5 Places to Stick Your Unwanted Holiday Houseguests

Hotels

You have about 21% of all travelers who say they'd shell out extra money for roomier accommodations this holiday season. That pairs quite nicely with the 20% of holiday travelers who told HomeAway they'd prefer to stay at a hotel.

That insistence on comfort is going to come at a cost, according to travel site Orbitz (OWW). Hotel room prices in Los Angeles and New York for the holidays are 10% higher than last year. A room in Phoenix, Ariz., meanwhile, will cost travelers 15% more than last holiday season. If your family's in Florida or San Juan, Puerto Rico, however, there's more than just warm air to entice travelers. Daily room rates in San Juan are an average of 12% lower than a year ago, while room prices in Florida's Orlando, Tampa and Fort Lauderdale are down 3% to 7%.

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Not that room prices have much of an effect on weary travelers. A survey by Orbitz and American Express (AXP) found 71% of travelers think the cost of travel has risen since 2011, but only 12% are planning to cut back on their holiday travel spending.

"The demand for holiday travel is clearly outpacing any effect of higher prices in some markets," said Jeanenne Tornatore, senior travel editor for Orbitz.com. "For many Americans, travel is now part of the holiday tradition."

Experts from travel sites including Travelocity and FareCompare also suggest looking into airfare-and-hotel packages to save a little cash. You won't save much on the flight, but hotels will often cut the prices on rooms to sweeten the deal.

Vacation rentals

What, you thought HomeAway would go through the trouble of putting together a holiday survey just as a courtesy? They're a vacation rental company and, as such, they're looking to see who'll fill property managers' vacancies during the holiday season.

While the percentage of HomeAway users who'll stay at a vacation rental is roughly even with those who'll stay at hotels during the Thanksgiving holiday, a whopping 31% will pick a rental house or apartment for their holiday vacation destination of choice. They can be cheap if you fit enough people into multiple bedrooms, they have kitchens that won't force you to eat out or with the relatives for every meal and can even take in some of the more tolerable relatives if the space is big enough.

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