Does booking very last minute work?

[MiseryIn]

Hi all

We had to cancel our holiday this summer at short notice due to a serious medical issue with poor DD.
She is going to take a while to recover but I have in mind that she will be ready in late Jan.

She is an older teen (adult) and we won't have her full uni timetable and availability until much nearer the time and I'd like to book something a couple of weeks before.

It would just be me and her and we are flexible on destination as long as it's all inclusive and beachy. Thinking Dominican Republic (or any caribbean) or Cape Verde.

Budget would be around £2500.00 for a week.

I've booked reasonably last minute before but never quite so close to the time.

Is it going to work? If I knew the dates I could book now with that budget but I won't know until a couple of weeks before. Will it be cheaper or could we end up paying more?

Thanks!

I think cheap last minute deals are a thing of the past. I always book early, but regularly check prices at the last minute too (just out of interest) and rarely see much difference

Weve done it with ski holidays last couple of years.
We had to be flexible on airport though.

To be honest it's less about saving money than timing. If the holidays stay roughly the same I'm ok with it - I'm mostly concerned that we won't get anything!

@TickingAlongNicely we can do any of the London airports so should be ok. Gatwick slightly closer but not huge difference.

We live in Yorkshire and it was Gatwick or Edinburgh as options! So you would be fine. Another family had driven from Wales to Edinburgh for the same deal. This was booked day before.

You can find holidays at the last minute but the flight times and airports might not be what you'd have got if you'd booked earlier

We always book last minute.. between a few days and a month before we go.
We find a flight ( cheap) then look for accommodation.
It's very much cheaper...because they want to fill up the plane and accommodation would rather someone in and pay something.. rather than non at all.
Just booked Corfu this morning.. we fly next Thursday. .. saved £240 between two of us.. if we had booked a few months ago.
Luckily we can go anytime.

We went away last week and booked 3 weeks before we went. Unusual for us but circumstances were different this year.

There was obviously less choice but we went with a package which we don't usually do and saved well over £1k on what it should have been, still got Stansted our local airport and good flight times.

If you are booking flights and accommodation separately, then in my experience, flights tend to keep going up the closer to departure date so might be worth checking the package deals out.

It can work.

We went on our first ever package holiday in February this year at 2 weeks notice. We went to Portugal rather than the destinations you mention, but it was still reasonably warm (certainly compared to home!).

So if you don't mind a gamble on destination/departure airport, it could be possible.

I think our be okay in later Jan. I know it can sometimes be hard to get flights to the Caribbean closer to Christmas/New Year and they can get booked up relatively far in advance

It varies a lot as it depends on the demand running up that time. If you can live with the possibility of not finding a good deal you might get a bargain. Also be prepared to look at resorts near bigger airports where they are less likely to cancel flights if demand has been low

Out of curiousity was it worth it? How much was the saving? I’ve never considered this before

The hotel was half price.

It wasn't planned... we had booked a completely different holiday and Tui had to cancel the day before.

If you're going off peak I'm sure it'll be fine, I'm quite particular about the places I want to go and if I don't book soon enough there isn't availability, but if not tied to school holidays I shouldn't think that is much of a problem. Especially if you're flexible. I always see cracking cruise deals last minute! Especially in January. Follow Holiday Pirates.

We tend to book last minute for reasons other than costs

Just make sure you have visas in ̈ order for those countries requiring and cruises you have to book at least 48 hrs before

Luckily we use leeds airport mostly .. one of the cheapest in the Country.

In my experience it gets more expensive by the day. The cheapest holidays are booked the earliest.
Also what's left last minute are the holidays no-one else wanted. Holiday travel abroad has surged this year and now exceeds pre-covid.
Outside school holidays is always easier

We were looking for a last minute deal for this week, being school holidays the last minute prices for flights were extortionate, even if hotels with capacity were reasonable (but not particularly discounted as i guess they are close to capacity). We did get lucky though with a resold holiday on a Facebook page called "holidays for sale booked and paid but can't go" for a trip to somewhere we could drive to via the channel ferry.

If you're outside school hols then imagine there will be plenty of availability even if not bargains.

Tip - easyjet have an "inspire me" search option which tells you which routes are cheap for your dates.

The big issue is flights. If they just have a few seats left, they go for a premium. You might not get much choice. I’d be flexible and consider Florida and maybe Egypt too. Then you need to consider hotels. Few rooms left, higher prices. Everyone uses dynamic pricing where price reflects demand. You could get lucky .

Thanks all. I'll probably book an all inclusive package rather than things separately.
I don't think I'd consider Florida - but my feelings might change depending on their election.

A package will be priced based on flight costs. So it could be expensive. I doubt Florida will suffer any consequences of the USA election. Why would it? It’s a holiday area!

March 2023, I booked Portugal on the Thursday, flew there on the Monday. Did flights and hotel separately and had an amazing time. (Was a solo traveller)