With the rising cost of living strapping many Britons for cash, holidaymakers are cutting corners where they can to save on costs, opting to take just cabin luggage or staying in a hostel during their stay. One option that has become increasingly popular with tourists is deal site Wowcher's "Mystery Holiday Deal", which promises travellers return flights and a two-night stay in a hotel for just £99.
Of course, this unbelievably cheap deal comes with a catch - those who take part have no idea where they are off to until the eleventh hour. Curious to find out what it's really like to take Wowcher up on one of their £99 deals, Harriet Morphy-Morris, a writer from our sister site, WalesOnline, decided to test it out for herself, buying a surprise holiday for herself and her partner to go on.
Wowcher's deal can send tourists to all sorts of popular holiday destinations across Europe, including Paris, Lisbon and Copenhagen. Some are even lucky enough to learn they're off to a bucket list destination, such as Dubai, New York City, and Barbados.
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Whilst Harriet and her partner were pleased to eventually find out that they were off to Lake Garda, both of them were left with costs that exceeded £99 each, and they didn't even rest their heads on the pillows of their cheap hotel room. According to Harriet, when you book one of the mystery holidays, you can enter your desired holiday dates, number of travellers and UK departure airport.
"I put in three different weekend options (in order of preference) as well as possible flights from Manchester Airport (which we didn't end up flying from)," Harriet said. "At the time of booking it was clear that anyone looking to take off from an airport outside of London would have to pay an additional £50 per person taking the price to £149 each.
"Once bought, you will be emailed a voucher code (from Wowcher) along with the details of where to claim it. My code came to my inbox within an hour of buying the deal along with all the details of how to claim with partnered travel site, Travelodeal. After this, I went on their site (through the email link) and booked our mystery holiday.
"After this, it was all fingers crossed for a good destination and more than 10 days later we got the call to say where we were off to - Lake Garda in Italy."
An unknown number from a call centre phoned Harriet, and asked her for personal details ahead of her trip, something she said felt "a bit strange" but was "reassured countless times it was normal". Within 30 minutes of putting the phone down, she received their boarding passes from Ryanair and the name of the hotel they would be staying at in Italy.
According to Harriet, the hotel was "the cause of the biggest expense" the couple faced, but she claims that the push to spend more than £99 on their holiday began once their destination was confirmed. "Once we were given our destination, we got into the details (departure airport, passport details etc) and it was here, that the push to upgrade really started," she wrote.
"I tried my best to resist but I did fall for an extra £30 per person for different flight times. The original flights we were given from London Stansted (with Ryanair) landed late into Milan Bergamo (around 8pm) and returned super early two nights later (around 7am) so it would have only given us one full day to explore."
"The upgraded flights left on a Thursday at 8am and landed back in Stansted at 5pm on Saturday giving us much more time and taking our spending so far to £129 each, but it didn't stop there. During our call, the adviser repeatedly said 'are you sure you don't want to upgrade the hotel package as it's a little far out' and as I wanted to stick as close to the £99 price as possible I declined (and wish I hadn't).
"A tip for anyone looking to book is to bear in mind the transport upgrades they offer won't be the only options available. We declined Wowcher's airport transfer from Milan Bergamo down to Lake Garda (starting at €80) and booked a 1hr 45 minute train (at €15 each)."
Once they landed in Italy and got the train to their hotel, Harriet was left feeling "annoyed" as she claims the location of the accommodation was "so far" from their "surprise destination". As a result, it was cheaper for the couple to book a hotel in the centre of Pescheira than pay for transport to and from their original hotel.
"To put it simply our hotel was so far from Lake Garda that it would have cost us £160 (minimum) in travel costs to get to and from during our trip," she said. "On the call to the advisor I had seen on Google maps, it was around a 14-18 minute drive away which assuming there would be reliable public transport I thought was more than okay.
"It wasn't, as we were visiting Lake Garda during the 'off-season' there were no bus routes to Affi or train routes on the line we had travelled down from Milan from. Our nearest biggest Lake Garda side town was Pescheira - from here we were quoted €40 to €45 EACH WAY in a taxi to and from our hotel. This wouldn't have been a problem if our hotel was near a few restaurants, parks, shops etc but to make it worse we were on the side of a motorway toll road, next to a service station.
"Once we had checked in we sat in the room adding up the cost and figured out we would spend at least €160 over the two days in taxi fares (on top of the €80 price it cost us to realise our mistake and go back and forth the first night). To us, it was a ridiculous amount to spend just on travel to and from and I was annoyed the location was so far from our 'surprise destination'. So, we checked out after an hour and booked a city centre hotel in Pescheira for €85 for the two nights (just over half of the taxi cost)."
After landing in Bergamo, Harriet and her partner took a €20 taxi to the city centre and spent most of the day exploring, including a trip to the top of the city's 'Citta Alta'. They then got the train from Bergamo's central station down to Pescheira (one of the biggest Lake Garda towns) which took an hour and 45 minutes.
On the second day of their break, the couple visited some of the other towns dotted around Lake Garda. As for the hidden costs, Harriet warned potential Wowcher customers to be wary of a few elements of the deal.
Harriet said: "Of course, the Wowcher trip can be as budget-friendly or 'high-end' as you want it to be. We were on a mission to stick to its £99 motto as much as possible and tallying up everything but the money we spent on sightseeing and food, we spent around £230 each.
"A breakdown: £99 Wowcher, £30 flight upgrade, £30 petrol to Stansted Airport, £15 train ticket, £20 taxi to Bergamo station, £40 taxi to the first hotel.
- Pay extra if you fly outside of London airports
- Can pay more to be given 'better' flight times (to extend the amount of time you have at the destination)
- Included hotels are not central - have to upgrade
- Price does not include any extra luggage on flights - have to book an additional cabin or hold bag
- Price does not include transport to and from airports"
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