Last updated: November 25th 2020

Hi ho! Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Travel Tuesday deals are upon us. This year, instead of shoving your way through virtual crowds on Walmart's website to get a Roomba or Instant Pot that you'll never use 🙅‍♀️, consider investing that hard-earned money on a Covid-friendly getaway. What does Covid-friendly travel look like? We'll tell you in a second, but if you're only here for the deals click here to scroll down to the DEALS!

Is there a such thing as Covid-friendly travel?  

We believe so, but not without significant sacrifices to keep yourself and others safe.  It all comes down to common sense around continuing to follow guidelines from health experts and minimizing your "Covid-footprint".  The footprint you leave while at your home location should be equal to the footprint you leave at your new location.

Planning & Transportation

  • Avoid using public transportation .  That including planes, trains, subways, busses, Uber, Lyft, and all other modes of collective transport.  The environmentalists in us hate this, but it's just what we have to do right now. Only travel via car, bike, or your feet.  If you must use public transportation to travel somewhere, by all means, quarantine after you arrive and before spending time with others.
  • If possible, head to warmer destinations.  They will give you much more freedom to do things, since indoor activities are off limits.

Activities

  • Avoid anything indoors.  Yes, that especially includes bars and restaurants. Tented areas, especially those with side walls to keep people warm do not count as Covid-safe.
  • If you're going to visit brick and mortar restaurants, bars, or wineries, we suggest limiting yourself to takeout or counter service, and always taking your provisions outside.
  • Rely primarily on nature destinations (eg hikes, beaches, gardens) with few people around.

Lodging

  • Stay at least one week at a given lodging option.  This minimizes your exposure to potential germs, as well as minimizes how many places you leave your Covid footprint at.
  • Avoid lodging options with shared HVAC systems (eg corporate hotels) as you don't want to be sharing air with anyone besides your group.  Instead, we suggest vacation rentals with their own HVAC systems.

On To The Deals!

Booking Sites | Hotel Chains | Rental Cars | Hand-Picked Flight Deals

If you're looking for a deal, you're in luck because Liana Corwin, consumer travel expert at travel booking app Hopper says, “prices are already down 40% from this time last year and travelers will see even bigger discounts on Travel Deal Tuesday, with prices expected to be 34% lower compared to last year.” Here at RoadGoat, we did the leg work of finding the best travel deals so you don't have to! So, on to the deals.

Booking Sites

Booking.com - Booking.com is offering 30% or more off stays completed by December 31st.  Click here to access the deal.

Expedia - Expedia is offering up to 50% off select stays, plus book on the Expedia app and you could save an extra 12% on select hotels and activities with app-only coupon code GOAPP12 for travel until Sept. 12, 2021. There's a $200 maximum savings and bookings must be made by 11:59 p.m., December 1st. More details found here.

Kayak.com - Kayak is extending a number of Black Friday and Cyber Monday discounts on activities, but deals are specified on a per-booking basis, so you'll have to sift through them yourself here to see if any are worthwhile.

Hotel Chains

Accor Hotels - Accor is offering up to 40% off and 2X rewards points on your next vacation with their Black Friday / Cyber Monday promotion. The promotion is available from November 26 to November 30, 2020 for stays between December 7th to March 14, 2021. To take advantage of the deal, you need to join their free ALL-Accor Live Limitless loyalty program and then book on all.accor.com.  Accor properties include The Fairmont, 21c Museum Hotels, Sofitel, Swissotel, Novotel, ibis hotels and sbe brands.

Kimpton Hotels - Starting on November 23rd, enjoy up to 25% off Kimpton’s best flexible rate.  To get the deal, book by December 7th for stays through March 31st, 2021. IHG Reward Club members (free to join) save 25% and the general public saves 20%. Kimpton will also donate $5 per night to charitable partner No Kid Hungry for reservations booked between November 27th and December 2nd. Guests must book at least three days in advance and can cancel any time up to three days prior to arrival with no penalty. The boutique hotel company operates more than 60 properties across the U.S., Canada, Europe, Caribbean and China.

Raddison Hotels - Guests who book 2+ nights at a participating Radisson Hotels location in the US, Canada, Latin America, or the Caribbean will receive 25% off if they're not Radisson Rewards members or 30% off if they are Radisson Rewards members.  The deal is valid for hotel stays between Dec. 14, 2020 and Dec. 31, 2021. Book here (note that the link will not be live until Nov. 23). Raddison owns Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Radisson, Radisson Blu, Radisson RED, Park Plaza, Park Inn by Radisson and Radisson Collection brands.

Wyndham Hotels - Wyndham is offering 25% off at thousands of hotels when guests book a stay of two nights or more, booked between November 24th and December 1st and completed by January 18th.  Bookings must be made via their new mobile app.  Wyndham operates over 9,000 hotels across about 90 countries.

Red Roof Hotels - Red Roof is offering up to 40% off at select accommodations. The sale begins November 27th and ends at midnight  November 30th for stays through Jan. 31st, 2021. Travelers can book directly on redroof.com. Red Roof is an economy lodging company that has more than 650 properties across the U.S.

Rental Cars

Rentalcars.com - Rentalcars.com shared a list of active promotions from their car rental suppliers.  Discounts are sorted by country and do not apply to customers based in the US or Canada. The spreadsheet also lists "book dates" and "pick up dates" corresponding with the deals.

Hand-Picked Flight Deals

We felt a little weird about posting flight deals because, to be clear, we do not believe flying is safe or responsible at this time. However we realize everyone's circumstances are different, and so we decided to still hand-pick 🤏 and share the best deals we could find. Please note that prices are in USD, round-trip, as of Wednesday November 25th, 2020, and likely to obsolete quickly due to the nature of how quickly flight prices change.

From New York

Destination Round Trip 😱🔗
Miami$31
Chicago$48
San Juan$49
Los Angeles$54
Denver$54
Saint Thomas$72
San Francisco$102
Guatemala City$133
Lima$142
Cartagena$162
Zurich$362
Naples$362
London$366
Santiago$442
Hong Kong$500
Singapore$592
Johannesburg$597
`

From London

Destination Round Trip 😱🔗
Athens$19
Budapest$19
Canary Islands$23
Vienna$25
Tel Aviv$101
New York$305
Los Angeles$414
Delhi$427
Hong Kong$450
Mumbai$457
Rio de Janeiro$471
Seychelles$625
Perth$861

From Miami

Destination Round Trip 😱🔗
Denver$59
San Francisco$68
San Diego$68
Lima$129
Bogota$157
Costa Rica$169

From San Francisco

Destination Round Trip 😱🔗
Las Vegas$35
Tampa$68
Raleigh$68
San Juan$140
Costa Rica$203
Lima$308
Paris$343
Hong Kong$444
Tokyo$481
Delhi$574
Tel Aviv$585
Sydney$786
Trail walk
Photo by Thomas Schweighofer / Unsplash
Final dance at the city hall in San Fermin
Photo by San Fermin Pamplona - Navarra / Unsplash

Some last tips

Wherever you're headed, we have all the travel deals to help you.  

Booking. If you see a deal, be sure to move fast on it because flight prices change fast, especially around the holidays.  If you're buying your ticket in the US, remember that there's a 24-hour free cancellation window - meaning that you can buy and hold that ticket even if you're not sure you want it yet.  Just remember to cancel within 24 hours.

Timing. Timing is obviously important when it comes to flights.  Always try to be as flexible with timing as possible and you'll get the very best deals.  Some of the best times to visit places are "shoulder" seasons right after peak travel.  For example, heading to Spain in late August or early September.  Another good shoulder season to think about is the beaches along the Southeast US.  You can go to South Carolina and still enjoy warmer air and water temperatures in October than peak summer in Cape Cod, at a fraction the cost.

Economies of Scale. It goes without saying that you can also save on travel if you're going with more people.  In general, lodging prices will only increase marginally from a 1BR to a 3BR or 4BR.  But beyond 4BR, you tend to lose any further volume discount.  Thus, we think 4 to 6 people is the sweet spot for saving money.