Booking a Holiday by Travel Auction: How to Get Your Break for Less
By: Paul Collins
What is a Travel Auction?
Put simply, an online travel auction is just what it sounds like: you bid for your holidays online. And the lots are by no means limited simply to package holidays, either. You can, in effect, break it up as much as you like: from separate flights and hotels, to high-end, all inclusive items like cruises and once-in-a-lifetime dream holidays, there'll be a travel auction somewhere out there that provides it.
Where can I bid?
Travel auction sites are getting ever more popular with every passing year. From the upmarket LuxuryLink and the flights-focused Skyauction to the Australian site Travelauction.com and the UK-based travel auctions directory site, Travel-quest.co.uk (a good starting point) there are plenty of likely candidates to choose from.
But, in fact, some of the best deals are to be had in the world of non-English language travel auctions. The French can go to Nouvelles-frontieres.fr for their slice of reduced cost travel auction action, while the Spanish (along with Portuguese and Italian speakers) are particularly blessed in the form of the pioneering Logitravel.com. Their subasta viajes (that's travel auctions to you and me!) offer genuinely amazing savings across the board.
Why would I try a travel auction?
There's one reason, and one reason alone, to use travel auctions to book a holiday: huge savings. They can be in the range of 75% or even 100% - a sum which obviously is not to be sniffed at. And actually, that's not quite fair, there's another pretty compelling reason, too. For starters, there's the fact that it's actually quite good fun. Just as with bidding on a piece of fine art in an auction house, there's a sense of excitement as you draw closer to your prize.
Is there anything to be careful of?
There really is virtually no downside. The usual rules of buying anything (on- or offline) apply: as with making anything else, it's a good idea to do a bit of a background check into who you're bidding with (although all of the sites listed above are established safe bets). Other than that, it's a good idea for example to do a bit of hunting around before you settle on a final bid. (After all, how do you know it's the right price if you haven't looked elsewhere?) And really, that's about that.
Travel auctions: in conclusion
There's really not a great deal to say about travel auctions. They make the process of booking a holiday online just a little more exciting and, while they're doing it, they can save you a bundle. At the end of the day, what's not to like?
Paul Collins is a UK-based travel writer who specializes in the Caribbean, the Canary Islands and Tenerife. Whether it’s encheres de vacances, travel auctions, or, as a Spanish-speaker, subasta viajes, especially, he can frequently be found scanning the world of travel auctions looking to take advantage of the latest deals.
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