OK, so I can plan the heck out of a Disney trip. But I'm pretty clueless when planning other vacays. Are there websites y'all get deals from? How do y'all decide where to go? Give me some of your deal secrets!
If you know where you're going early, try booking ASAP. I always book the refundable rates. I've booked hotels for trips that have never materialized, and cancelled without paying a fee. I've noticed that booking hotels early you usually get a better deal. Not always, some post rates that never change, others may have deals as it nears. This summer we went to Colorado and up to Mt Rushmore. I booked our hotels in September of the year before, and got GREAT deals. I kept checking the hotel prices, and we ended up saving quite a bit of money. The hotel we booked in Rushmore ended up raising $100 for the night we were there. The other hotels went up around $50/night. We did the same for our rental car. Kept checking but the best rate was the one I booked in December, and I kick myself because it would've been $200 cheaper if I would've booked in October (but it went up $600 not long after I booked and never came back down).
I use TripAdvisor ALOT! You have to take the good/bad from each review, and make your own conclusion. I'm a pretty budget traveler, but I also don't want a run down hotel. I've stayed at some really cheap places that get so-so reviews, you just have to know whats ok with you. I don't mind staying in an older hotel if I'm going to be out of the room most the day. So if the reviews say old, but clean, I'll stay there. However if they all say run down, dirty, etc I won't. If I'm going to be I the room for a good portion of the trip, I'll spend the extra for a nicer room though.
TripAdvisor is also good for finding out what to do in a specific city, and where to eat. The forums are quite helpful too. For the most part, everyone will help you plan a great trip. I've used the forum to ask in-depth questions, as well as ones that may seem silly but I'm curious about. And if you post questions about specific places/things, people will usually try to lead you to ways to save money.
Hotwire is another great site for discount hotels. I don't use it quite as much, but if I'm going on a night or two getaway I always take a look. You don't know the hotel you're booking, but if you're ok being in the area of your destination it's great. With some effort you can usually narrow down to a couple hotels which one you'll end up at. You can choose from a map of the areas you want to stay in that specific city. They do list recommendation percentages so you know if others would go back or not, and amenities which is helpful as when I'm with my nephew I like having an indoor pool and free breakfast. You can book up to 4 people so you're guaranteed 2 beds although I'm sure there's been people with issues with this, never us though.
Groupon, living social, and attractions own websites are good for getting some discounts. We like Groupon the best, and it's saved us quite a bit through the years. Local flavor I use around home, but never used it for travel. We booked our parking at our local park and ride for the airport through way.com and saved $40.
I put a lot of time into planning all our trips, not just Disney. My family makes fun of me, but doing so can save you a pretty big amount. If I would've booked everything for Colorado a couple months before hand instead of nine, we would've ended up paying well over $1000 more. While most of that is was the minivan, even taking that out we saved at least $500 between hotels and attractions.