The secret to spotting the best last-minute summer holiday deals
We have reached the point where you may decide you are in a rush. July is upon us. And if, for whatever reason, you have not yet arranged a summer holiday, you may now be seized by the thought that you need to book something (anything), and fast. This can be a compelling instinct. Indeed, Telegraph Travel recently offered 25 options for those without plans who wish to leave this island in the coming months.
The problem with impulse purchases is that they can be expensive. But if you are savvy, you can still source a well-priced imminent departure. Because the crucial commodity when it comes to last-minute holidays is not money, or even time, but flexibility. If you can grab your bags at short notice – and don’t overly mind where you are heading – the horizons are effectively limitless.
The airlines know this – which is why they provide late-deals sections on their home pages. Many of these offers are eye-catching – but the devil, as tends to be the way with temptation, is in the details. Last week, for example, British Airways (0344 493 0787; ba.com) was dangling a three-night break to New York for ￡507 per person. That price is enticing – and even if the hotel, a Holiday Inn Express, won’t stir many souls, its location, hipster-hub Brooklyn, usually does. The catch was that you needed to fly today to lock in that cost. The exact same break would have set you back ￡1,009 per person if you waited – and, at time of writing, a sub-￡600pp price is not on offer again until October. Rather better is BA’s touting of two nights in Prague at the four-star Ambiance [sic] Hotel – a possibility that, with flights from Heathrow in the early morning, and back in the evening, equates to three days in the Czech capital for just ￡129 per person (including breakfast and checked bags) – assuming you can fly on July 9.
EasyJet (0330 365 0000; easyjet.com) also serves attractive deals, although the seductive figure – currently visible on its website – of ￡50.29 for return flights to Kefalonia boils up to ￡514 a head for a week’s holiday once you have added checked bags and selected seats – even if you pick the three-star Metaxatos Apartments in Lassi as accommodation. This is not a bad price, and Kefalonia is glorious – but the price applies to Oct 11-18.
Tour operators’ late deals can also be mixed pickings. Take Virgin Holidays (0344 739 0644; virginholidays.co.uk), whose “special offers” pages include seven nights at the three-star Starfish Halcyon Cove Resort in Antigua, flying on July 16, from ￡1,249 a head (a good price for an all-inclusive week in the Caribbean), seven nights at the four-star NH Capri in Havana, flying on July 18, from ￡1,099 per person (a break that restricts you to a city-centre hotel in the Cuban capital, with no forays into the wider country or to its beaches).
The moral is that wider research brings results. You might look to Tui (020 3451 2720; tui.co.uk), and a three-night half-board mini-break at the four-star Grand Hotel Flora in Sorrento, for ￡341 per person – if you can fly from Bristol on Friday (July 5).
You might go as far as Transfer Travel (transfertravel.com), an online portal that lets users sell flights and holidays they no longer need. Its pages throw up a wealth of human-interest questions. Why is a member currently offering a pair of seats on return flights between Luton and Malaga for as far into the future as Sept 4 and 8 – at a knock-down total price of ￡150 (not including ticket name-change fee)? Whatever the reason, speed is key.