Travelzoo for Travel Deals?

Hey Trippers,

I struggle with taking up the topic of last minute travel because I preach about planning for those who want to travel on a budget.  Even I find myself unable to just click on a deal that’s for the near future.

When I was living in London, the UK based lastminute.com was launched to huge fanfare.  As a result, its value skyrocketed without profit margins to support it.  It soon became so yesterday.  If you find your life has the flexibility where you can take off at a moment’s notice, you might find these type of websites very useful.  Travelzoo is a website I came across that offers all types of travel deals: from travel plans in the future to last minute deals.

I decided to put Travel Zoo to a little test.  I have already booked a trip to Europe in June – peak travel season and a few months away.  I soon found out that they use other travel search engines (Travelocity, Expedia, and Orbitz) for anything other than the specific package deals they offer.   So, for me it wasn’t going to save me any time.  I would rather use momondo.com.  Momondo’s an easier way to find just about every available airfare for that time and for that destination.

Last year during our European trip, we used a website on-the-fly by the name of

Booking.com for last minute hotel room deals.

Booking.com.  It’s a clearinghouse for last minute hotel rooms available that’s affiliated with Priceline.com.  There’s usually a room here and there on offer in each random hotel.  We used it to fill in the gaps between our pre-booked hotels that were located in popular destinations.  We had good luck with our bookings and found the rates to be of fair value.   If you’re traveling to an in-demand destination – it’s best to pre-book (always scouring for deals first) but if you have to fill in-between dates, booking.com is a good way to go.  And we always make sure we book hotels with free WiFi capability so we can book the next night or two as we move along.

It’s probably worth a search on Travel Zoo for a last minute trip when you have a specific destination in mind or if you are one who’s willing to throw care to the wind and go where the deals are.  Chances are, you just might end up going to Las Vegas . . . . (and Wayne Newton is no less scarier!)

Happy Last Minute Tripping,

Carter