiss will sell you refreshing Heidsieck for £8.60; and American Airlines practically gives theirs away at about £4.40 – the quaffable Bouvet Brut label, or delicious Domaine Laurier.
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10. Let the train take the strain – and still have wheels
An instant upgrade to your UK driving holiday? Not having to drive there! A train could get you to your destination in half the time (Euston to the Lake District, say, in under three hours), and hire-car firms such as Enterprise (www.enterprise.co.uk) will even pick you up at the station in your rental car.
11. Get the best seat on the aircraft!
Want to get business-class legroom for economy prices, or extra-special service in a bog-standard seat? The key is to know your plane. Here’s the lowdown.
For stretching out: Everybody knows that the bulkhead and emergency-exit seats are the ones to plump for – but did you know that these can now be bought? Charter airlines have long applied a fee to these prime seats, but now scheduled airlines do so, too – ask at check-in (from £30 one-way). That said, if they fail to sell these seats, you can still bag them for free; ask at the gate when they allocate the spaces at the last minute.
For couples: To be guaranteed two seats together (and no third gooseberry), choose the window seat on a Boeing 767 or Airbus A330 and A340, where the configuration is 2-4-2 or 2-3-2. If you’re on a Boeing 747, ask for seats in the last three rows, where the fuselage narrows from a 3-4-3 set-up to 2-4-2. If you don’t know which aircraft you’re going to fly in, check www.seatguru.com, which shows seat maps of every carrier and aircraft type.
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For VIP service: Some airlines with double-decker aircraft carry both economy and business class in the upper ‘bubble’ (Virgin Atlantic is one). Others, such as Air New Zealand, seat only their premium economy passengers up there. Sitting on this deck means better service (dedicated crew to a smaller space), as well as separate loos and a greater chance of getting your preferred meal. Check how your airline uses this area on www.seatexpert.com.
For sleeping: Most travellers want to sit at the front of the aircraft since they can disembark first; the back also tends to be a bit noisier (invest in ear plugs). As a result, staff fill the plane front to back, often leaving the rear almost empty. Ask to sit here and you can often stretch out – you may even bag a row to yourself for 40 winks.
For nervous fliers: A plane’s centre of gravity is just behind the front of the wing – sit here and your flight will be less bumpy. Also avoid emergency-exit seats, which involve you taking responsibility for the door in the event of a crash (!) – or, at the very least, a talk in which the crew explain this worrying fact to you.
12. Get VIP treatment at the airport
Jealous of people who booked through expensive tour operators and get whisked through the airport like celebs? You can get the same service for far less than the premium you would have paid a posh tour op. At Bangkok, Starlight Express (www.sel-th.com) will whizz you through the airport from £15pp, and can also arrange fast-track immigration. Singapore Changi airport, meanwhile, runs a VIP meet-and-greet service from £10pp, including fast-track immigration (www.changiairport.com). And in Dubai, the other big long-haul transit hub for UK passengers, Marhaba (www.marhabaservices.com) has a VIP transit service from £35pp. It also offers add-ons such as buggy service from the gate, porterage and lounge access.
13. Carry the card
If you’re staying at a big chain hotel, sign up for its loyalty card and you may stand to be the happy recipient of room upgrades, gifts, free stays and even flights. Elaine Ellis of Marriott Hotel Group explains: ‘All members receive gifts and extras in their room when they arrive. Platinum members, who stay with us 75 times a year or more, will always get the best room on offer for no extra cost.’ Even infrequent travellers can get immediate benefits from some groups, who will reward you with gifts and points to ‘spend’ on treats in the hotel, and many have gussied up their loyalty programmes post-recession. Go to www.pointmaven.com for information about room promotions that are only available to loyalty-card members.
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14. The effortless way to earn air miles
It can be hard to rack up enough air miles to earn yourself a free flight, but as a rule, you need fewer miles to upgrade to a better seat. For example, Virgin Atlantic requires 50,000 miles for a free flight to New York (average fares around £400), but only 20,000 miles to upgrade your seat from economy to premium economy (which can cost as much as £500 extra). Still sounds like a lot of miles? A sneaky way to collect them faster is to sign up with an airline-affiliated credit card. American Express has links with several of the big airlines – its Virgin Atlantic White Card, for example, earns you 3,000 miles with your first purchase, two miles for every pound you spend on Virgin or Virgin Holidays, and one mile for every pound you spend elsewhere. There are bonuses, too: a free upgrade to premium economy if you clock up £10,000 in a year, or a free companion flight if you spend £15,000. Mastercard’s Flybe credit card is good if you don’t want to wait to reap rewards – the first time you use it to buy anything, you’ll be sent a voucher for a free return flight on any of its European routes. See www.moneysavingexpert.com for a review of all the freebies. But be warned: interest rates can be eye-watering so you’ll want to pay the balance off every month.
15. DIY first class
Feel like you’re flying ‘up the front’ by assembling your own set of those envied freebies: duvet-soft Hush PJs (www.hush-uk.com; £50); lavender-scented Otis Battersbee eye mask (www.otisbattersbee.com; £35); Denner’s lovely longline cashmere wrap (www.dennercashmere.co.uk; £79); and Kiehl’s cute mini toiletries (new Super Acai Discovery Kit; www.kiehls.co.uk; £37). Combined cost: £201. Seat in First: £10,452 (BA to Los Angeles).
16. Get the best value out of the concierge desk
Upgrade your downtime by getting your hotel concierge to set you up with the best restaurants and tickets. Just as important: be clever and do it in the weeks before you arrive at the hotel – not only are you getting those valuable concierge services for free at this point, but covetables such as show tickets and sporting events will be cheaper in advance.
17. Feel like you’re on fast track
Whoosh through the airport VIP-style – from check-in to security to departure gate in minutes, not hours – by flying from a smaller airport such as London City or Bristol.
18. Scour money-saving websites for extras
You may already use discount-voucher sites when making online purchases from department stores and the like, so why not check them for ways to improve your holiday for nothing? There are almost 1,000 travel offers at www.myvouchercodes.co.uk – you could, for instance, find yourself transforming a family day out at Legoland into an overnight treat (by getting free hotel rooms with your entry tickets). Look also at www.discountvouchers.co.uk – we found a ‘two nights free’ offer with Kuoni, and an ‘upgrade to all-inclusive for 1p’ deal with First Choice.
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19. Invest in 3D movie specs
Pop on these glasses during a flight, plug them into your portable DVD player, iPhone or games console, and the screen will appear to you as if huge in width (1.16m) and three metres away in distance (www.firebox.com; from £149). Visionary!
20. Consider business class on lesser-known airlines
Avoid the big carriers and you could upgrade from economy, thanks to more reasonable fares. For example, business-class flights from London to Bangkok cost around £2,800 with BA, Qantas and Thai Airways. But opt for Eva Air (www.evaair.com), a Taiwanese airline with new Boeing 777s and excellent service, and fares start at £1,468. Or, heading to New York, BA and American Airlines charge from £2,200, while Icelandair (www.icelandair.co.uk) has fares from £1,300, if you can cope with a swift plane change in Reykjavik.
21. Avoid the queues
You need to be a bit brazen, true, but this ruse works for me every time I’m checking in on an economy ticket and see a groaningly-long queue snaking up to the desk,’ says reader Adrian Adams from London. ‘Instead of joining them, I approach the Club Class desk – which is almost always line-free – with a big smile and a very politely-expressed pretext. This might be something like, “Could you possibly help me? I’m not sure if my reservation is for economy or business class.” Or it might be something rather more elaborate, such as, “I was advised by the people who looked after my booking that I should ask at the Club check-in desk about an upgrade. Would you mind seeing if there’s any mention of this in your system?” I’ve always found that, to soften the (inevitable!) let-down, the staff will at least offer to check my bags in, while the economy queue has inched forward by about, well, an inch.’
22. Un-self-cater
Self-catering on holiday doesn’t have to mean slaving over a hot stove, or skimping on restaurant-quality food. Book a property that can fix you up with a private chef and get them to cook for you in the comfort of your own digs. At restaurants, this sort of tailored experience can cost a packet – Opus restaurant in Birmingham, for instance, quoted us £600 to create dinner for eight at the chef’s table, which will be more like £800 once you’ve added wine. Now consider Eaton Manor in Shropshire (01694 724814, www.eatonmanor.co.uk): a four-course-and-coffee dinner for eight, chef-created and served in your rental property, costs £251. Simply add supermarket vino!
23. Book lunch at a posh hotel and use the pool
‘When we got hot and bothered on a long weekend in Marrakech, my fiancé and I booked lunch at swanky Jnane Tamsna hotel (www.jnanetamsna.com) in the peaceful Palmeraie outside town (Hugh Grant and Kylie are past guests so it wasn’t somewhere we could afford to stay!),’ says reader Sonia Ford from Streatham. ‘On making the booking, the staff told us we could bring swimming cozzies since restaurant guests can use the facilities. We kicked back and relaxed by the pool all day! Since then, we’ve done it at posh hotels around the world!’
24. Lounge it up
You don’t need to be travelling Club Class to enjoy the comfort, exclusivity – and, yes, the free booze – of a plush departures lounge. No. 1 Traveller has nice ones at Stansted and Gatwick (www.no1traveller.com), from £20. Alternatively, try www.gosimply.com, for global options.
25. Transfer in style
Always check out the price of a private limo to your hotel: in many places – especially the US – it’s no dearer than a taxi. From JFK to Manhattan, cabs cost £28, limos from £29. And think big: from Nice airport to Monaco, a taxi’s about £75; the chopper’s £85 (www.heliairmonaco.com)!
26. Get a better cabin
Gamble your way to a cabin upgrade by requesting a category you think will be sold out. Lara Newell of Costa Cruises says: ‘On selected sailings, when the inside cabins are all taken, any new bookings will be upgraded to outside or balcony cabins.’
27. Don't pay for concierge services - find a savvy local instead
‘Concierge services such as Quintessentially don’t come cheap (around £60 a month). So when I went to China, I googled “Shanghai local guide” and found loads,’ says reader Emma McKenzie. ‘I booked a £40 tour with Sofia, who also called around to make sure I was treated like a VIP in all the hotspots.’
28. Join a car-hire loyalty scheme
After a long flight and a mind-numbing wait at the baggage carousel, the sight of an endless queue to pick up your hire car can trigger travel meltdown. Skip straight to the front by signing up with a loyalty scheme, similar to those used by airlines. Perks usually include a fast-track lane (some firms, such as Europcar, even let members bypass check-in desks altogether), discounts, speedy vehicle returns – and free car upgrades. Most of the schemes have several tiers: the most basic is usually free, then you either pay an annual fee for membership at the higher levels or get invited to join once you’ve reached certain rental targets – but many hand out perks even at the bottom tier. Avis, for instance, offers a free car-upgrade voucher as soon as you sign up, and it’s free to join (www.avis.co.uk). Other companies offering loyalty schemes include Europcar (www.europcar.co.uk), Hertz (www.hertz.co.uk) and Budget (www.budget.co.uk).
29. Lighten the load
It’s a little undignified clanking your way onto a plane and cramming the overhead locker with booze. So why not take advantage of airport schemes to collect your duty-free on your return, such as Heathrow’s Shop & Collect, Gatwick’s Shop & Drop and Birmingham’s Collect on Return.
30. Concoct a celebration - for a room upgrade
If it’s a special occasion, make sure you tell the reservations staff – preferably when you book – as many will give an upgrade. (Of course, there’s nothing to stop you fabricating a 40th birthday or 25th anniversary if you’re feeling sneaky…)
31. A room with a staff review
Don’t assume all rooms within a category are identical – quiz staff casually on their favourites when you reserve. For example, Tracy Atherton, general manager of Bali resort Amankila, says, ‘In our Garden Suite category, suite 22 is actually the best as it has ocean views.’
32. Travel outside peak season
If you don’t mind a bit of rain or slightly higher temperatures, you’ll get more hotel for your money outside high season. For instance, three nights in Dubai between early June and late September at Atlantis The Palm can cost as little as £970pp (including flights) – with a meal upgrade to half board thrown in free – when booked through Seasons (01244 202000, www.seasons.co.uk). The same package in April or May costs £1,745, B&B, so you’re saving around £800pp. Other bribes to tempt us out include ‘cash’ in hand: spa-goer’s favourite Chiva Som, in Thailand, gives you £380 credit to spend at the resort if you stay between May and September (Seasons, as before). Free extra nights are another lure: upmarket tropical-travel specialist Carrier (0161 492 1358, www.carrier.co.uk) has a seven-nights-for-four deal at suave Mauritius resort One&Only Le Saint Geran, which can be had for £1,685pp from June to August – and they throw in dinners at posh Le Terrasse restaurant, too.
33. Use your weekly shop to get a better holiday
Supermarket loyalty points aren’t just for money off your next trolley dash – you can use them to improve your holiday, too. Nectar points can be traded for seat upgrades on Eurostar, or even money off the Orient-Express, which definitely beats a standard rail ticket. Meanwhile, you can turn your Hilton room into a suite with Tesco Clubcard points, or upgrade the star-rating of your Virgin Holiday.
34. Check-in clever
The chances of swapping your standard-size box for a space-to-swing-a-big-cat suite may hang on the precise time you wheel your bag into the lobby. Hold off checking in until early evening (when the reservations team will have more of an idea of how many suites they have available), then ask politely and you could be in luck. There’s more chance you’ll be upgraded if you’re staying for a single night – the staff won’t worry that they might miss a sale the next day. Timing your stay with the quietest period of the week will also improve your chances; ask which days are least popular when you book. Jacqui Griffiths, general manager of Hotel du Vin in Cambridge, says, ‘We cannot guarantee a complimentary upgrade; however, Sunday nights do often present more opportunity.’ Also, look out for Sunday deals: Bailiffscourt Hotel and Spa (01903 723511, www.hshotels.com.uk) has doubles on a Sunday from £210, half board, with a £50 spa voucher. At other times, you’ll pay £330.
35. Pretend to be staff
‘I always tell friends to claim they work for the airline as they board, expressing relief they’ve managed to get a staff standby ticket, albeit a standard-class one. Ground staff could check your story, but that would delay boarding, so most crew will upgrade you,’ says reader – and former BA flight attendant – Gemma Ockwell.
36. Search for ‘soft’ openings
Here’s a nifty tactic for bagging a night at a hotel that might otherwise be beyond your budget. Hoteliers often lower their rates dramatically for the first few months after opening to encourage customers to book – which means you can upgrade yourself to somewhere far swankier than you’d usually be able to afford. For example, the swish new W hotel in London is offering 23 per cent off its normal room rates until mid-March, and at Hotel Chocolat, the latest luxe retreat to open its doors on Saint Lucia, you can get 20 per cent off room rates until June. The best place to find out about new hotel openings is www.hotelchatter.com; also worth a look are www.hotelnewsresource.com and the online forum www.flyertalk.com. Sign up for email alerts/newsletters at hotel-booking websites, too, to find out about openings and seasonal deals. Tablet (www.tablethotels.com) has a ‘Tablet Spy’ programme, which lets you know about soft launches and book at discounted rates before the property officially opens its doors. After your stay, you’re asked to give feedback, to see if the hotel deserves to be listed on Tablet’s website. Meanwhile, Design Hotels (www.designhotels.com/seasonalspaces) runs special offers in summer and winter, with perks such as free room upgrades and three nights for the price of two.
37. Swap hotels for fantasy homes
Self-catering works out much cheaper on a per-person basis than hotels, which means you can afford that five-star pad. It’s especially true for cities. In Paris, you could use a £65 per night budget to rent a posh studio in the Marais through Feel Paris (00 34 935 135561, www.feelparis.com). Put the same amount towards a hotel room and you’ll have to settle for a tired two-star in Montmartre, without a restaurant or room service (see www.booking.com).
But it’s when you’re planning a group holiday that you can really bag a superpad, because the per-person price of self-catering properties falls with every room you add. Planning a trip to New York? Find three friends and you can live it up in a beautiful two-bed penthouse (with private roof deck) in hip TriBeca from £316 per night – that’s £79pp (www.homeaway.com). If you want a hotel room for £79pp, you’ll have to consider the big chains brands around Times Square or the suburbs. Get a group of eight together, and you can stay in a very posh historic house in one of the city’s leafiest areas, overlooking Prospect Park in Brooklyn, from just £71pp per night (also www.homeaway.com). It comes with air-con, wi-fi and TVs in all the bedrooms – in other words, everything you’d find in an expensive hotel – and you get plenty of character, a huge garden and a hammock to loll in. There’s the added bonus of staying in a family area, too, as opposed to soulless hotelsville: Prospect Park is where NYC’s greenies call home, and there are local stores and coffee shops aplenty.
But what do you do if you want the best, but have no accommodation budget at all? If you live in a big city or an area that’s popular with tourists, you could swap your home for a palace and not part with any cash. Register on www.homebase-hols.com and look out for homeowners keen to come to your area. We found the owner of a designer beachfront pad in the cool Brazilian resort of Florianopolis, looking to swap with a London two-bed (they’ll look after pets, too); or, if you live in Poole, you could holiday overlooking the sea in a three-bed villa on the Costa Brava – for zilch. See also www.holswap.com, www.homelink.org.uk and www.homeexchange.com.
38. Upgrade to a lie-in
Driving to the airport for an early flight? Swap the dawn schlep for a relaxing night in a hotel the evening before – for nothing! With car parking costing £17 a day at Heathrow – but many airport hotels offering free parking – you’re effectively getting the room for nothing. At the four-star Copthorne Hotel (www.millenniumhotels.co.uk) near Gatwick, for instance, we found a double room for £98 –including eight days’ free parking.
39. Trust a package
Say you’ve got £2,300 to buy a week in the Maldives. If you package it yourself, air tickets cost £1,220 (on the day we tested), leaving £1,080 for a room – enough for a 4-star such as the Chaaya Reef Ellaidhoo (www.chaayahotels.com). But tour op Elegant Resorts (01244 897515, www.elegantresorts.co.uk) quoted us a week at 5-star Alila Villas Hadahaa (www.alilahotels.com) for £2,350 with flights: a glam upgrade for almost the same as the DIY price.
40. Meet and greet
Kiss goodbye to those horrible airport park-and-ride buses. Meet-and-greet parking means you drive straight to the terminal, your car is whisked away, and then is waiting for you at the terminal on your return. At around £10 a day, it is dearer than P&R, but often cheaper than door-to-door cabs.
41. Be wheely secure
Worried about picking up pricey scratches or scrapes on your hire car? Upgrade to peace of mind with worldwide annual excess waiver insurance (from around £55). Try www.carhire-excess-insurance.com or www.questor-insurance.co.uk.
42. No-lug luggage
‘It’s a bit of an extravagance, but on a trip to Oz my partner and I sent our suitcase ahead with Allport (www.allport.co.uk),’ says reader Adam Lock. ‘They charged £225 to look after it from our home to the place we were staying Down Under. So we could travel light, with hand baggage, which was a weight off our minds during our two-day stopover in Southeast Asia.’ You can try it for quick trips, too – Send My Bag (www.sendmybag.com) will transport a 30kg case to Paris for £53.99.
43. Skip waiting in line at attractions
Get the celeb treatment, and glide past the queues of ‘civilians’ standing in line for a city’s biggest attractions. In many popular European citybreak destinations, you can buy combination tickets online, in advance, that allow you to whizz straight in to dozens of sights without queuing. In Paris, for example, a museum pass (www.parismuseumpass.com; £30 for two days) gets you instant, queue-less access to 60 museums, including all the biggies, such as the Louvre (above). If you’re heading to Italy, you can buy advance tickets for a host of museums in Venice, Rome, Florence, Milan and Verona (www.tickitaly.com), including crowd-pullers such as the Vatican and the Uffizi. For example, a Rome Archaeological card gets you into nine attractions (including the Colosseum) for £24, and lasts seven days. In Madrid, buy a MadridCard (www.neoturismo.com; £28) for priority access to more than 50 museums, including the Prado. You also get discounts at many restaurants, bars and shops.
44. Go busin-ish class
Upgrade the plane! Many airlines use a variety of jets to fly to the same destination, so if there is a choice of flights on your travel date, check to see which aircraft is the most recent model and has the best seat pitch. New planes will have larger seat-back screens with on-demand movies, while older craft will have smaller screens with films shown on set cycles – or worse, a shared screen. Just three of Qantas’s 10 daily flights to Sydney, for instance, are on its new double-decker A380; the others are on a poky old 747.
45. Upgrade to the sounds of silence
The best perk of first-class train travel? It’s certainly not the sarnies. What execs are really paying for is the peace. But you can get that for free in a ‘quiet carriage’ (note that some operators only let you book these by phone).
46. Fast-track your passport
Get speedier passport renewal, and dodge the £35 premium rate, by using the Post Office Check & Send service (£8.17). ‘It should take two weeks,’ says the Passport Office, not the three it aims for as standard.
47. Return to splendour
Hotels love repeat guests. Tell ’em it’s your third visit, and just wait for the free fizz to appear. And if it’s not? Tell ’em anyway! They won’t risk calling a regular ‘liar’.
48. Flattery gets you favours
It’s always worth letting hotel managers know if you’ve had a great stay, says Tim Goddard, GM of Pavillon des Lettres in Paris. ‘If I receive a letter of thanks, I ensure the guest gets a good room or even a bottle of wine or an upgrade next time they visit us.’
49. Exploit low costs of living
Choose a destination where your buck goes further. You can gauge this easily by comparing rates for an international hotel in different regions – for example, the luxury Four Seasons hotel in Lisbon has double rooms from £343, compared with £636 for the Parisian equivalent.
50. Little extras for little ones
The ultimate holiday upgrade for families? Civilised nights out with no kids in tow. Several companies now offer such a perk: Sunsail (0844 463 6817, www.sunsail.co.uk) has free evening childcare at Club Vouknaki in Greece (so you can slope off for a sexy supper), along with complimentary daytime kids’ clubs (so you can read on the beach in peace). If you’re planning a snowy break, check out Esprit Ski (01252 618300), which has a free baby-listening service and evening kids’ club, along with extras such as free ice-skating. First Choice (0871 200 7799, www.firstchoice.co.uk) has great family deals, too, with free child places on hundreds of holidays. You can also find deals from holiday-park operators such as Eurocamp (0844 406 0402, www.eurocamp.co.uk) and Keycamp (0844 406 0200, www.keycamp.co.uk), where there are even free places for grandparents (with the potential bonus of a baby-sitting service!).