Last minute holiday question

56cent

Anyone give me any idea what is the best way to find a bargain holiday at the last minute? We are early retired and want to just pick up a bargain and go at a few day's notice.

Carol444_2

Sorry but last minute holiday bargains seem to be a thing of the past.
Nowadays you have to book early to get anything at a reasonable price which is half-way decent.

miamoo

I don't agree, go on First choice ot thomas cook website and look at the last minute deals, try travelzoo, they have tons of last minute deals. Booking early is a waste of time, you always pay more!

Nordictat2

Try this....

http://travel.sky.com/deals/beach_holiday/any/any/any/any/any/any/2/any/any/any/depdate/asc

Carol444_2

Just tried click on various 'book now' tabs on your link but they all say the same thing 'Sorry, cannot find anything to match your criteria'.

Still say that no last minute deals are going to be available this year (well unless the place is a dive).

ManAtHome

As well as the 'lates' on the main tour company sites, and the MSE resources (links at the top of this thread) the Teletext site, Holiday Hypermarket, and Alpharooms are worth a look.

elisebutt65

Carol444 wrote: »

Sorry but last minute holiday bargains seem to be a thing of the past.
Nowadays you have to book early to get anything at a reasonable price which is half-way decent.

That is SO not true!!! I booked with 8 days notice - an amazing trip for half term - when prices are supposed to be at their peak for about half the usual price.

Took DS2 to Disneyland in Anaheim for about £100 LESS that the same price holiday would have cost me to go to Disneyland Paris.

I booked with Expedia, flights, hotel and Disneyland tickets came in at £900 for the 2 of us and we flew with Virgin. Same price for DLP worked out at about a Grand with more for the tickets to get in.

Best bit was the free upgrade to PE on the way out though :T

Expedia does tend to work out really good if you are looking to book about a week to 2 weeks in advance.

Carol444_2

Yes, I understand that you can get those kind of deals, but people who are looking for 'last minute' deals are not normally looking to spend £900.

The normal point of last minute deals is to get something cheap (i.e. under £500 for a weeks holiday).

If the op is looking to spend £900 I'm sure there are any amount of holidays they could buy.

poppy2323

I work in travel industry, you will be hard pushed for late deals especially with the Euro and capacity cut on a lot of routes.
The big tour ops are the best bet and the shops belonging to these will match the price.
A lot of the smaller web sites are a lead in price and dont inc fuel supps etc and we have all seen companies go under in the last few months.

bigheadxx

Try Teletext this will give you an idea of what the going rate is and all the operators that are selling it. You can then go to their websites and play around with dates and times until you get what you want. Egypt is a good destination at the moment because you get good weather, the exchange rate is still good and it is only just over 5 hours. We used freedomdirect.co.uk recently and the price was great value.

miamoo

There ARE last minute deals available, travel agents will tell you to book NOW as they are desperate for your custom. This is a very hard year for the tourist industry, they will tell you anything to get you to book!