I don't know if this trend is all over the world, I suppose it is, but I don't recall the last time I bought a trip or booked a hotel directly to the company. I always buy cheaper packages at places similar to Groupon, like Odisseias, possibly the biggest here. It's great, everything is cheaper and turns out to be exactly as described. Are you having the same experiences?
I also do the same, even for my airfare tickets, I always buy in websites that offer discounts, I don't buy directly to the company. I think most of the websites online offer cheaper fare, hotel accommodations or even package tour. I can't even remember when was the last time I bought a ticket or booked a hotel directly from them.
Exactly! I think this is a great deal for everyone. The companies sell big quantities, the "Groupons" get their percentages and we customers get a lower price, perfect combination.
I always try to get the best deal from a reputable third party agent. But when in doubt, that's if I have to like pay for something and I'm not too sure about the company claiming to offer something for a discount then I wouldn't take the risk. But all in all it's a great way to save money. When it's a legit company.
We had a sad case of a voucher company here in Portugal that was bankrupt and left it's customers with worthless vouchers on their hands. Two weeks before they bankrupt they offered crazy discounts and a lot of people was buying... It was not my case fortunately!
Why not to buy online first of all it is comfortable and somehow I feel online deals are better priced.
A little advice You're right, there is a trend here. We didn't have the luxury of getting our plane tickets and making reservations online before. Now that we do, people are taking advantage of this. Especially, sites like Groupon. I've use them a few times before but one thing you need to be careful of is checking to see their availability. At one point, I booked a hotel on there only to learn that was not enough room. We came to the hotel and discovered they had a given our room to somebody else. This is why you need to be particular with which sites you decide to use for travel.
Groupon is indeed awesome! I get all my deals there too when it comes to traveling! The discounts they have are just amazing!
Same here. Not really too practical to pay full price for certain hotels anymore since these coupon sites are around which pretty much have daily hotel deals year round. Also, in general, hotel prices seem a little less pricey nowadays already anyway, at least in my area, but of course the top ones still have the standard prices and they have the right to do so, but the modern ones are not too shabby.
Whenever I travel, I rarely buy a package like the ones they sell on Groupon. But I still do it all online - but I book the flight myself, and will usually stay in an economy hotel (booked usually in hotels.com) or hostels! I definitely don't look for a travel agency for that, they overcharge and it's a pain to deal and depend on them.
isabbela, why not? When I buy on Groupon or Odisseias I always compare the price directly with the hotel and it's cheaper on Groupon, isn't that the same case for you?
It's so true! The internet has just streamlined everything, and websites are somehow able to offer better deals. I am too young to have used travel agencies (I was not an adult before the internet boom), so I don't even know if agencies ever offered the kinds of deals available to us on the web now. Everything is on the internet making it the best option to explore the most options.
When I went to Tokyo I rented a small apartment online. All went well, we went to their office and they drove us to the apartment, but we were rather shocked by the size of it, 4 meters (13 feet) by 4 meters apartment...! So don't forget looking into that "detail"...!!
I think it all depends on the service or product that you are buying. I must agree that buying online is much cheaper and faster than going on those long queues for hours before you can get served. I have been a regular online shopper for sometime now and I think it is really a good place to shop and no issues whatsoever.
If you're going to book flights or hotel rooms online, make sure you do so on a familiar and reputable website. Otherwise, you might check in to your hotel and find out that you weren't even booked in the first place. It's very complicated to deal with websites without a reputation. You don't even know if they're just a scam to get your money. Just be careful when booking online, but I really suggest checking out reviews on certain sites before letting out some cash for a transaction. There's lots of tricky business on the internet and it's getting more difficult to figure out who to trust.
Yes, I would never book my hotel or holiday package on a suspicious site, no way, I only do holidays once or twice per year at the most so that reservation will have to be 100% certain, that's basically my rest period for one year work, so I don't want it to go wrong. So far I've only had good experiences.
I get promotions through my credit card. I book these trips online and never had a problem with it. It's strange to not have to talk to people to confirm everything but I got everything in the mail which was also fine.
How often do you need to buy stuff with the credit card to get promotions? That is really tempting, but I don't like to buy many stuff on credit. I actually enjoy not confirming with people, as long as it works well I am fine.
