If you follow this blog at all, you know that I’m serious about paying off debt and investing for the future. Pursuing goals like those are vitally important, and will set you up for a great financial future. I’ve shared examples of how I’ve pursued those goals by Destroying Debt, Flipping Land, and Investing In Real Estate.

One common misconception in regards to being on a financial journey is that you can’t have any fun along the way. I’ve already talked about that some when I discussed concert hacks, but I also want to share some tips on how to hack your vacation by using BOOKVIP.

I’ve traveled to over 35 states and over 25 countries, and plan to continue to explore more over the coming years. That’s not a boastful statement, I’m just sharing that I have some pretty good travel experience under my belt. I’ve definitely overpaid for some places, and also scored some great deals on some trips. Using resources like Scott’s Cheap Flights, Hotels.com, Rakuten, etc., has helped me travel the world and still hit my goals for my financial independence journey. Because of that, I want to help you take advantage of some of the resources I used!

BookVIP For Travel

I’ll share an example with you. In December 2020, my wife and I were able to take a 5 night trip to an all-inclusive Secrets resort. It was an awesome experience full of rest, celebration, and great memories. The normal price for an all inclusive stay like this was around $3,000.00. Using BookVIP, I was able to get the entire stay for around $750.00!

$750.00!!! That’s wild! That means BookVIP saved us $2,250.00 on a trip that we were planning to take anyway. That’s a whole lot of money!

What’s The Catch?

I know some of you are out there saying “What’s the catch?” Well honestly, the “catch” is that you absolutely must read the terms and conditions for each deal. They are incredibly important.

The way BookVIP operates is that it subsidizes your trip in exchange for you agreeing to attend a timeshare presentation. In order to make sure you meet their requirements to potentially be able to purchase the timeshare, you must fit certain criteria. All of this is explained in the Terms and Conditions for each deal on the website. Different deals have different Terms and Conditions, so you have to make sure you look at them for each specific deal you’re considering.

If you google BookVIP, you might see some websites or reviews that claim that it is a scam or that someone took their money. That can’t be further from the truth, at least in my experience. Where some people go wrong, is that they don’t understand what they are signing up for, and then after they have paid, they realize they don’t meet the criteria. Then, they complain that BOOKVIP is a scam when it won’t give them a full refund. That’s not BOOKVIP’s fault, that’s their own fault.

The Details

As I mentioned, the only “catch” of the BookVIP process is that you have to attend a timeshare presentation and meet their eligibility requirements. You don’t have to buy into the timeshare program (I’d HIGHLY suggest that you don’t), you just have to attend the meeting. The meeting usually lasts between 90-120 minutes (although there are some stories where people felt trapped and had to stay for three or four hours). If you attend this meeting, then you will have no problem and you won’t be charged any additional fees. If you skip the meeting, you will be charged for the trip at full retail price, so make sure you do not skip the meeting.

Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that the meeting is not fun. It’s 2ish hours of non-stop hard selling and emotional manipulation. It can be intimidating for some people. If you don’t think you can handle this meeting without buying a timeshare, then don’t use BOOKVIP. These people are good at what they do. Timeshares are mostly terrible investments, and in my opinion you should never buy one. So if you can go into a high pressure sales meeting and still be able to say no, you won’t have any trouble at all. My wife and I just kept repeating, “We’re sorry, we are actively paying off debt and we just bought a house.” This was true, and it helped discourage them in their efforts.

How It Works

All you really have to do is go to BookVIP‘s website and search for deals. Make sure you read all the Terms and Conditions. Find a place you’d like to go, and search for dates that work for you. Follow the prompts and book. You’ll be contacted with information on how to finish your deal.

(Note that many of the resorts BookVIP has on their site won’t actually give you the resort name. This is similar to what Priceline and other discount booking sites do in order to offer discounted prices. However, there are some easy ways to find out which resort it actually is. You just need to do some minor sleuthing and you should be able to figure it out.)

Other than that, all you’ll need to do is make sure you attend the timeshare presentation (and remember, I highly recommend that you don’t buy into it!). It’s that simple! That’s how you can enjoy a great vacation at a fraction of the cost.

If you’re planning a vacation and curious about using BookVIP, the only question you really have to decide is whether or not a couple of hours at a timeshare presentation is worth $2,250.00. I can tell you that for my me and my wife, it was more than worth it!

I hope this blog helps you as you find ways to continue on your financial journey while also doing cool things along the way! Let me know what you think in the comments!

Disclosure

• This blog is just an opinion. I’m not responsible for your experience and I can only share what I experienced using this company. Take the time to read other blogs and/or BookVIP’s website to understand all the details. If you don’t understand how to use this hack, it’s probably better that you don’t try to do it.

• I’m all about being transparent on this site, so I wanted to let you know that if you follow one of the links and book a trip using VIP, I will receive an affiliate commission. That doesn’t affect my experience or my review, as I only signed up to be an affiliate after having a positive experience with the company. If you end up booking a trip due to this information, we both win! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.