Groupon/ Wowcher Deals

cherabelle

Hi All,


Just looking for some advice really. I have noticed a lot of very good deals on Groupon/ Wowcher for city breaks, places such as Prague, Budapest, Paris, Krakow etc.


Does anyone have any experience of these? I notice not a lot go from Birmingham so I am aware I am going to have to go to a London airport but I was more concerned about the hotels you get the other side.... Are they normally miles away from the city/ anything to do?


Any info would be great so I can decide whether they really are a good deal or I should steer clear.


Thanks C.

richardw

It's best to compare them to what you can get separately, so check the flights prices and hotels using comparison websites. Also check hotel reviews.

Also check why they're cheap, a weekend break with a returning flight at 06.50 am on a Sunday is no good to many.

You'd have to factor in extra costs going to a London airport as well. Ryanair is getting bigger at BHX and Norwegian is starting flights, so more convenient choices may be available.

Archergirl

Lots of people have had lots of problems with these but we did one and it was fine.
Do your research on google of the things/operators involved.
As ststed you may well be able to better it yourself.

bagand96

Most (all?) of the deals on Groupon list the hotel, so surely you can use Trip Advisor and such to do some decent research on the hotel. Some of the agents use a few tactics to boost their bottom line and will try and charge a myriad of extras or add ons (oh you don't want to fly home at 6am? Well better flights are available for £70 each...)

One thing to think about, Groupon and the travel agents that sell on there can't really book the flights at any cheaper than they're available for anyway. They may be able to strike a deal with the hotel but again with all the hotel sites on the web I doubt their "deals" are anything special.

I'm pretty confident that for any city break advertised on there, I could find the same or better booking directly with the airline and booking the hotel direct or with a booking site. And doing it yourself you have far more control of the dates you want, the flight times and hotels...

MasterPoo

OP, I would either book it myself or package it.

When Groupon/Wowcher first came out in the UK I did use them for things like beauty services at a discounted price, but then they were just selling off rubbish at discounted rates, I'd had beauty treatments in some places I wouldn't dream of going, and then there have been some beautiful places at good prices.....now imagine you've spent hundreds of your hard earned money on a holiday "deal"??? SAVE your money and spend it elsewhere OP.


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5194568

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5163648

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5161241

cherabelle

Thanks so much, I must stop being so lazy and just book something myself. It's just nice to think of someone else doing the hard work for me.


Off to search for flights and hotel myself now.....

bagand96

cherabelle wrote: »

Thanks so much, I must stop being so lazy and just book something myself. It's just nice to think of someone else doing the hard work for me.


Off to search for flights and hotel myself now.....

By all means use the Groupon deals as inspiration if you need. But use tools like skyscanner for flights and trivial to book yourself and cut a couple of middle men.

Archergirl

Let us know what you decide on and price v groupon

lika_86

Not Groupon but I've used Secret Escapes more than once and would recommend them.

MasterPoo

lika_86 wrote: »

Not Groupon but I've used Secret Escapes more than once and would recommend them.

Remove the middleman from the equation completely and you are more in control, secret escapes/groupon/wowcher all the same as far as I'm concerned!

http://http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g1-i12290-k5402827-Anyone_tried_secretescapes_com-Bargain_Travel.html

Hannah_Ford

Bought a deal for Rome for 4 nights off of wowcher stated in the fine print no surcharge could be added for flights from London Stansted but yet when it went through to book with the merchant they said I had to pay additional money even tho it was within the correct dates. Will I be able to get a complete refund from Wowcher as don't wanna pay the extra money?