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35 Hot Tips for Summer Savings: Find a Home Away From Home for Less

Find a Home Away From Home for Less

Rooms for less When it comes to hotel rooms, skip the middleman and book directly with the hotel. Consumer Reports found that three out of four times, booking with the hotel saved money over using a travel website. Booking the four-diamond Hotel Vintage Plaza in Portland, Oregon, through the hotel's website would have cost two people $139 per night, $10 less than if they booked through Hotels.com. Granted, that $10 savings amounts only to roughly 7% of the higher room rate, but why throw away that ten-spot? You stand to save even more at some chains. The Radisson, for instance, guarantees you'll find the best room rates at its site -- or it will match the lower Internet price and knock off another 25%.

Kids take the second The best hotel deals for parents who value their privacy are those that offer a second room for the kids at a discounted rate. You'll find these at select Wyndham, Four Seasons and Hyatt hotels, among others. We're not talking pullout sofas here; Wyndham's family suites have bunk beds and art tables. What's more, Wyndham's weekend 50/50 program offers 50% off either the second room or a second night.

Home away from home For nearly free lodging, forgo the hotel altogether and join a home exchange network. Through organizations such as HomeLink (www.homelink.org), Intervac (intervac-online.com) and HomeExchange.com, you can swap homes with other families around the world. Fees for joining and gaining access to their listings cost $30-$120, depending on the level of membership. For that low annual fee, you'll have housing and often the use of a car. At HomeExchange.com, we spotted a four-story town house within walking distance of Boston's Copley Square and the spectacular shopping on Newbury Street. Compare that to spending $405 a night for a family double room at The Copley Square Hotel. Even before tax, one week's stay would cost more than $2,800. But if you're not keen on forking over your house keys to strangers, simply rent. HomeExchange also lists rentals, or try contacting a vacation rental agency local to your destination. This can still be cheaper than hotel accommodations, and an available kitchen means not every meal will come at restaurant prices.

Don't Pass on Savings

City passes Cities across the United States and Europe offer special passes that allow you to pay a reduced fee for entrance to tourist attractions. In New York, the adult CityPass costs $53 and includes admission to the Empire State Building observatory, the Guggenheim and Circle Line sightseeing tours, plus three other attractions. Bought separately, the six entrance fees would cost $105.50. Other U.S. cities with such passes include Seattle, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and Hollywood. In Europe, the cities of London, Munich, Amsterdam and 41 others offer such passes. Buy these passes online at citypass.com and www.europeancitycards.com.

National parks An annual parks pass costs just $50 (nationalparks.org). Compare that to the $20 entry fee for one car to the Grand Canyon or $10 to Mount Rainier National Park, and you can see how quickly the savings add up. Entrance fees to most parks are good for seven days, so if you're only going to hit one park this year for no longer than a week, the annual pass won't be a cost-cutter. If you're 62 or older, get the Golden Age Passport. For a one-time $10 fee, it gains you, your spouse and children free lifetime admittance to national parks and other sites, plus a 50% discount on activities and services such as camping, boat launches and swimming.

Go local Purchase passes at your nearby haunts. Sonya Elliott's family buys a combination annual pass to the Seattle zoo and aquarium. It costs $135 and includes entrance to both parks for her entire family. It also gets them into more than 100 zoos and aquariums across the country. At the height of her children's love for animals, they used the pass 18-20 times a year, she figures. Based on today's entrance fees, visiting the zoo 18 times would have cost her family of four more than $600.

See more summer savings tips on flights, theme parks, movies, museums, and more.