Apps to Help You Save Money on Travel

How did people travel before the Internet came along to make everything so very easy? Smart phones in particular have played a key role in making travel simpler and more affordable. There are now thousands of clever apps out there to help you save money on the road and here is a rundown of a few of the best:

Kayak

The Kayak app is an extension of the website of the same name, the ultimate flight aggregator search engine. Kayak searches not just airline sites, but even other price aggregator sites like Orbitz and Priceline, to bring you the lowest-priced flights anywhere on the Internet. Recently their search engine has expanded to help you find hotel and car rental deals.

Airport Parking

Don't be tricked into paying a king's ransom for parking at the airport. This app helps you find privately owns lots near your airport of choice, where you can store your car for a fraction of the price of the official lots. The app lists parking lot options near hundreds of airports across North America and the UK.

Hotel Tonight

If you find yourself looking for a last-minute hotel room, Hotel Tonight can help you save a ton of money. Every day at noon the company releases last-minute hotel room deals for that very night, usually at basement prices. The app covers 12 countries, including the US, and can help users find incredible deals – think New York City for under $100 a night.

GasBuddy

If you are road tripping in the US or Canada, GasBuddy can save you money on fuel. You simply enter your zip code or location via GPS and GasBuddy finds the cheapest nearby gas station. You can also search by amenities like ATMs and bathrooms. If you are low on fumes GasBuddy can just guide you to the closest station using Google Maps.

HipMunk Flight & Hotel Search

The San Francisco start-up HipMunk has quickly gained popularity for their useful app. It's more than your typical flight and hotel search engine aggregator, thanks to a few unique features. In addition to your typical hotels and guesthouses, the accommodations search also brings up apartment rental listings from AirBnB and HomeAway. These options can sometimes be significantly cheaper and more comfortable than a hotel room.

HipMunk's flight search is also unique, in that it lets you sort flights using criteria like layover length, departure time and total trip time, instead of just by price. This way you can find not only the cheapest flight, but the most comfortable.

CarRentals.com

This app is a search aggregator for car rental deals. You tell it what you are looking for and it searches 15,000 national and international car rental locations to find the best deals near you. You can also save time by booking online via the app and skip pricey walk in rates.

Free Wi-Fi Finder

The modern traveler lives and breathes free Wi-Fi, and this app was created to make sure you never have to go without. Free Wi-Fi Finder uses its database of user-reported data to tell you exactly where to go to get connected. Best of all, you don't need to already be online for it to work- it uses your phone's GPS and previously downloaded information.

Note: Available plans and coverages may have changed since this blog was published.