A simple internet hack to book cheap flights or hotels online

A perennial question that globetrotters mull over is how far in advance they should book their flights and hotels in order to crack the cheapest deal. Despite several tried and tested methods, there is no sure-shot technique for booking cheap flight tickets online.

However, rapid technological advancements have given rise to the Internet-of-things (IoT) - an avenue filled with overwhelming opportunities to help you achieve your booking goals. Let’s find out how.

While browsing the internet, you might have come across the term ‘locals only’. However, being a native may either turn out to be expensive or cheaper. Here’s an interesting trick that will help you book flights online for cheap or even bag cheap hotel deals while planning your next trip. This technique helps you become a ‘local’ of any place on the internet by just changing the URL address of the desired website. So, if you are booking from UK, you are automatically directed to the ‘.uk’ extension of a particular website. But you have an option to change the extension to ‘.com’ at any point of time to compare prices on the other side of the globe. And if it’s cheaper, which is the case in most instances, you know where to book from.

The underlying concept of the term ‘local’ on online travel portals is connected to local currency. It’s obvious that currency-wise $100 is not the same as £100, though it may mean the same to the people belonging to these respective countries (Just to let you know, $100 is $25 less than £100). The same principle applies while searching for cheap flight bookings. It all depends on the location you’re booking from or where the website thinks you are booking from. One price carries a different value for the natives and for the foreigners. And thanks to the capabilities of the Internet, you can make the most of this difference while on a prowl for best budget hotels.

Online hotel booking is certainly a tedious task. It’s best to scan through all the available options before zeroing down on something. Once you have a look at the prices offered through direct hotel booking, it’s time to check the prices offered by different travel portals. Most people make a choice here without realizing that there are still more options left for search. You should check the price offered by different online travel agencies of different countries. This means switching from ‘.uk’ to ‘.com’, which can help you save quite a bit. Wondering if it’s as simple as that? Let’s dig into the process and figure out.

The virtual private network (VPN) is a cloud-based network that helps you turn this myth into reality. A VPN allows you to connect to a device or network from different parts of the world. Once you search for an ideal hotel by browsing through several online hotel booking sites, you can make the website believe that you are booking a room from one of the countries that offer you a relatively cheaper price as compared to your own place of booking/residence. So using a different version of the travel website can have a massive impact on your booking.

Thus, investing in a VPN will prove to be beneficial, considering that it keeps your connection private and secure, whilst offering you the best online booking deal for your travels.

So, the next time your desired hotel or flight fare seems absurdly high, it’s time to switch to another network and try your luck!

I'm working in the travel industry and I admire my job a lot because I also love traveling the globe with her family and friends.