If the third season of “The White Lotus” has you thinking that it’s time to plan a vacation to Thailand, you’re not alone.
The hit HBO series — which returned to TV screens in February — has created a surge of interest in the latest locale where its eponymous fictional hotel is set.
“After the White Lotus premiere, there was a big spike up,” says Kate Bodden, a spokesperson for the airfare search platform Skiplagged. “Searches to Krabi were up 50% year-over-year.”
Indeed, it’s not the first time this has happened. Season one of the show was set in Maui, Hawaii and season two was set in Sicily, Italy. Both locales saw a surge in travel interest after the show aired, CNBC reports. The phenomenon even has a name: “The White Lotus effect.”
Any time ‘White Lotus’ films in a location, it’s like it’s got the Midas Touch.
Katy Nastro
Going.com travel expert
“Any time ‘White Lotus’ films in a location, it’s like it’s got the Midas Touch,” Katy Nastro, a travel expert at Going, tells CNBC Make It. “They know that destination is going to have an influx of tourists.”
A recent earthquake in Myanmar caused a building under construction near Bangkok to collapse, raising questions about if now is a safe time to travel to Thailand. Hotel booking cancelations surged in the immediate aftermath.
The chairman of the non-profit Federation of Thai Industries, Kriengkrai Thiennukul, said “Thailand remains a safe tourism destination, with government officials maintaining vigilant monitoring of conditions, conducting comprehensive building safety inspections, and providing support to those affected by the earthquake,” according to reporting by CNBC.
And the hospitality industry in Thailand is still banking on the attention from Season 3 of the HBO show. The finale airs Sunday.
Personally, Nastro tries to avoid locations that have a sudden spike in popularity thanks to a movie or TV show. Giving things a year to cool down can help you not only find cheaper flights, but also have a better time.
“I would avoid it during these peak times when it’s going to be even more busy so you’re not fighting everybody else to be able to feel immersed in the experience,” she says. “If you see something going viral and you see a place getting too much press, I would actually avoid that destination until next year.”
Whether you’re set on having a “White Lotus” experience or just looking for an escape, Nastro says there are some steps you can take to help ensure you’re finding the best airfare deals possible.
Give yourself plenty of time to look for a deal
For a destination like Thailand — which sees the most visitors between November and February when weather is best — it helps to give yourself a few months to look for flights.
If you know what time of year you want to go, Nastro recommends working backwards from there to start your search for flights. Be sure to look during the Goldilocks window, which is the time frame during which you’re most likely to find the best prices to a given destination.
“We would suggest that you look to book your tickets between two and eight months out,” she says. “If it was a peak season — say you wanted to go over the winter holidays — you would need four to 10 months when you should be looking.”
For travelers flying from most major American cities, Nastro says a good price would be “roughly in the low eight hundreds to even low seven hundreds.”
Book early, but keep price alerts on
If you’re looking to travel to Thailand this summer, move quickly if you find a price that fits your budget. The beginning of April tends to be your last, best chance to find good deals.
“April, May, June, the opportunity to get a great price is closing,” Nastro says. “That doesn’t mean it can’t happen, but the odds of it happening decrease.”
Even if you’re not planning on traveling until next year, you increase your chances of finding the best deals if you start looking now. Once you see a price you like, jump on it.
“If you see something six or seven months out, I would book it if that’s within your budget,” she says. “But then set those price alerts. I can’t harp on this enough, just because it really is going to be something people are utilizing more and more as they look to save as much as possible this year.”
Nastro keeps price alerts on for flights she has booked, as well as for flights that leave the same day to the destination she wants to visit. If you are able to rebook a flight at a lower cost, you can call the airline and receive the price difference as a credit that you can use towards a future flight.
“Price alerts,” she says, “are going to be more important than ever to help people save.”
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