Whilst late deal holidays are a great way to save some money, there are a few things you have to watch out for to make sure that your holiday doesn’t end up badly. Fortunately, most of these are simple and are easy to avoid. Here are the top five things I think you need to think about when considering late deal holidays:
As I mentioned before, you have to accept that last minute holidays don’t give you the same choice as booking early, and you might not get the exact destination that you wanted. Prepare to be a little open-minded about where you want to go, and you should find something to suit.
Along the same lines, you might not be able to book the specific dates that you want. Depending on your situation, this might not be a problem, but you need to think about it carefully. If you are flexible in your travel dates, then you will find late deal holidays at good prices, but if you are tied to specific dates, you may be better off booking earlier and being sure that you will get your holiday on the dates you want.
Although last minutel holidays are a great way to save money, you have to be careful that the cost doesn’t creep up with optional and not-so-optional extras. Some travel companies advertise cheap summer holidays that are actually no cheaper than normal, but that don’t have a lot of extras included in the price they quote. Some of these might be optional, like in-flight meals or overweight luggage, but many will be unavoidable charges such as check-in fees, booking fees, charges for every item of luggage you take with and so on. Make sure to read the small print, and only look at the fully inclusive price, irrespective of the advertised price.
Make sure you only book your holiday with a travel agent who is registered with ABTA, the Association of British Travel Agents, as this will give you some comeback if anything goes wrong with your holiday. If you are booking flights only, then make sure they are registered with ATOL, the Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing agency.
Even if the agents are registered with either ABTA or ATOL, you still need to have adequate travel insurance. This is true of any holiday, not just late deal holidays, but is very important. Don’t be tempted to save money by skipping the insurance, it just isn’t worth the modest charge, and if anything goes wrong, it can make a huge difference.
Well, if you take care of those five simple warnings, you should be able to find late deal holidays to suit your needs.