| There's no shortage of websites offering last minute | | | | can't attract any customers because they're truly dire. |
| travel deals. The idea behind these deals is that if a | | | | The flights on offer are often in the middle of the night, |
| hotel is going to have a room empty or a flight is going | | | | at times when it's very difficult to even get to the |
| to have an empty seat, it's better for them to offer it | | | | airport without a car because the public transport links |
| to you at the last minute for a steep discount than it is | | | | are closed. There are all sorts of gotchas waiting with |
| to just let that spare capacity go to waste. | | | | cheap last minute travel. |
| The big contradiction of last minute travel, however, is | | | | But it is cheap, and, as ever, that makes up for all sorts |
| that while the places with a lot of spare capacity get | | | | of sins. If you're willing to be flexible about when you fly |
| cheaper, the places with very little get much more | | | | and where you go, you can still get some very good |
| expensive. Booking Christmas flights at the last minute, | | | | deals - you'll probably end up with the all-round budget |
| for example, will never get you a good deal, simply | | | | experience, but what do you expect? To avoid the |
| because so many people want those flights. Instead, | | | | very worst holidays, though, you should at least take |
| you will probably end up paying much more than you | | | | the time to look up a review of the hotel you're going |
| would have if you had booked early. | | | | to stay in before you commit to booking it, no matter |
| As last minute travel deals are for the least in-demand | | | | how good the deal seems, to make sure that you're |
| places, you can end up with places that no-one | | | | not getting yourself into anything truly terrible. |
| wanted for a reason. Some of the hotels on offer | | | | |