There seems to be something deep down in the sub-conscious that believes that buying a last minute holiday will mean that you can get it much cheaper. Maybe it goes back to the days where; if you wanted a cheap flight, you would assume that if you turned up at the last minute on stand-by, then you could get a greatly reduced fare. Or maybe it harks back to the earlier internet sites that proclaimed that booking at the last minute with them would mean the same. However, these days I’m wondering if last minute cheap holidays really do exist, whether on the internet or in a travel agent.

Perhaps the issue is that these days, even a cheap holiday doesn’t seem so cheap anymore. With the increase in airline fuel surcharges over the last few years, and the depreciation of Pound Sterling, the base cost of holidays in the Euro-zone for example have effectively increased by a third without anything else happening. These costs are then knocked on once you get to the resort or destination.

Still, there are companies who claim to offer cheap last minute deals. For example, with LastMinute.com, the clue is in the name. There is an assumption that last minute implies cheaper, but interestingly, this company describes that it “has it all and at great value prices”, so the emphasis is on value rather than actual price. This company markets itself as offering “its customers the opportunity to book flights, tickets, hotels and more through a one stop shop”, thus implying that it views itself these days as a mainstream place to book the full range of holidays, and at the full range of prices! At the same time, a site like TravelSupermarket.com markets itself as “1000s of deals from cheap holidays to luxury and all inclusive”, so again there is an emphasis on the whole range of vacations.

To take a mainstream travel agent such as Thomas Cook as an example, their homepage regularly advertises deals such as “up to £150 off summer holidays” along with other featured offers. I think the reality is that these traditional, specialist agencies will always have a proportion of holidays available at cheaper “teaser” prices, much the same as a mainstream department store will always have some products reduced or for sale. So although people tend to search online for things like “cheap last minute holidays” in hope of finding some magical site with amazing offers, the reality is that these deals are already offered by an individual company’s website. At best, other sites just act as a portal to bring sites such as Thomas Cook or Thomson Holidays together.

Overall, I’m sure that cheap last minute holidays in the sun and suchlike do exist, but I’m not sure about to what extent the cheapness is related to the fact that it is “last-minute”! By searching for “cheap” there is a presumption that the prices have been greatly reduced to sell vacancies, but the fact remains that in general any reduction is probably relatively small and possibly with very little difference to if you had booked at 6 months ago! Most of the sites advertise as having “cheap holidays” simply because they know that people are searching for them. Like a high street shop, for the most part it is just a way to get you in the door, or in this case, to click the link.