Hacks

Statistics Show That Booking Flights on Certain Day & Hotels on Certain Day Are The Cheapest for Trips in Asia

2019-03-09 , 6:00 am

Last Updated on 2023-04-12 , 1:23 pm

Renewed your passport and am looking forward to travel again?

A 2019 pricing outlook report by travel companies Expedia Group and Airline Reporting Corporation (ARC) has revealed some pretty interesting insights, one of which happens to be the notion that…

Flights and accommodation in the Asia-Pacific may actually cost less if booked on certain days.

And before you doubt my source, just know that the report derived average air ticket prices for flight-booking days and departure days from data on over 295 million passenger trips from October 2017 to September 2018.

As for the accommodation data, it was prised from 19 booking sites with over 895,000 properties worldwide.

Trustworthy enough? Well, let’s head on to the juicy deets.

Book flights on a Sunday

Apparently, by booking flights on a Sunday, Asia-Pacific travellers can actually save up to 32 per cent on economy fares, and up to 52 per cent on premium fares.

For Singaporean travellers in general, booking flights on a Sunday can conserve up to 18 per cent on Economy class, and up to 52 per cent on premium class.

And for your information, the most expensive tickets appear to be booked on Thursdays and Fridays.

Which leads to the key takeaway of this little subsector here: Avoid Thursdays and Fridays like the plague, and book your flights on Sundays instead.

Book hotels on Fridays

After comparing daily rates across different reservation days (for over 895,000) properties, data analysts uncovered one key aspect:

Prices were lowest for bookings made on Fridays.

And it seems that hotels are really different from flights, like really different because it’s seemingly more expensive to book hotels on Sundays.

So the conclusion here?

Make those hotel reservations on Fridays.

Other tips

Other than securing your flight tickets on Sundays, and hotel keys on Fridays, here are other tips & tricks for you guys.

**Book flights at least three weeks ahead of travel**

According to ARC’s flight data, booking flights early will ensure your passage to maximum savings.

You: Why?

Well, average ticket prices for popular domestic and international routes increased by around 5 per cent from 2017 to 2018. And for most parts of the world, it would seem that booking flights in the economy or premium cabins at least three weeks before the travel date is the “sweet spot”.

Time your departure flight for Thursday or Friday

According to ARC’s database, global trends have shown that Asia-Pacific travellers who leave on a Thursday or Friday can save up to 16 per cent on Economy fares, and 27 per cent on premium class.

Journeys commencing on Sundays, however, routinely have the highest prices.

Make sure not to confuse your flight booking dates and flight departure dates!

Extend short weekday-only trips to include a Saturday night stay

Incredible as it sounds, including an extra Saturday night in your itinerary might actually be key to securing savings on that flight.

After comparing the average flight cost for weekday-only trips against those that incorporated a Saturday night stay, analysts uncovered that Asia-Pacific travellers could save up to 34 per cent on flights.

So yeah, staying in on that Friday night might not sound so costly after all 😉

Direct flights are not necessarily more expensive than those with stops

Some direct flights might actually cost less due to newly added routes or low-travel seasons.

Oil-price fluctuations do not affect average air ticket prices in the short term

Instead, the effects of such fluctuations are more likely to appear over a longer period of time.

Travellers also need not delay the booking of a trip based on the assumption that airfares will instantly rise.