Getting the Best of the January Travel Sales

We all know about the January sales, but that doesn't mean it’s always easy to find what you want. To help you navigate, we spoke to some of our deal experts and asked them to share their top tips, plus a few pitfalls to look out for.

Featured experts:

Chris Webber (CW) – Travelzoo’s specialist on flight deals, based in Manchester

Raphael Giacardi (RG): Holiday expert in the London office. Specialist subject: cruising

Tracey Cheffey (TC): London-based deal expert and head of Travelzoo’s production team

When a deal is not a deal

RG: Here at Travelzoo, we only ever share genuine deals with our members. We test-book anything before we recommend it to make sure there are no nasty hidden extras. There are plenty of pitfalls out there though. Beware of some of the language in travel advertising. For example, you might see something that says: “Sale with prices from £399, including free all-inclusive, free upgrade…”. But, when you look at the details of the offers, you do have an offer at £399, but only those at, say, £699 have the free all-inclusive and upgrade.

Tool up for cheaper flights

CW: January is traditionally one of the biggest sale periods for airlines; BA, Virgin, South African and Thomas Cook all have seat sales right now, meaning there are lots of non-stop flights (especially from London) on sale. This is a great time to use a flight-comparison tool to make sure you’re checking out the whole market – you might miss a flight sale email from an individual airline as there are so many on at the moment. Also, maybe the airline isn’t shouting about their fares, but most of the time competing airlines will look to be, well, competitive, with their pricing if another airline has a sale on one of their key routes.

One trend I’ve seen towards the end of 2015 and heading into 2016 is cheaper fares to South America. Rio especially seems to be cheaper to get to than this time last year – although I expect prices will jump as the Olympics approach. There are also cheaper fares in the market to places like Lima in Peru – this could be a knock-on effect of BA launching a direct flight there this year.

Cruising for a saving

RG: For cruise bargains in general, check out this this blog on the subject. Wave Season (a 3-month period starting in January, when cruise lines typically offer their best deals) is good, but I still think that people are better off looking at prices on a regular basis for the best deals. The current promotions are no different than previous years.

Hate sport? You’re in luck!

TC: Remember that prices typically drop when there’s a major sporting event, so during the Euro 2016 football tournament in June/July there are likely to be some sales.

Booking now vs booking late

RG: In terms of prices to key destinations, it’s not really about when you book, but when you travel – high season vs low season. For example, here is your hotel price index for Bangkok:

Notice how this almost exactly mirrors the average monthly rainfall calendar (more rain = cheaper; less rain = more expensive):

CW: From a flights point of view, it depends where you’re going and what type of flight you’re booking.

I’d advise people who are booking either with a low-cost carrier (easyJet and Ryanair for short haul and the likes of Norwegian and WOW Air for long haul) to book as soon as they can – especially if they’re travelling to a popular destination at a popular travel time. When the seats first go on sale (which tends to be a good few months before they start travelling) that’s when availability is at its best and once those start shifting, the prices will normally rise. With the long-haul flights to the US especially, once those £99 one-way fares hit the market they shifted very quickly.

The flip side to that is charter flights, operated by the likes of Thomson. What you’ll find here is the opposite – as departure date gets close, any availability that’s left will usually be cheaper than it was to start with as they look to fill the last seats on the plane. So with the likes of flights to the Caribbean and Florida, especially outside of peak times, you can get some really good fares.

Family travel

TC: We’re seeing some fantastic "children stay free" offers running throughout January for families.

For people looking to book in January for next summer (especially those tied to the school summer holidays) remember that this isn't considered peak time. In January, there are some great deals in the market for destinations like the Caribbean – providing you travel over July and August. It’s considered the rainy season then, but that shouldn't put you off, as the rains can come and go quickly. Prices can be up to 40% cheaper than for travel in January-March.

Ready to book your next holiday? Head this way to see the Travelzoo Top 20 - the definitive list of the week’s best travel & entertainment deals, all hand-picked and test-booked by our deal experts.