My family of 3 just booked a 6-night Bahamas vacation for $400. Here are our 8 secrets to getting the best travel deals.

Credit cards tend to offer large bonuses when you first open the account (if you hit a minimum spending requirement). But those offers change throughout the year depending on when you apply.

I made some rookie mistakes by opening cards at the wrong time and missing out on larger bonuses.

Do a little research to compare the best credit card bonuses before applying so you don’t end up with a 60,000-point offer that suddenly becomes an 80,000-point bonus for the next round of customers. 

When you apply for a card, look into travel partners and other options for transferring points. It’s almost always more valuable than booking through a card’s travel portal. 

The Chase Sapphire is one of my favorite cards — it has a reasonable annual fee for the value it provides. But one of my favorite perks is if you have a Chase Sapphire Reserve or the Ink Business Preferred card, you can transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to travel partners like Hyatt. 

On a recent trip to the Midwest, we transferred some Ultimate Rewards points to our Hyatt accounts and scored a free night at Thompson Chicago. 

Traveling with a significant other, trusted buddy, or close relative is an incredible way to double your points.

My husband and I plot out spending and which cards we open so we can jointly find the best deals. He finally admitted I was onto something when we were sitting in business-class sleeper seats (for a fraction of the price) on our nine-hour flight to Rome.

Plenty of sites offer travel packages, but I’ve found the best deals with American Airlines. 

I once saved hundreds of dollars on a trip to Antigua by booking a travel package instead of going through the hotel’s website. Plus, I was able to apply some of my AA miles to further increase our savings. 

Watch out for promo codes across these bundle sites even if you don’t have the credit card or miles available.

Most hotels and airlines have calendars that allow you to see their prices on different days. If you take the time to really look, moving your vacation a day or two can lead to significant savings.

Recently, we opted to stay an extra night while visiting my in-laws to get a free flight home. It would’ve cost hundreds of dollars more to fly back to NYC just one day earlier.

Bag fees add up. But many of the best airlines credit cards include perks like complimentary bags for you and your traveling companion.

It’s saved us hundreds of dollars a year. My airline cards have always waived the annual fee for the first year, but even after it kicked in, it’s been worth it for this perk alone. 

A few years ago, my husband and I were in Rome getting ready to board a Mediterranean cruise, but the voyage was canceled due to a mechanical issue. Not wanting to give up on the vacation, I booked basic rooms at hotels with good reviews.

In the notes of all my bookings, I included that we would love an upgrade and crossed my fingers. Surprisingly, it worked.

We were upgraded for free to a junior suite in Sorrento and an unbelievably beautiful honeymoon suite in Santorini. The Santorini room was particularly amazing because it had a private pool with a perfect view of the isalnd’s famous sunset.

Nothing is ever guaranteed, but it never hurts to ask.

When we eventually took that canceled cruise, we visited Rome, Athens, Mykonos, Santorini, Valletta, and Florence in one fell swoop.

Traveling to all of these places by land in one vacation is incredibly expensive. But the cruise was reasonably priced, stopped at several interesting ports, and included food.

I like to use a cruise to get a taste of an area before returning to the spots I love the most on longer trips.