When you’re sat on the beach with a cold beer in hand, earning some extra money might not be the first thing on your mind.
But there are several ways you could be making some extra money without even leaving your sun lounger.
Here, Which? reveals eight ways you can bolster your holiday spending pot, from using cashback to getting free accommodation.
We’ve not tried and tested every website and app referred to in this article, so please read the terms and conditions carefully if you plan to use any.
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1. Earn cashback at home and abroad
There are two ways you can maximise cashback.
Earn cashback before you go away
The first is making the most of cashback sites or debit and credit cards before you go away, such as on your accommodation, flights and train journeys and travel insurance.
For example, you can currently earn up to 10% cashback with Expedia using TopCashback.
If you do use a cashback site, make sure you’ve found the best deal for what you want to purchase, as you may find cheaper prices elsewhere without cashback.
You can also book your travel and accommodation using a bank account that pays cashback, or using a specialised reward credit card.
For example, the top cashback credit card from American Express pays 5% cashback on all spending for the first three months.
Some credit cards will also enable you to earn air miles on flights, or Nectar and Clubcard points, which can also be redeemed with travel partners.
- Find out more: best cashback credit cards
Earn cashback on holiday spending
It is possible to still earn cashback once you’re already on holiday, but if abroad you’ll need to watch out for foreign fees, as most providers charge at least 2.99% per transaction.
However, there are a few cards on the market with no foreign fees that will also pay you cashback.
For example, the Chase current account is a top bank account for cashback, but it also offers fee-free spending abroad, which means you can get 1% cashback on spending within the UK and abroad for your first year.
With credit cards there are a few more options. The cashback credit cards below (ordered by APR) charge no foreign fees when using your card to pay for items abroad.
But with a credit card remember to pay off your statement in full each month to avoid interest, which could wipe out any cashback gains.
Correct as of 11/07/2024
*With Santander and Barclaycard, some transactions are excluded from cashback, including balance transfers, money transfers, cash withdrawals, buying currency or traveller’s cheques, gambling transactions and buying lottery tickets. Cashback with NatWest is on all ‘travel’ spending which includes eligible planes, trains, car rental, ferries, buses, hotel accommodation, travel agents, cruises, campsites and more. A full list can be found on its website.
** 2% paid in your first year of card membership. Rate falls to 1% in your second year.
2. Rent out your home
You could consider renting out your property whilst you’re on holiday, or you could even house swap for a free holiday.
The most popular website to rent out your home is Airbnb. You’ll need to set up an account, take pictures and write a description of your property, as well as listing the dates the space will be available.
Airbnb said a typical host who rents out their home for 30 nights a year makes around £6,000 annually, so for two nights you could make £400 on average. However, you may be able to earn significantly more, depending on your location.
- Find out more: how rental income is taxed
3. Rent out your driveway
If you’re leaving your car at the airport, you could make the most of your empty driveway by renting it out.
According to Compare the Market, you could earn £209 per month, or £2,500 per year doing this, depending on your location.
The most 10 profitable locations include London (£587 per month), Glasgow (£400), Cardiff (£354), Belfast (£326), Bradford (£324), Bristol (£291), Plymouth (£283), Leeds (£281), Manchester (£277) and Edinburgh (£272).
Register your space on sites such as Just Park and YourParkingSpace, or list your EV charger on JustCharge or Co-Charger..
- Find out more: revealed – the cars too big for parking spaces
4. Pet sit for a free place to stay
You may be able to stay somewhere for free if you agree to look after a cat or dog at the same time.
Several sites can match up home and pet owners with willing sitters – your housesitting credentials will need to be verified, and you’ll receive reviews each time you do it.
- Find out more: best travel destinations in July
5. Complete surveys on the beach
If you’ve run out of books to read, you could try to answer some surveys while relaxing on holiday.
Surveys don’t take very long to complete, and you can get paid anything from 10p to £2 per go.
Earlier this year, I managed to make £26.76 using Attapoll, and £14.24 using SurveyPop, but there are plenty of other sites available.
If doing so on your phone when abroad, you’ll need to make sure you’re connected to wi-fi or you have free data roaming, so it doesn’t cost you money to complete them.
- Find out more: how to save money on mobile roaming charges
6. Try mystery shopping at the airport
Mystery shoppers are typically used to test supermarkets, retailers, restaurants and hotels, but we’ve spotted a few tasks available that looking at duty-free shops in airports.
And if you’re holidaying in the UK, it’s well worth downloading an app to see if there are any tasks nearby.
Earlier this year I managed to make £24.90 using Roamler, completing a variety of short tasks, such as reviewing a milkshake and snapping some pictures of hair products.
Other apps such as Be My Eye, Field Agent and Shepper work in similar ways.
Some tasks require you to announce yourself to the business owner/manager/employees and can pay as much as £10 per task.
- Find out more: why shopping at UK airports can save you money
7. Sell your travel snaps
If you fancy yourself as a budding photographer and can take high-quality pictures, you might be able to earn some cash for your holiday snaps.
Shutterstock, Alamy and 123RF pay you a fee when other members download your uploaded images, and you’ll usually be paid a percentage of the cost.
You’ll most likely need a good-quality camera for this if you have one as some sites will only accept images from DSLR cameras rather than of mobiles.
- Find out more: best DSLR cameras
8. Claim any compensation
When travel doesn’t go to plan, it’s vital to know where you stand.
For cancelled flights, you might qualify for a refund, alternative flight, food, accommodation or compensation.
But what assistance you’re entitled to depends on your flight’s distance and delay duration.
Use our free flight delay compensation tool if you experience issues on your next trip.
Flight delay & cancellation compensation calculator
- Find out more: how to claim compensation for a delayed or cancelled flight
