Which is better: last minute tours or early booking

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The life hacker understands which vouchers are more profitable, reliable and more convenient for tourists.

Tours can be purchased a couple of weeks before departure, and then they will be sold at the regular price. But you can save money if you pay attention to last minute deals and early booking.

Tours with a departure in a week or a couple of days are usually considered last minute - they are sold cheaper. And early booking is buying a ticket one or several months before departure, and tour operators also give a discount on it.

We compared these tours and figured out who would be more suitable for last-minute offers, and who would be more profitable and convenient to buy tickets in advance.

Price difference

There is almost no difference in cost: about 30-40% of the price is discounted for both last-minute tours and early booking. Sometimes you come across last minute deals with a 50 or 80% discount, but this is very rare and you should not count on them.

In both cases, the discount does not mean that a low-quality tour is being sold to you. The prices for last minute tickets are reduced because they were not bought, and if no one flies even at half price, then the airline, hotel and tour operator will lose money. And so it is possible to compensate for the costs.

Early booking has a different reason for the discount. Usually people take tours in advance, in low season to high. During the low season, hotels and tour operators run out of money and, in order to cover the costs, sell tickets for less. And profit can be obtained in the high season, when people are buying up tours without discounts.

There is almost no difference in price, unless you accidentally grab a super profitable last minute tour. But early booking has a slight advantage: it protects against currency fluctuations. If the dollar or euro jump up, the price of the purchased ticket will not change.

Convenience

Early booking is much more convenient: you can choose a resort, date, departure airport and hotel. And you can also take several rooms nearby or even rent a floor of the hotel and move in with a large family or company.

With a burning tour, you have to take what they give. The hotel can be mediocre, the date inconvenient, and it takes twice as long to get to the airport. It is generally difficult to fly in a company: usually last-minute vouchers are sold for two, maximum for a family with one child.

Early booking gives you more choices and allows you to fly on your terms. For a significant company, this is generally the only option to relax together.

Country selection

With a last minute tour, you usually have to fly to a visa-free country or to where you already have a visa: you will definitely not be able to issue documents in a week. And if you are traveling for the first time and you do not even have a passport, then you can only go to Abkhazia or Belarus on a burning voucher: they are allowed there with a Russian passport.

When you book a tour in advance, you have time to complete and collect all the documents, get a visa, get the necessary vaccinations and slowly pack your things. So it is not necessary to take a ticket to Turkey or Vietnam - you can fly somewhere to Europe, to Goa or to China.

The choice of countries for early booking is wider: not limited to visa-free travel. And you will have more time for packing and preliminary acquaintance with the place.

Reliability

There is always little risk associated with booking early. In a few months, a travel agency can go broke, some volcano erupts, and the hotel suddenly stops accepting tourists. Such force majeure rarely happens, and usually good companies prescribe guarantees in the contract, but still there is some chance of losing money or returning the entire amount of the tour, but leaving without a vacation. Something can happen in your life, and there are often large fines for canceling a reservation, so only a part of the amount will be returned to you.

The situation is better with burning tickets. Nothing terrible is likely to happen in a week, so you will certainly rest.

Last minute tours are almost 100% guaranteed to take you on vacation.

What to choose

Last minute tour if:

• you don't care where to fly;
• you already have a passport or the required visas;
• you are not 100% sure of the travel agency, you do not know exactly when you will be given a vacation and how your life will change in the next few months;
• you are traveling alone or with one child;
• you are ready to take a trip suddenly.

Early booking if:

• you want to fly to a specific resort in a specific hotel, and not miss what they give;
• this is your first trip;
• you are confident in the reliability of the travel agency and in your plans;
• you are traveling with a large company;
• you want to slowly draw up documents, collect things, learn more about the country of destination.