Looking to cut the costs on your next staycation? Look no further...

June 15, 2021

As many of you will know, 2020 was easily one of the worst years in the travel industry’s history, and as it drew to a close last December, billions of people around the globe hoped and prayed that this year would bring better times - and while in many ways it has, with the reopening of pubs, bars and restaurants here in the UK, and the national roll out of the vaccine - for the travel industry it has solved only a few problems, and created a growing number of new ones.

Travel restrictions change what feels like every other day. In the media we’ve seen reports of Brits rushing to get home from newly amber-listed destinations, forking out hundreds of pounds on various tests both whilst on holiday and at home. The chaos and confusion surrounding holidaying is at an all time high, that much is for sure. A study from Which? this time last year found that Brits were £5.6m out of pocket, an average of £446 each, due to cancelled holidays* - something we don’t want to see again.

So, we decided to do some research of our own, to try and help hopeful holiday-goers save as much money as possible on their next big trip. So, we decided to do some research of our own, to try and help hopeful holiday-goers save as much money as possible on their next big trip, to show that even with demand peaking, there are still plenty of savings to be made.

To do this, we collated internal data from both LateRooms (hotels) and Last Minute Cottages (self-catered accommodation), to reveal the top money-saving holiday booking hacks:

Post-Christmas winter getaways - save: £137.71 - December is one of the most expensive times of the year to get away, however price data for 2022 indicates that January 4th to 14this the cheapest period to book - February, April and November are also cheap months to goon holiday.
‘Avoid the school summer holiday’ - save: £112.39 - avoiding the school summer holiday period reduces the cost of a holiday significantly. Brits can also save £122.39 on average if they go away outside of any school holiday period during the year.
‘Strange Date Bookings’ - save: £94.77 - Searching for non-typical check-in dates to find any booking gaps will often result in a cheaper price. Mid-week arrival times are a common ‘strange date’.
‘10 months or 5 days in advance bookings’ - save: £90 - booking either 10 months in advance, or within five days of a desired holiday date can result in a better deal, as property owners drop prices to reach capacity.
'Register with booking sites’ - save: £30 - registering as a member for booking sites can give holiday-makers access to exclusive deals and properties. Our customers save an average of £30 per booking if they’re a member.
‘Sign up to newsletters’ - save £25 - signing up to travel sites’ newsletters can give you access to some of their best last-minute deals, especially for airlines and flight specific companies.
Clear your cookies - save 4% - one of the most commonly known booking hacks, the amount you can save by clearing your cookies is difficult to quantify, however we estimate that, on average, travellers can save around 4% per booking by doing this simple thing.

As part of this research we also looked at which locations were the cheapest overall to stay in:

Based on a two night weekend stay, Greater Manchester is the cheapest destination on average, with a cost of £197, followed by West Yorkshire (£243) and Nottinghamshire(£259).
Looking at a 7 night stay, Country Antrim was revealed as the cheapest, with an average cost of £369. East Renfrewshire and Northamptonshire were the second and third cheapest regions, with average costs of £475 and £588, respectively.

Matthew Fox, CEO of the Snaptrip Group, said,

“Although last year was probably the most disruptive in recent history for the holiday industry, the current situation is just as bad if not worse. With rules surrounding European and international holidays seemingly changing every few days, people are either being forced to travel to a country without knowing their situation upon return, cancel their holidays, or rebook holidays here in the UK.

“Right now the staycation is by far the safest bet, and we can see this trend stretching well into next year - with so many uncertainties when it comes to international travel, trust in the current international holiday industry is at an all time low, people will look to holiday without the worry of the unknown. That’s why we’ve decided to create this list, to try and give people the best possible chance to get the best possible deals.”