HawthorneVillager.com

Thinking of doing a last minute trip over the holidays...am willing go fairly last minute but want a good deal -- but do not know which last minute company gives the best deals and is legit.

Anyone have a recommendation on which last minute place is best (or who to stay away from)?

Thanks

Most (all?) sites are about the same price. e.g. A Sunwing package will cost the same regardless of where you buy it.

If you're flexible on location, hotel, etc, then try using tripcentral.ca It has the best user interface to quickly compare multiple options all at the same price as everywhere else.

Years ago (like 20 year ago) my dad used a place that you called each day and they gave you great deals for travel a couple of days later....really selling off at great discounts packages that were not sold through the normal channels. Thus the discounts were great -- like 60% off but you had to travel wherever the deal happened to be for and do it on a couple of days notice. Anyone know of any of these sites/companies that are good?

You have to book early to get deal regardless. I use expedia.ca to book. My approach is to use their cancellation policy. You first book few possible places you like to go for hotel, then book your fly ticket, this decide your final destination, then cancel all other hotel reservations. Anyway price goes day by day as the time is approaching to the holiday. Also I use my vacation pay to offset the high price. I like to try Xmas vacation somewhere else other than staying at home.

Some decent stuff here, including $250 for a week in a 3star Cuba Santa Lucia (make your own comments about what a 3 start in cuba gets you as everybody has different vacation needs, but I'm just saying it is cheaper than normal). Flight leaves Wednesday.

http://www.selloffvacations.com/Cheap-L ... MgodeDEAng

Good luck!

Anytime ive booked flights anywhere ive used cheap o air and found it the least expensive as opposed to all others i searched.

http://www.cheapoair.ca/

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Agree with cheap-o. Have used them for flights a few times.

Does anyone use travel agents anymore? We've been looking for a vacation and contacted two agents, but their prices were like $1-2K more than I was able to find on my own, searching the web for literally 5 minutes.

this is what we are planing to do

Hotel details


Name Riu Emerald Bay Room Ocean view free kids room all inclusive

City Mazatlan Occupancy Double occupancy

Duration 7 days Meal plan All Inclusive

Supplier Airline Sunwing Airlines - Champagne Service



Flight details


Airline
Flight No* Class Baggage Allowance Departing City Departing
Date & Time Arriving City Arriving
Date & Time Meal

Sunwing Airlines
WG561 P 2 piece(s)
20 kg total Toronto (YYZ) Tue. Dec 09, 2014
3:15 PM Mazatlan (MZT)
Tue. Dec 09, 2014
6:40 PM

Sunwing Airlines
WG562 P 2 piece(s)
20 kg total Mazatlan (MZT) Tue. Dec 16, 2014
7:35 PM Toronto (YYZ)
Wed. Dec 17, 2014
1:59 AM

Package includes Flight + Hotel + Transfers


Adult 1 $465.00 + taxes $392.00

Adult 2 $465.00 + taxes $392.00

Child 1 $125.00 + taxes $392.00

Child 2 $125.00 + taxes $392.00

Riu's are great - stayed at 4 of them, always a good time...

We're headed off on a cruise next week - good time to get away!!

Just got back from a RIU Palace... it's hit or miss. We went to the same resort 5 years ago, and you can see it's become dated. Rooms weren't at the same level as last time. Food is always great and so is the service. Never been to a non-Palace RIU though, so I can't comment on that.

Wasn't thrilled with customer service from Sunwing (first trip through them). Their rep told us barely anything and we had to take a cab to the airpot because we weren't told we need to fill out a card to guarantee our seat on the way home. Who goes to a 7-day all-inclusive and isn't sure whether they want to come home?

Seems that Selloffvacations and sunwing offer the same discounts (compared head to head for 24 hour discount and they are the same)...there are still decent discounts if you can wait 24-48 hours before--which I am willing to do but might not be viable for those with families or who are not flexible.

Thanks to everyone for the help...seems the market has changed in the last 20 years...aggregators have certainly made cheap rates more accessible to the common man.

Definitely a shitty experience and that's why I always avoid these guys too. I "re-confirm" my flights to leave asap and spend as little time dealing with them as possible. The extra cost for activities through them is for insurance though. The beach guys aren't licensed or insured, so if anything happens to you..well lol. I don't personally care for things like insurance in these situations, but I guess it depends on your personal comfort level with risk.

Actually, its one of the first accurate things to come out of you in a while. I experienced the same BS with sunwing and had the same gem of a dude on the beach. We were on our honeymoon for a couple of weeks and wanted to do a few things (Xel ha, Temple tour, Jet Skis, ATV tour, Ceynote exploration), priced at the resort for for us two was $1,300. The guy at the beach for the EXACT same tour, plus a bag of crappy weed was $450. He didn't offer that right away, had to work him down, but he gave me beer while we negotiated. Never buy on the resort, its a huge scam.

Oh i don't know... trip and fall on those hard floors in the rooms and end up with a broken elbow and a $15,000 USD surgery in mexico because it wasn't safe to fly with it broken?

Happened to my mom last year. The insurance company saw the scans and agreed with the doctor that a free bone fragment under air pressure could travel and cause further damage internally. So she went to a hospital that was only for tourists in Cancun (beautiful hospital - only 8 out of the 50 rooms were used).