Everyone Is Booking Last-Minute Holidays – Here’s How to Find the Best Deals
The school summer break is fast approaching, and you haven't secured a vacation yet? Don't worry, you're in good company, and it's definitely not too late.
While there's a lot of focus on snagging a holiday bargain in the January sales, you can find equally good deals (sometimes even better) if you book at the last minute.
Recently, Tony Hopkins, Director of Trading and Development at easyJet Holidays, mentioned that people are increasingly booking late: "We're definitely seeing later booking patterns. There's strong demand, but it comes later," he stated.
"This year, in particular, people are looking for promotions but not necessarily cheap – more than 50 percent of our bookings are four- and five-star. They aren't cutting corners, but they want to know the exact cost."
So, how do you score the best deals? Here are eight top tips.
1. Buy someone else’s holiday
Launched in 2018, Transfer Travel (likened to an online marketplace for holidays) offers a platform for people to buy and sell holidays, simply changing the name on existing bookings instead of starting fresh. The website takes a commission from the transaction and ensures payments are securely processed.
Currently, Transfer Travel has deals like three nights in Paris starting on August 1 (including tickets to the Olympics for football and volleyball) for £1,690 for two: "I'm selling this because my girlfriend and I broke up and don't want it to go to waste," writes the seller.
2. Sign up for deal newsletters
An easy way to find last-minute travel deals is to subscribe to newsletters specializing in holiday bargains. Jack’s Flight Club is a great starting point for affordable flights. The founder notes: "I know not everyone has the time or expertise to find the cheapest flight deals, like Bali for £189 or Peru for £212. But I do."
A recent newsletter featured return flights to Egypt for £117 and a round trip to Mexico for £426. To capitalize on these deals, you need to be flexible with dates and quick to act.
Other late deal newsletters include Holiday Pirates, Cheap Holiday Expert, and Holiday Hypermarket. If you have a preferred tour operator, it's worth joining their mailing list to be the first to know about their best last-minute deals.
3. Use a holiday comparison site
Holiday comparison sites scour the internet for live deals and list them with links, allowing users to choose. Travel Supermarket and Kayak are leaders in this field. Expedia also has a last-minute package holiday page for bookings made before July 14, which you can access by becoming a member for free.
Online Travel Agents (OTAs) like lastminute.com also specialize in hotel and flight deals. According to a study by a consumer watchdog, Travel Zoo and Secret Escapes are among the most reliable sites for holiday deals. However, be cautious of some OTAs that offer attractively low prices but charge excessive fees for add-ons, name changes, or customer service calls.
Overall, focus on the price itself rather than the savings. Holiday prices are dynamic, so claims of large discounts should be viewed skeptically.
4. Check traditional tour operators
All traditional package holiday tour operators have late deals. Why? They pre-book airline seats and accommodations in bulk, so they need to sell them eventually. You can find savings on Tui’s late deals page, as well as last-minute offers on Jet2Holidays and easyJet Holidays. BA Holidays also has a last-minute booking page, including flights and hotel packages for seven days in Lanzarote starting at £390 per person.
5. Check what’s included
Booking a week in Majorca for a low price is great, but not if you end up spending hundreds more on car rental, transfers, luggage, and other extras. Make a checklist of what you need and tick them off during the booking process, and always check the cost of essential add-ons before finalizing a holiday.
6. Be flexible with dates and destination
The more flexible you are with times, dates, and destinations, the better deals you will find. Skyscanner offers the option to search for “Everywhere,” allowing you to find cheap deals on peak dates (for example, we found return flights from London to Ibiza during the summer holidays for £69). Similarly, Airbnb has an “I’m Flexible” option that lets you focus on the type of property you want (lakeside, with a hot tub, for a large group), rather than the destination.
7. Travel off-peak (if you can)
If you're not tied to the school holidays, you can find substantial savings by booking outside the peak summer holiday period from late July to the end of August.
8. Look later in the summer for family deals
If you're bound by the school calendar, the latter half of August is often cheaper than the beginning. Why? Probably because people are eager to get away as soon as possible. It could also be that people prefer not to travel abroad the week before school starts and want to enjoy the August Bank Holiday weekend at home.
