It's Time To Book Winter Holiday Vacations

While there may be 262 days left to get Christmas shopping done, the time to be thinking about vacations for the holidays is now. Whether you celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas or another holiday, the end of the year is a very popular vacation time. And, if you have school-aged children, you’re generally a slave to taking vacations in these short breaks from school.

We got lucky last year and snagged rooms at the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe for the week after Christmas and even managed a 1-bedroom cottage using a Diamond suite upgrade (running behind writing up that review). I booked those reservations in October, waaaaay later than I should have. Because I waited so long it took me a solid 3 weeks to put something together using miles and points that actually fit.

While I haven’t booked this year’s trip, it’s on my mind and I’ve done some preliminary planning. And, you should as well. There’s even some extra motivation with a few good deals (and one great one on Hyatt points) this week via Daily Getaways.

If you happen to have top-tier airline status, take advantage of the generous benefits that give you the ability to change award tickets for free. And, generally speaking, you don’t need elite status to be able to grab an award reservation at a hotel that can be canceled without penalty until much closer to your arrival date (double-check before you book).

There’s really no excuse to procrastinate. Only panicked stories of trying to book with miles and points at the last-minute and failing (along with the occasional success story). It’s a big part of why many people think their miles and points are worthless. They can never find a redemption they like because they’re not looking at the right times.

I had a business colleague ask me a couple of days ago about award seats to Europe in the peak of the summer travel season. It seems like a far way off, but when I looked at his proposed dates via United, the calendar looked like this (hint, white isn’t the color you want to see):