I see a lot of great Groupon deals for all-inclusive resorts and international travel. The few that I've almost considered purchasing always had fine print stating travelers are required to view a presentation during their stay. This makes me think they are going to make me sit through one of those time-share presentations that are supposed to last 2 hours but really take up half of your day. Has anyone used any Groupon travel offers, where they worth it, and did you have to sit through presentations?
I see some nice stuff too, but i get a bit scared using them. It's not Groupon itself the problem, but you never know about the company advertising. I say it is important to find reviews online of people who traveled with the company and can vouch for their credibility. I don't think I would buy a trip there if without research or if I found bad reviews. No matter what price - sometimes the cheap cost more if you get scammed.
I am right there with you on that one, Isabbbela! I always research and read reviews of any place I travel. I have been to some great places, and I have been to some not so great places!
It's the very first time I hear of these Groupon offers. I have never come across it anywhere before, but then I live in a country where such deals are not common. I wouldn't mind sitting through some presentation for a few hours if I got a nice travel discount for it. The problem only starts if I have to buy something that I don't want.
I've never tried any of these Groupon type deals. But I have done a couple of the 'sit in and watch the presentation' gigs. My guess is that these companies would use Groupon to sell their service. After being given the hard sell, I said no but wanted to take up the free offer. The phone numbers I was given to phone never answered my calls....
I have never tried any of the vacation Groupon deals but have used restaurant deals. I would be leery of using Groupon for travel. Regardless of the deal, its a lot of money and so much could go wrong. And I'm not into time share at all, so the mere mention of something like that would turn me off, completely.
We used a Groupon for a resort in Florida a few years ago. It was only for a few days, but it was a good deal and it was for a suite with a full kitchen that was nicer than a hotel room we could have gotten for the same per night equivalent. I did look up the resort before purchasing to make sure it had decent reviews. We were not required to sit through a presentation, although they did offer the option to us after we got there in exchange for free tickets to local attractions, but since we were not there very long we decided we didn't want to waste our time on the presentation, even for the free tickets. Our experience was good, but I would definitely recommend checking up on the resort before you buy the Groupon, and make sure your travel dates are somewhat flexible in case they have black-out dates for the offer. Read the Groupon fine print very closely.
You have to read the fine print on all Groupon offers, the problem that I have heard on is that the offers can change or be cancelled at any point so I am reluctant to do any big ticket purchase that is far down the calendar. I did do a ticket promotion to one of those time shares in Florida once, this one sent you to one of those time share pitches in exchange for tickets to Universal. At that time there were also all sorts of credit card kiosk's that also offered great deals on park tickets just for signing up. It all seemed like it had a catch, so I avoided it. I have felt you could find the best deals going through a travel agency, but even those seem risky these days.
I've never bought anything off of Groupon in fear that the offer won't be taken by the location or something (stupid internal fear, I know haha). This is even more so for travel when you're going to somewhere far away; the last thing I want is to get to my destination and to find out that the groupon offer doesn't work out. Talk about a nightmare!
