There are many money saving strategies to help you stay within your budget when traveling, and sleeping someplace other than a hotel may be the ideal cost saving alternative. Most standard hotel rooms do not include a kitchen, which means you have to buy all of your meals at a restaurant – and this drastically increases the cost of travel. If you are lucky enough to book a hotel with a kitchenette, you can expect to pay an even higher nightly rate for the convenience.

Here are several options that give you a comfortable place to stay that are not hotels, and that offer more money-saving amenities, like kitchens, which will help you save money while traveling:

AirBNB.com

Use the website to search listings in the city you are traveling to. Homeowners and apartment renters who have space for travelers can list their properties on the website for free, and travelers can search all of the listings to find one that meets their needs.

Some listings may be for an extra bedroom in someone’s home, some may be for the guest house or the entire home. You can stay one night, a week, or a month – whatever you need and depending on the property availability. There are listings all over the world, so chances are you’ll find a place to stay regardless of where you are traveling!

While you’re on the road, you might even consider renting out your own property to a traveler looking to stay in your town. If you can rent out your home while you’re gone, you can help finance the cost of your trip. You can become a host and list your property as well as the price you require.

HomeAway.com

You can find and rent a home from homeowners on homeaway.com instead of confining yourself to a hotel room. Use the Homeaway website to narrow down your options by location, type of home, home amenities and price. Choose a property that will fit your family, and read reviews of previous travelers who stayed in the property to make sure the property is a good fit for what you’re looking for.

You can find available homes for rent for short term rentals (one or two nights); or long term vacations and trips. Some of the most popular vacation destinations are rented far in advance, so make sure you start your search early enough to find a property before someone else does!

VRBO.com

Vacation Rentals By Owner (Vrbo.com) is owned by Homeaway.com and works in pretty much the same exact way. You use the map to find the location you are traveling to, or type in the address, and vrbo.com will show you a list of available properties. You can refine your search by necessary amenities, the date you are traveling and price.

If you have a home you want to rent out, you can also list it on the site to earn money if someone needs a property in your area when you have it available.

KOA.com

If you enjoy camping, you can find cabins, RV sites, tent sites and unique accommodations (can you say Teepee or tree house?) in the style of camping through koa.com. There are more than 475 locations and 60,000 campsites to choose from. You can search for accommodations for one night or long-term stays, and you can narrow your options by sites with Wi-Fi and cable, fire rings, or even restaurants or food service nearby if you don’t intend to cook on the open flame.

If you have your own RV or tent, koa.com can help you find places to set up camp in your travel destination. If you don’t have a vacation home on wheels, you can look at available cabins or maybe tree house or train caboose rentals to find what you’re looking for.

CruiseAmerica.com

If camping and RVs are your style of travel accommodations, you can find available RVs to rent from cruiseamerica.com. They come in various sizes to accommodate 3 to 7 people and are available in 128 locations around America. Instead of booking multiple hotels in various places for a cross country trip, for example, you could rent an RV and take your temporary vacation home on the road with you. Not only will you always have a place to sleep, but there are built-in kitchens so you can prepare your own meals instead of eating in restaurants every day, and living areas to enjoy some down time.

Jeremy Zongker is the founder of Economy Trips, a user edited travel site.

Jeremy Zongker is the founder of http://economytrips.com/ .

Author Bio: Jeremy Zongker is the founder of Economy Trips, a user edited travel site.

Category: Travel
Keywords: hotel,vacation,travel,rental,frugal,camping,rv