I have just got back from a holiday; one week in Barcelona doing some essential reading on the beach, see the picture. It was a very last minute holiday, but a lot of fun and very cheap.
It is the cheapness I want to talk about today. Most of the time wisdom tells us that if we get ourselves organised and book well in advance we will save money, but that isn’t always the case with a holiday.
Booking a holiday in advance can help us plan and budget over a longer period of time, but by doing this you miss out on the potential savings that can be had when hotels and operators find they have more capacity than demand, making them slash their prices at short notice.
The logic for hoteliers is that they would rather have someone in the room paying anything than the room sit empty.
Over the last decade many websites have sprung into existence that capitalise on this opportunity for hoteliers to fill otherwise empty rooms and offer consumers massive savings on their accommodation. It’s a win, win, win opportunity for all involved.
One these companies lastminute.com have a rather fun offering called Top Secret Hotels.
Big expensive 4 and 5 star hotels don’t really want to advertise that they are letting rooms at massively cut back prices, imagine all the rich guests that booked months in advance coming down and demanding they get the same reduction?
Lastminute.com has got around this problem by not actually mentioning the hotel. All the customer is told is roughly where the hotel is, that it is a minimum 4* and how much of a saving they’ll make.
I remember traveling around America only booking hotels on the day I arrived in a city. I ended up traveling around America in 5* hotels for the same price as motels!
Now that the summer is over there are even more savings to be had by booking a last minute holiday, all you need now is some inspiration. lastminute.com have just made this little widget to help you with that. Be inspired and get out of here on the cheap!
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October 10, 2023
finance, lifestyle