18 Tips to Save on a Luxury All-Inclusive Vacation

All-inclusive resorts that include your food, drinks and entertainment make it easy to relax without worrying over the details of your trip. Since the higher-end all-inclusive properties cost a pretty penny, however, it's crucial to look for ways to save. These tips can help you book your dream trip for a price you can afford.

Some luxury all-inclusive brands like Sandals Resorts let you book your airfare and your all-inclusive stay in one fell swoop. Not only can booking your trip all at once make planning easier, but you may qualify for an online booking credit or score free perks like airport transfers. Many all-inclusive brands also offer "best price guarantees" if you book direct.

If you love to be active on vacation, make sure your all-inclusive resort offers plenty of included activities. Beaches Turks and Caicos, for example, gives you access to a 45,000 square-foot waterpark, clubs for kids and teens and unlimited watersports including kayaking, windsurfing, snorkeling and more. Even scuba diving is included.

If you're looking for ways to get your luxury all-inclusive trip for free (or save a bundle), consider picking up a flexible travel credit card. Many of the best card options let you redeem points for any hotel you want, including the top all-inclusive resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean.

The Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite Mastercard is a popular card that offers flexible travel credit. This card gives you 70,000 "miles" after you spend $5,000 within 90 days of account opening. You also earn 2x miles for each dollar you spend, and you can cash in these miles for any type of travel at a rate of one cent per point.

The Capital One Venture is another flexible card that offers rewards that work well for luxury all-inclusive resorts. This card gives you 50,000 miles worth $500 in travel after you spend $3,000 within three months of account opening, and you also earn 2x miles for each dollar you spend.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is another smart option to consider. This card gives you 60,000 points after you spend $4,000 within three months of account opening. You can use your points to book any luxury all-inclusive resort through the Chase portal, and you'll even get 25 percent more travel for free when you do.

Have you thought about how you're going to get to your all-inclusive resort? Most are in the Caribbean or Mexico, so you'll need to fly. With that in mind, it's smart to start earning airline miles you can use to cover your round-trip airfare. Keep in mind though that even if you cash in airline miles, you'll be on the hook for government-mandated taxes and fees.

While you can earn airline miles by flying, airline credit cards make it easy to score a big stash of rewards right away. Most airline cards offer a signup bonus worth a few free flights, and you can earn this bonus by signing up and meeting a minimum spending requirement within a few months.

Make sure to compare vacation package deals on travel discount sites like Expedia.com and Priceline.com. Bundling your airfare and hotel stay can help you save a bundle, and you can save even more if you add in a rental car. Make sure to compare vacation packages with the same resort across multiple platforms to get the best price.

CheapCaribbean.com offers an array of vacation package deals for all-inclusive resorts all over the Caribbean. You can often save up to 50 percent on select resorts in destinations like Aruba, Jamaica and Barbados, and pricing can drop even more if you bundle your hotel stay with airfare.

Some all-inclusive properties let children stay free-or they let you bring your kids for a drastically reduced rate. If your goal is saving big and you want to bring the family along, make sure to compare pricing across several properties that offer lower rates or free stays for kids.

But you don't really have to bring the kids along, do you? You can save money on your hotel and avoid paying for extra airfare by leaving them at home. Many luxury all-inclusive resorts are geared to adults anyway, so that's probably a good idea.

Some resorts offer some epic deals if you book at the last minute, and you may find airfare sales on the fly as well. If you're willing to be flexible on where you go, shopping for last-minute deals on websites like Expedia or Travelocity can yield huge results.

You'll save even more money on your luxury all-inclusive trip if you don't set your heart on a specific destination. Compare multiple islands in the Caribbean, all-inclusive resorts in the U.S. and even properties in Mexico in terms of their pricing and amenities, and you're bound to get the best deal in the end.

Do you absolutely have to travel Saturday through Saturday? Probably not. You may be able to save a bundle if you travel on Mondays, Tuesdays or Wednesdays, but you'll never know unless you check. Make sure to compare pricing on a few different dates, including the pricing on airfare, to find the best results.

ResortVacationsToGo.com offers deals on all sorts of properties, including luxury all-inclusive resorts, for up to 50 percent off. Not only do they have daily specials at select properties, but you can search and compare pricing by destination, too. This website also lets you bundle airfare with your hotel to save even more.

Always consider traveling outside of peak season, which is normally considered anytime after mid-December to April for the Caribbean and Mexico. If you can stay off-peak during the summer or fall months, you'll save a lot of money. Just make sure to buy travel insurance if you plan to travel during hurricane season.

Some luxury all-inclusive resorts like Beaches Resorts offer private villas with up to four bedrooms, but you can save a bundle of money by booking a standard room. You won't be spending a lot of time in your hotel room anyway, so save your money for a nicer resort and the cost of the airfare that will get you to paradise.