To book early or last minute?

When it comes to saving money on summer travel, the old dilemma of saving money by booking early or saving money by booking last minute crops up. Expedia’s product marketing manager Jonathan Cudworth says, “If you have your heart set on, or are restricted to, a particular destination or a specific time you may have problems, which is why the very young and the old who can fly whenever they want tend to be attracted by late deals.”

If you are flexible, Thomas Cook Travel currently has some alluring bargains in its ‘Great Late Escape’ category of destinations. Some deals offer resort getaways for as little as £149 a head, and extras like discounted car hire and commission-free currency exchange.

Even Channel crossings are offering discounts, as Steve Tuckwell, a spokesman for Brittany Ferries explains, “We’ve lowered our prices on the less popular sailings dramatically. The average cost of a fare is the same, but we are trying to compete with other short sea-crossing fares, which have also fallen dramatically in recent years.”

www.expedia.com