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10 Ways to Save Money on Travel with AARP

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If you enjoy traveling, you’re likely interested in finding ways to save money — after all, travel isn’t always cheap. One option is using travel credit cards to earn rewards in the form of points or miles when making everyday purchases. Then, you can cash in your rewards for free or discounted flights and hotel stays.

Another way to reduce travel costs is by joining a membership-based program to access money-saving travel discounts. One such organization is AARP, which offers savings on shopping, entertainment, health, travel and more to its members — and you don’t have to be retired to take advantage of the benefits.

Here's how you can keep more money in your pocket by taking advantage of AARP travel discounts.

What is AARP and how much does it cost to join?

AARP is a nonprofit organization that advocates for Americans ages 50 and older. While the organization is popular among retirees, adults of all ages can join — and many do so to get discounts on everyday expenses.

You’ll need to pay a membership fee to take advantage of AARP’s money-saving perks. Here’s a breakdown of what it costs to join AARP:

One-year membership: $16.

One-year membership with auto-renew: $12.

Three-year membership: $43. 

Five-year membership: $63.

You can save on AARP membership fees using the shopping cash-back portal Rakuten. Current offers include $6 back on a one-year membership, $10 back on a three-year membership and $20 back on a five-year membership. You must activate this offer before joining to qualify for cash-back earnings.

» Learn more: How cash-back sites give you money for shopping

10 ways to save money on travel with AARP

If you’re not careful when planning for and booking your next vacation, the cost of your trip could add up quickly. But if you’re strategic and take advantage of discounts like AARP travel deals, you can plan an unforgettable adventure without spending more than you can afford.

AARP provides its members with many opportunities to save money on travel. Here’s a sampling of some of the travel discounts and perks available:

Avis: Get up to 30% off base rates or up to 35% off when selecting Pay Now. When booking, members also receive a 3% credit to apply to future rentals within 12 months. You’ll also get an upgrade on compact through full-size car class bookings, when available, and you can add an additional driver at no cost. These benefits are available when booking online or by phone through Avis.

British Airways: Save $65 when booking an economy or premium economy class ticket or $200 when booking a business class ticket on select round-trip transatlantic fares through the British Airways website.

Collette Cruise Tours: Save $50 per person on all cruise tours.

Hilton Hotels & Resorts: Get up to 10% off and a 2 p.m. checkout when available. Hilton Honors members also get instant Hilton Honors Silver status and can keep their status for the next year when they complete two stays within six months.

Holland America Line: Get up to $200 in onboard credit per stateroom. The credit amount varies based on the length of the cruise and the stateroom.

Kimpton Hotels & Resorts: Get discounts of 10% or more off the best available rate.

Payless Car Rental: Save 5% on leisure daily, weekly, weekend and monthly base rates. Members are also eligible for a free upgrade on compact through full-size car class bookings.

Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts: Get up to 10% off and a 2 p.m. checkout when available.

Wyndham: Get up to 10% off the best available rate when booking by phone or online. Join the Wyndham Rewards program to take advantage of extra perks.

Zipcar: Get $20 off an annual Zipcar membership. New Zipcar users will also receive $40 in driving credit.

Keep in mind this is just a sampling of available deals. AARP members can review current travel deals and discounts by logging in to their accounts.

» Learn more: Your guide to hotel bonus point promotions

Book your travel reservations through the AARP Travel Center

Discounts above aren't the only way to save on travel costs. AARP members can also get a deal when booking travel reservations through the AARP Travel Center, a booking platform powered by Expedia . How much money you can save by using the travel center varies depending on what you’re booking.

Here's a look at of some of the AARP Travel Center savings available to members:

Car rentals: Save up to 30% on base rates at Avis and Budget and 5% on rentals from Payless Car Rental. You can also get free upgrades, an additional driver at no cost and insurance benefits when booking car rentals through the AARP Travel Center.

Cruises: Get up to $100 in onboard credit on select voyages to certain destinations when booked through AARP Travel Expedia.

Flights and vacation packages: When booking a flight package through the AARP Travel Center, you'll get a $50 gift card of your choice.

Hotels: When booking select Choice, Wyndham and Best Western properties through the portal, you'll get a 10% discount.

Are you looking for other ways to save money when booking travel reservations as an AARP member? The AARP Travel Center has exclusive deals and seasonal savings, so regularly reviewing discount opportunities is worthwhile to ensure you don't miss out.

» Learn more: Best hotel credit cards

Is an AARP membership worth it for travelers?

Only you can decide if an AARP membership is worthwhile. But considering the affordable annual fee to become a member and the variety of ways to save on travel expenses, a membership could be worth it.

When deciding if this membership will meet your needs, consider how often you travel and whether you'd use the perks offered. Combining AARP deals with travel loyalty and rewards programs, along with a travel credit card , makes for an excellent money-saving strategy.

How to maximize your rewards

You want a travel credit card that prioritizes what’s important to you. Here are our picks for the best travel credit cards of 2024 , including those best for:

Flexibility, point transfers and a large bonus: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

No annual fee: Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card

Flat-rate travel rewards: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Bonus travel rewards and high-end perks: Chase Sapphire Reserve®

Luxury perks: The Platinum Card® from American Express

Business travelers: Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card

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Frequently asked questions

Why should i book my aarp flights with the aarp travel center.

With the AARP Travel Center, you have access to a fantastic selection of flights and flight packages with exclusive AARP discounts. Explore flights to popular destinations from Cancun to Las Vegas, Paris, Vancouver, Aruba, and much more. The AARP Travel Center is your one-stop shop for booking your entire trip. Enjoy AARP flight package discounts and special offers on accommodation , car rentals , and activities .

How can I find the best flights with the AARP Travel Center?

You can find great deals on flights with the AARP Travel Center’s powerful search engine. Filter your search results according to options such as airline, number of stops, or arrival time. Typically, the further in advance you book your flights the more likely you are to find deals on flight packages and travel. Adjusting your travel dates outside of the peak tourist seasons can often mean fantastic savings. Flights and vacation packages for popular destinations such as Cancun and Playa Del Carmen are typically at their most expensive between December and April.

How do I manage my AARP Travel Center flight booking?

To manage your AARP Travel Center flight booking, you first need to log in to your AARP Travel Center account. When you are logged in, head to the “My Trips” section of the website in the upper right corner of your screen. There you can easily find information and amend or cancel your booking. Cancellation and change fees may apply. 

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Allstate® Roadside

AARP members save on roadside assistance

Allstate provides the only roadside program designed just for AARP members. AARP members can save up to 15% on their roadside membership and prices start at just $5.50 per month.

Or call Allstate at 1-800-555-1121

With Allstate Roadside, you're covered in any car, 24/7, as a driver or passenger.

As an aarp member with allstate roadside, you'll receive:.

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Around town or far from home, allstate roadside has you covered with fast and reliable service., roadside assist.

Up to 10-mile towing coverage

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Covers two people for only $66 for your first year

choose plan

This is the most popular plan for AARP members who do most of their daily driving locally or close to home. Sign up today to get a 10% discount on your first year.

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Covers two people for only $76 for your first year

This plan is designed for AARP members who want benefits for trip interruption and tire damage. Sign up today to get a 15% discount on your first year.

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About 1 in 4 US adults 50 and older who aren't yet retired expect to never retire, AARP study finds

WASHINGTON — About one-quarter of U.S. adults age 50 and older who are not yet retired say they expect to never retire and 70% are concerned about prices rising faster than their income, an AARP survey finds.

About 1 in 4 have no retirement savings, according to research released Wednesday by the organization that shows how a graying America is worrying more and more about how to make ends meet even as economists and policymakers say the U.S. economy has all but achieved a soft landing after two years of record inflation.

Everyday expenses and housing costs, including rent and mortgage payments, are the biggest reasons why people are unable to save for retirement.

The data will matter this election year as Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican rival Donald Trump are trying to win support from older Americans, who traditionally turn out in high numbers, with their policy proposals.

The AARP’s study, based on interviews completed with more than 8,000 people in coordination with the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, finds that one-third of older adults with credit card debt carry a balance of more than $10,000 and 12% have a balance of $20,000 or more. Additionally, 37% are worried about meeting basic living costs such as food and housing.

“Far too many people lack access to retirement savings options and this, coupled with higher prices, is making it increasingly hard for people to choose when to retire,” said Indira Venkateswaran, AARP’s senior vice president of research. “Everyday expenses continue to be the top barrier to saving more for retirement, and some older Americans say that they never expect to retire.”

The share of people 50 and older who say they do not expect to retire has remained steady. It was 23% in January 2022 and 24% that July, according to the study, which is conducted twice a year

“We are seeing an expansion of older workers staying in the workforce,” said David John, senior strategic policy advisor at the AARP Public Policy Institute. He said this is in part because older workers “don’t have sufficient retirement savings. It’s a problem and its likely to continue as we go forward.”

Based on the 2022 congressional elections, census data released Tuesday shows that voters 65 and older made up 30.4% of all voters, while Gen Z and millennials accounted for 11.7%.

Biden has tried to court older voters by regularly promoting a $35 price cap on insulin for people on Medicare. He trumpets Medicare’s powers to negotiate directly with drugmakers on the cost of prescription medications.

Trump, in an interview with CNBC in March, indicated he would be open to cuts to Social Security and Medicare. The former president said “there is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting.”

Karoline Leavitt, press secretary for Trump’s campaign, said in a statement to The Associated Press on Tuesday that Trump “will continue to strongly protect Social Security and Medicare in his second term.”

In the AARP survey, 33% of respondents 50 and older believe their finances will be better in a year.

A looming issue that will affect Americans’ ability to retire is the financial health of Social Security and Medicare.

The latest annual report from the program’s trustees says the financial safety nets for millions of older Americans will run short of money to pay full benefits within the next decade.

Medicare, the government-sponsored health insurance that covers 65 million older and disabled people, will be unable to pay full benefits for inpatient hospital visits and nursing home stays by 2031, the report forecast. And just two years later, Social Security will not have enough cash on hand to pay out full benefits to its 66 million retirees.

An AP-NORC poll from March 2023 found that most U.S. adults are opposed to proposals that would cut into Medicare or Social Security benefits, and a majority support raising taxes on the nation’s highest earners to keep Medicare running as is.

AAA Travel Information:

Aaa triptik travel planner - more than maps & directions.

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Plan a road trip online with AAA TripTik Travel Planner, and save your trips for use with the AAA Mobile app . Along with trip planning maps and traveling directions, you can find AAA Approved and Diamond Rated places to stay and dine . Use the booking feature to make hotel reservations. Find nearby gas stations and get updated fuel prices . Locate electric vehicle charging stations. Calculate your driving distance and save your trips for use with the AAA Mobile app. Learn More

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Complete your AAA travel package with printable maps from AAA Map Gallery on AAA.com. Map Gallery has full-color maps of more than 400 popular destination areas across North America from Miami Beach to British Columbia. If you're a member, stop by your local AAA office. AAA's team of knowledgeable travel professionals will create a TripTik Travel Planner routing for you, provide information on vacation packages, help you find the best travel deals and even help you rent a car for the trip.

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Federal Nursing Home Staffing Standards to Increase Care Hours for Residents

A new rule also requires registered nurses to be on site around the clock.

Maura Kelly Lannan,

The Biden administration has set minimum staffing levels for nursing homes for the first time under a rule announced Monday, which establishes comprehensive staffing requirements and requires facilities to have a registered nurse on site at all times. 

The announcement, made by Vice President Kamala Harris, comes in response to concerns about the adequacy of care in nursing homes in general as well as about 188,000 nursing home resident deaths since the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic also exacerbated long-standing staffing shortages in nursing homes.

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The new rule, which was proposed in September by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), requires that nursing homes that receive funding through Medicare  and Medicaid provide the staffing equivalent of at least 3.48 hours of nursing care per resident, per day. That includes 0.55 hours of care from a registered nurse and 2.45 hours of care from a nurse aide each day, according to a White House fact sheet.

A registered nurse also must be on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to provide skilled nursing care at the facilities, which are home to about 1.2 million people nationwide, according to the new rule.

Requirements for additional hours of nursing care will prevent workers from being “stretched too thin” and bar nursing homes from understaffing sites, the White House noted.

“When facilities are understaffed, residents may go without basic necessities like baths, trips to the bathroom, and meals – and it is less safe when residents have a medical emergency,” the White House fact sheet noted.

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Minimum staffing requirements will “help protect the basic rights of residents to live in dignity” and is long overdue, especially for facilities that are funded through taxpayer dollars, Nancy LeaMond, AARP’s executive vice president and chief advocacy and engagement officer, said in a statement.

“Far too many residents and families have experienced tragic consequences because of poorly staffed facilities,” LeaMond said in the statement, adding that “ensuring nursing homes are adequately staffed will improve the quality of care residents receive and can give family caregivers peace of mind, knowing their loved ones are living with the quality of life they deserve.”

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More staff likely needed

Many nursing home facilities will need to hire staff to meet the new requirements, the White House said, noting that a facility with 100 residents would need two or three registered nurses and at least 10 or 11 nurse aides, as well as two additional nurse staff, who could be registered nurses, licensed professional nurses or nurse aides, per shift to meet the new standards.

President Joe Biden pushed for minimum staffing levels in nursing homes in his 2022 State of the Union address. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted long-term problems in nursing homes, including the decline in staffing, issues regarding infection control deficiencies and inadequate oversight.

Current law requires facilities to have licensed nursing services around the clock that are “sufficient” to “maintain the highest practicable physical, mental, and psychosocial well-being of each resident.”

Nursing home industry groups said the new rule and requirements will be hard to meet because of staff shortages.

The American Health Care Association (AHCA), a national lobbying group representing more than 14,000 long-term care providers, issued a statement calling the rule “an unreasonable standard.” The group said the new staff requirements could lead to nursing home shutdowns and the displacement of residents.

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“Issuing a final rule that demands hundreds of thousands of additional caregivers when there’s a nationwide shortfall of nurses just creates an impossible task for providers,” the AHCA said in a statement. “This unfunded mandate doesn’t magically solve the nursing crisis.”

The new staffing requirements will be introduced in phases, with rural communities given a longer time to comply, according to the White House. Limited, temporary exemptions also will be available for the around-the-clock nurse requirement and the staffing standards in areas where there are workforce shortages and a good faith effort to hire.

The announcement Monday comes one month after a federal government report highlighted lessons learned from the pandemic for nursing homes and found that CMS should do more to prevent staffing shortages in nursing homes and strengthen infection controls to better protect residents after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Toby Edelman, a senior policy attorney at the Center for Medicare Advocacy, a legal nonprofit working to advance access to health care coverage, said the new rule doesn't end the discussion of staffing levels. Each facility must annually conduct an assessment to determine the nursing needs of its residents and to ensure it has enough staff with the skills to meet those needs.

"Properly implemented and enforced, the facility assessment process will require many facilities to implement higher staffing levels than the minimums announced today," he said in a statement.

Maura Kelly Lannan is a writer, editor and producer for AARP who covers federal and state policy. She has worked as a reporter for the Associated Press, the Chicago Tribune and the Waterbury, Connecticut, Republican-American . She also has written for Bloomberg Government, The Boston Globe and other publications.

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