Finding accommodations
If you found a flight but aren’t purchasing a package, you’ll most likely need a place to stay. HotelTonight is a great resource for discount hotel rooms, with the home page search defaulting to “Tonight,” though you can book 100 days out. Unlocking the Daily Drop feature, available once a day for only 15 minutes, offers further discounts — but nonrefundable rates — on a specific hotel. (Like many travel websites, HotelTonight says many of its best deals are found only on its app.)
Hot Deals is a feature on Hotwire’s hotel results page after you have entered your search specifics. Click on the Hot Deals tab, and the page shows a list of hotels with their daily rates, ratings, location and amenities, but the traveler does not see the name of the hotel until booking. All sales are final.
Hotels.com shows deals directly on its home page, showing a range of destinations but limited to the upcoming weekend. (The company offers steeper discounts to members of its free loyalty program.) It’s also worth checking Roomer, an online marketplace for verified nonrefundable hotel rooms that other travelers are looking to unload.
For budget-minded travelers, consider a camping trip. On Tentrr, where you can search by region or type of location (think lake or river), campers can get $25 off on accommodations booked through Sept. 4. Hipcamp has a dedicated Labor Day weekend section, or try your luck on ReserveAmerica and Recreation.gov, the booking site for the National Park Service and other federal lands. If you plan on camping regularly in the next year, consider signing up for the Dyrt’s Pro Plan ($18 a year), which grants access to campsites, offline maps and discounts, or for Harvest Hosts, a membership platform that allows self-contained campers like camper vans and R.V.s to park at wineries, breweries, farms and more (from $99 a year).
Getting around
Maybe you don’t feel like rushing to grab a last-minute flight this weekend. In general, Labor Day weekend centers on domestic travel, or three-day-friendly destinations, said Katy Nastro, a travel expert with Going. And more people drive, she added, than fly.
