How to get the best travel deals on Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Frequent travelers know that Black Friday and Cyber Monday can deliver savings on everything from airfare and hotel stays to cruises, attraction passes and bucket list tours. But the challenge is finding the true deals in the holiday sales heap.

“The best advice I can give to navigate travel bargains is unromantic, but effective: Sign up for emails from online travel agencies and tourism boards,” said Devon Nagle, head of communications for Priceline. The travel site is promising to offer more than $2 million in travel deal email alerts and flash sales between Nov. 29 to Dec. 2.

“Signing up for more emails isn’t a bucket-list life goal for travelers, and I get that,” said Nagle, “but the deals are very real, and it’s worth the effort to sign up for them.”

Unsubscribing later is always an option.

“And this may sound cliche,” said Youngsoo Choi of Niagara University’s College of Hospitality Tourism Management, “but in order to identify whether the travel deals you see are truly the best deals or not, there is no other way than doing your own homework before you make actual reservations.”

He urged Black Friday and Cyber Monday shoppers to check and recheck airfares or hotel rates multiple times in advance.

And don’t worry if you’re too busy to shop or read your deal-filled email on Black Friday or Cyber Monday.

Travel booking app Hopper analyzed its historical database of over 25 billion to 30 billion flight and hotel prices and found that last year more flights were discounted on Travel Deal Tuesday than on Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.

When you do get down to shopping, keep in mind that while some offers are already available, some promotions and links may not go live until the respective sales begin. In many cases blackout dates and restrictions may apply, so be sure to read the fine print.

Here are some offers to get you started.