Last Minute Travel Deals – How to Get Them!

Surely you’ve heard about last minute travel deals, those fantastic once-in-a-lifetime discounted trips some lucky people seem to take. Are they real? Can you get some of the action?

The answer is it depends. While not everyone is fortunate enough to have a flexible schedule which allows for taking advantage of last minute travel deals, for those who do this phenomenon can mean more trips, more often, due to greatly discounted pricing as compared to regular retail.

How it Works

Hotels, airlines, resorts and even rental car companies often discount their prices for unsold inventory, offering lower prices as the date of travel nears. Especially a few days before and up to the day of travel, you will find many desperate providers trying to lure you in with travel deals and discounts.

One exception of late seems to be cruise lines, but there are still deals to be had. I am told by Royal Caribbean that lately cruising has been so popular that the opposite has begun happening: prices tend to increase closer to sail time as travel agents fight for rooms aboard the popular ships. I can attest to this, as for the last year and a half we have found all the quality ships FULL every time we have wanted to book, and we are very flexible with our travel dates.

While you can obtain last minute travel discounts from most hotels and other providers by contacting them directly, you will also reap huge benefits by being willing to shop around, and by using consolidator websites (explained below). Shopping around generally means using the internet, although you can rely on a trusted travel agent if that suits your style.

There are many websites offering last minute deals, some of which you can find on our Deeper Discounts page. Be sure to check at least two websites to compare prices. Orbitz, for instance, is often cheaper for last minute hotel and car rental rates, but Expedia has better travel reviews as well as pictures to help you determine which hotel you’d like to stay at, and also offers great last minute vacation packages.

Consolidators are companies which handle unsold rooms and cruises for providers. They offer websites like Priceline.com, where you can name your price and even bid for the product you’d like. There are definitely specific strategies you will want to emlpoy to make the most of these sites, and you’ll need to be sure you understand how they work. See the Deeper Discounts page for further explanation.

By playing it smart and being flexible, you can have the vacation of your dreams AND the price of your dreams!

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