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00:01is there anything more satisfying and exciting than being on holiday well yes a bargain holiday
00:12of course getting champagne tastes for your beer budget but is that possible when even
00:20the average UK holiday costs more than 1200 quid for just five days from all-inclusive to
00:28long haul or short breaks i want the inside track on the best way to find a bargain to do
00:37that i've
00:37persuaded a crack squad of experts to spill their secrets insiders who've worked at the heart of the
00:44holiday industry at some of the biggest companies in the business i've spent more than 20 years
00:50working for different airlines such as british airways and klm i work for companies including
00:55thomas cook tui and easy jet holidays and the country's leading brands knock knock will take
01:02me behind closed doors this is where the magic happens from hotels and holiday operators to
01:09airlines travel agencies and even cruise lines they're sharing their travel industry tricks to
01:16holidaying better for less this time how to bag the perfect beach getaway we'll help you decide
01:28whether it's best to do it yourself or get a package give you the inside scoop on how to find
01:35new resorts
01:37there is always potential to grab a bargain when a new route is launched show you the social media
01:44traps to avoid when choosing your next destination using social media to be able to infiltrate
01:51people's phones it's an incredibly important marketing tool for them and tricks to watch out
01:57for when airport shopping we see even some airports more than half of what they earn can be from retail
02:04it's everything you need to bag a bargain break at the beach
02:17from the costa del sol to the greek islands so many of our most cherished holiday memories are on the
02:24beach
02:26beach and for many of us for a long time a beach break meant a package holiday flights transfers and
02:32hotels booked together with one company
02:37i'm thomas lynch i worked in the travel industry for over 20 years thomas cook created the first
02:42first package holiday on a train from leicester and over near almost 200 years ago now
02:49what had started as a train trip had become something else entirely with the advent of jet
02:55aviation by the 60s packages had become our way to get a week of sun sea and sand
03:03so i think us brits love a package holiday essentially we're an island so we need to fly to
03:07get everywhere so package holiday means everything's taken care of we know we're going to get our space
03:12in the sun and it'll include our flight for decades companies like horizon thompson cosmos
03:19global and air tours would whisk us away for a week and more often than not everyone in the hotel
03:26was on the same package a traditional package company it's it's planes are there to take customers
03:32on holiday and working at a traditional tour operator like thomas cook we had our own airline
03:36that was literally there just to serve the package customer but when the internet arrived
03:41everything changed in 2003 independent travel overtook package holidays for the first time
03:51suddenly we could browse hotels and compare prices online and low-cost no-frills airlines exploded onto
04:00the scene giving us cheap flights so who needed a package holiday when you could do it all yourself for
04:06less
04:08it's it's why booking holdings the parent company of booking.com priceline and others sold over a billion
04:16room nights in 2024 and three of the uk's four largest airlines are low-cost carriers
04:26but in the last few years something surprising has happened package holidays are back as low-cost airlines
04:34like easy jet expand from just selling plane tickets to selling the whole package so what's going on
04:42i'm john strickland i've spent more than 20 years working for different kinds of airlines and equally
04:48more than 20 years running my own consultancy business with decades working with airlines like
04:54ba and easy jet john knows exactly why they want to sell us more than just plane tickets
05:02we're seeing more airlines getting into offering package holidays it's because the margin on holidays
05:07can be quite substantial the way they can tie that in with a customer who's already booked a ticket
05:12it's a way in their terms of increasing the share of wallet we've got the passenger on the plane
05:17let's sell a bit more let's sell the whole holiday why should somebody else have that with airlines already
05:23flying people to their holiday destinations there's more profit to be made by selling those same
05:29passengers a whole holiday not just the plane ticket easy jet for example made around 73 pounds profit
05:37for a package holiday per person in 2023 compare that to an average of just eight pounds for a return
05:46flight it's no wonder airlines have switched into holidays in a big way two years ago
05:53jet two became the largest holiday operator in the uk so should you book your next beach holiday
06:01through an airline are these new package holidays good value
06:08the first thing to understand about this new type of package holiday is that they built off the airline's
06:14existing network of scheduled flights so easyjet holiday's ambition when it entered the market was to
06:21really build on the success of easyjet and one of the best things about being part of of an airline
06:27with so many routes was it allowed the customers to choose how long they wanted to go for they were
06:31no longer locked into seven or fourteen night breaks they could go away for three nights for two
06:35nights for 21 nights however long they wanted to go more flexibility with flight means you could fly out
06:43on i don't know a tuesday and come back on say a sunday whatever suits really it's a model lots
06:51of package
06:52holiday providers have followed as well as flexibility with flights low-cost airlines can use their
07:00buying power to book rooms flexibly too they've also changed their relationship with for example resorts and
07:06hotel room suppliers they don't have to make big commitments to capacity in advance they can only
07:12sell what they need to sell holidays and hotel rooms mean you've just got to have a digital tool
07:16and a tough negotiation with your supplier airlines don't book entire hotels exclusively like traditional
07:25operators but with tens of millions of airline seats flying from the uk every year they're in a good
07:32position to secure you a decent price without booking out an entire hotel this family of four holiday to
07:41crete for example was 3 336 pounds for four people as a package 580 pounds cheaper than if you'd booked
07:50the same elements independently or this trip to fuetaventura just over two and a half grand as a package
07:57one thousand pounds less than if you'd gone diy
08:04but if your hotel is packaged with a budget airline does that limit you to no frills accommodation options too
08:14to get to the bottom of this i'm dragging myself to portugal it's a tough gig
08:21this hotel is the very latest addition to the easyjet holidays portfolio on the algarve
08:28i want to find out how this hotel makes the cut
08:34hi fran hi nice to meet you i'm jasmine so good to meet you how are you fran taylor is
08:39going to share
08:39the secrets of how new operators compete with traditional package holiday providers when tempting
08:45us with accommodation so i manage our hotel portfolio and the all the hotels that we offer
08:53so my team hand pick all of our 8 000 hotels that we feature eight thousand eight thousand yeah we
09:00need
09:00to make sure that we have hotels available for all customer types and all budgets behind the scenes
09:06negotiating the best rates at hotels my team's job to make sure that we are promoting them in a way
09:12that meets their expectations we all have probably experienced seeing something online but then you
09:18arrive and it's either much better than it looked or could be worse than it looked yeah absolutely it's
09:23so important that we're inspiring customers to book through our content but it has to be accurate
09:28because we want people to trust us holiday companies want to make sure they get our return business
09:34so after doing a quick tour of her newest hotel with the manager so this is a standard
09:42twin room standard cv room cv room to make sure it's being advertised correctly fran is confident she
09:51can sell it as part of a package how was the tour that was great so 8001 hotels now
10:00yeah we keep going buying power means good rates on hotels but despite the low-cost airline that gets you
10:09there the hotels don't have to be no frills actually 75 of our customers book four and fast five-star
10:16hotels really yeah that's quite unexpected isn't it you know easy jets low-cost airline now i think
10:24that's a perception that some customers might have that we're a low-cost airline so we offer low-cost
10:29products but we offer products for all types of customers but you should also make sure you look at
10:35lots of options because what you're shown first when you search is based on your previous search
10:42history when you get a new hotel would you put them at the top of your list or does it
10:47depend on
10:48which hotels advertise with you how does it work it's all based our orders all based on personalization
10:55so in terms of when you're doing a search we used a personalized searched algorithm so based on your
11:00previous searches and what you've been filtering on you'll get a list of product that is tailored to
11:05your requirements we are providing customers with a list of product that we know is most suited for
11:11them which means they are more likely to go on and book like any holiday company package operators will
11:19work hard to persuade you to book their package but package holidays sold by airlines whether it's easy
11:26jet holidays jet 2 or british airways are definitely worth considering because there's one old-fashioned
11:35benefit to a package that hasn't changed there is the package travel regulations which is enshrined in law
11:41which give consumers added protection in the event of any component of that package not materializing how
11:48they expected it to if your holiday can't take place you will be able to get your money back and
11:55you will be able to do that for the all the parts of the package so that means there's this
12:00extra bit
12:00of reassurance if something goes wrong and you've got a package travel holiday it's the best level of
12:06protection you can get packages come with the convenience of getting someone else to do all the
12:13research for you as well as the consumer protections so if you're after value for money make sure you
12:20include package holidays in your research they won't always be cheaper sometimes there can be serious
12:27savings but aside from that crucial question you've got to decide where in the world you want to go
12:38coming up why the trendiest new resorts can be a bargain when we're introducing a new route it would
12:45come with a discount and how to sniff them out i think one of the best things you can do
12:51is look and see
12:52where low-cost airlines have announced new flights
13:02welcome back to bargain holiday secrets where insiders at the heart of the holiday industry
13:09spill the beans on how to get the best bargain holiday
13:15we've seen how low-cost airlines have transformed the package holiday but if you want a bargain beach
13:21break it pays to find the up and coming destinations bargains are often found at new resorts before
13:30everyone discovers them and prices go up so how do we make sure we find them early
13:38new resorts don't just emerge by accident to understand how many factors go into creating the next big
13:46thing it helps to go back to find out how existing resorts cracked it and where better than the og
13:55resort
13:57europeans and especially the english when they think of holidays many people think of benedorm benedorm
14:03might feel old hat now but there was a time when it was the hot new ticket and it's no
14:10accident it
14:11became a byword for the beach the finales del 19 ya tenÃamos establecimientos hoteleros but it's a
14:18partir de 1956 cuando decidimos volcarnos en la actividad y en la hospitalidad turÃstica
14:24lo hacemos con pedro zaragoza the local government under zaragoza wanted to get tourism going in the
14:33former fishing town so it's set about getting locals to build accommodation for tourists
14:40a plan general el primero de españa ya volcado en el turismo consumir poco territorio poco suelo
14:47y arañar algo de cielo they started visiting local homes and asking if they would be interested in
14:54maybe building a little a few more floors above their homes to start hosting tourists that's how we
15:01started uh in the travel industry here in benedorm the plan worked in the 1950s airlines noticed
15:10adventurous brits flying to perpignan in france and getting a nine hour bus journey to the south of
15:16spain it's an example of us uk folk being super canny with our cash but still getting the best beach
15:24break it's also an example of airlines developing new routes it's an approach they still use today
15:33my name is john grant and my career began working for some of europe's major airlines in their
15:40commercial and network planning departments i have probably contributed to 70 or 80 routes
15:48that are still operating today and if there are enough people traveling indirectly then an airline
15:55will look at that and think i believe i can operate a direct flight between these two destinations
16:00because that market is all flying in directly at the moment it was newly established airline routes
16:07to a nearby airport that finally allowed benedorm to bloom the airlines and the local efforts combined
16:15to startling effect and benedorm is now the second most densely packed area in the world after new york
16:23there has to be growth in the infrastructure as well it's hotels it's restaurants it's taxi drivers
16:31so airlines will look at that and they'll see where they think there are opportunities
16:38and that means an opportunity for us bargain hunters too
16:41if we can identify the next benedorm when it still needs to make itself competitive enough
16:48to persuade us to go there to do that keep your eyes on the airlines
16:55i think one of the best things you can do is look and see where low-cost airlines have announced
17:00new
17:00flights perhaps to somewhere you've never heard of if you see something new from a reputable airline that
17:06you would trust it's worth digging deeper i think what airlines are great at they're great at looking
17:11at their portfolio of destinations and really thinking about what's the next destination what's
17:16the next big thing so it really gives consumers a you know the ability to be able to think about
17:20what are those alternative destinations that maybe aren't the typical ones that i've been thinking
17:24about that i could now venture into and it is worth getting in on new routes early there is always
17:31potential
17:32to grab a bargain when a new route is launched to find out why i've come to meet the uk
17:39managing
17:39director of an airline that's added 156 new routes across europe in the last three years
17:47usually when we're introducing a new route it would come with a discount again to stimulate the route
17:54and to make people excited about the new destination and they use data to make sure they're opening routes
18:03where there is at least some demand we would use a number of different data sources so for example it
18:11could be google searches sky scanner searches or even working with local embassies as well another thing
18:20airlines do which we can copy too is use the socials we do see a lot of trends at the
18:26moment for
18:27example this off the beaten track trend we see a lot of activity in montenegro or bosnia and herzgovina
18:35and again because these destinations are much cheaper so you can pay you know two pounds for a beer
18:41instead of seven before large numbers of tourists arrive the local prices tend to be cheaper
18:47but use websites like numbio the post office or wise to check local costs before you go
18:55and there's another recommendation from yvonne there are a number of beach destinations in albania
19:01as well that have now become sort of a off the beaten track type of travel trend because it has
19:07very
19:07white sandy beaches crystal clear blue waters very good climate it's really cheap and very affordable
19:15tourist trips to albania have tripled from 4 million visitors in 2015 to 12 million in 2024
19:25one of the reasons flights to new routes can be cheaper is that the destination airports offer
19:31discounts to the airlines we are cost driven so we want to get the best deal when we're opening a
19:37new
19:38route so we work with the the airport for you know lowering the cost of of the charge
19:44the fees airports charge airlines to take off and land can be passed on to passengers so cheaper fees
19:52can mean low affairs and it isn't just canny whiz getting good deals when looking at a new destination
19:58it's quite often driven by local tourist boards and subsidies and airports to get people to try a new
20:05route once you get people going there that's when it become can become the new hot spot a new airline
20:10enters a route then an airport will discount their landing fees it's quite common for that to be a 75
20:18discount in the first year 50 in the second and then 25 in the third it might help explain why
20:25whiz
20:26and ryanair opened new routes to albania whether or not we get all those discounts passed on to us
20:33probably depends on how popular the route is so best to get in early airlines announce new routes
20:43anything up to nine months ten months in advance they'll use traditional marketing and social media
20:49channels to announce those routes they'll reach out to their databases of regular travelers
21:01so to find the next big thing before anyone else does watch the airlines like a hawk
21:08and if a destination feels too unfamiliar check what gets written about it
21:15which for example said albania was europe's breakout star for 2024 and bulgaria with its black sea coastline
21:24has been described as europe's most underrated destination
21:29once you've found the perfect destination with sandy beaches and crystal clear blue seas
21:35now you've just got to book it but whether it's a new resort or an old classic
21:41you're likely to find so many different sites vying for our attention
21:46and sometimes in your excitement your adrenaline gets pumping last room left i can already feel my
21:55heart rate rising but are these warnings all they seem
22:06someone not scared to dish the dirt is behavioral psychologist kate nightingale she's got a rather
22:13delicious demo to show me how it works i've got a task for you so i'm going to give you
22:18five seconds
22:19to choose a single chocolate out of either of these boxes now this box obviously has been very popular
22:27with the crew over here i'm ready go on i think i'll go for this one okay can i eat
22:36it yes you can
22:37this is actually what most of the people will do they will choose a chocolate from that box what we
22:43have done is we have added a certain urgency and scarcity because there are fewer of those
22:49the fear of missing out makes you think let me get one of those before all this greedy crew around
22:56exactly you don't want them to eat all that amazing chocolate you want to eat it yourself now
23:02the potential of missing out on that delicious chocolate is causing me pain it sort of feels
23:10like it goes back to survival instincts if you get in there first you're gonna you're gonna win out
23:16which is precisely why it works and why it has always worked it doesn't just apply to your chocs
23:23it's the same tactic marketeers use to get you to buy your beach holiday
23:29the same thing as missing out on a discount or there's only two seats left at that price or
23:35whatever else those are the same principles right if we look at the plane tickets right
23:41yeah you've got one seat left at this price so you need to book it straight away otherwise you're not
23:49going to get that price booking sites might say there are only small quantities of seats or rooms
23:57left but watch out because if that includes at this price it's not necessarily the last room at all
24:05and sometimes the last room on our site no mention of course of other sites
24:16so booking a hotel room for your holidays where do you see it over here it's the last one at
24:22this price
24:23yeah and also you've got hurry up one room type is already sold out for your dates that is making
24:29you want to book it really quickly because um yeah otherwise you'll miss out yeah now notice that they
24:35also in color red red is also associated with danger so it actually just really pops out at you
24:40doesn't it so that's the first thing you notice yeah and then the things in green that's
24:45free cancellation no payment today it's almost like no reassurance yeah it's reassurance there's no
24:51risk to it very clever very clever while legislation in the uk means that companies can't lie when
24:59companies point out how limited the current rooms are at this price they aren't forced by law to tell
25:06you what the next available price will be and it might not be that different we looked at 12 hotels
25:14advertised as having only one room left at this price on one major booking site three days later
25:21half were no more expensive at all and three more had barely increased in price
25:29so what are the best ways then to not be sucked in by all these tactics and to get the
25:36best deal
25:37remember when your granny told you to sleep on it yeah but it actually works so stepping back from a
25:44decision especially one that is so emotional makes it easier for your brain to assess the information on
25:53more subconscious level so if you're thinking of buying a holiday remember these classic old sales
25:59tactics don't be pressurized if that room or flight goes there could well be others and if it's a hotel
26:07room if you're really still worried about missing out look for ones with free cancellation and come back
26:14the next day and check you still feel comfortable with your decision
26:21coming up the traps to avoid when using your socials to inspire your holiday shopping something
26:28like 25 of new business that comes through travel ages actually has is coming through social media
26:35channels and the airbnb alternative that could save you a fortune it's definitely my favorite ever holiday
26:43i think we've done
26:51welcome back to bargain holiday secrets the insider guide to saving money on your next beach break in the sun
27:00wherever you're choosing to go for your holidays the chances are you're getting help from a little device in your
27:06pocket
27:08when we're sat at home dreaming about the next beach getaway it's hardly surprising we turn to our phones
27:17tick tock instagram all the socials are chock-a-block full of holiday inspiration it just draws you in
27:29in fact according to a recent study 75 of us do this very thing and who can blame us it
27:39looks authentic
27:40it looks stunning scrolling through this stuff makes me so ready to book so the shift we've seen with social
27:50media is like a democratization of voices where suddenly there are all these kinds of travel tips
27:56the different kind of holidays yeah like much more authenticity rather than just the same old same
28:02old thing being chilled out every year people are just swiping through their phone and they'll see you
28:07know beautiful beautifully filmed destinations and you know start thinking about going there
28:15it's all great fun when you're in the mood for some holiday inspiration but we all know that behind the
28:22scenes social media is big business so what do you need to know about holiday inspo
28:32i'm ollie hills and i'm the ceo of a tick tock agency called nonsensical we've delivered over 500
28:38million video views on the platform with content that we've created ollie understands the influence
28:44of influencers only too well i mean just in the last seven days hidden gems in rome has been searched
28:50399 000 times just shows the power that tick tock has and it's not just inspiration people who
28:59actually use tick tock as a search engine or discover things to do and actually book holidays
29:04as a result of seeing content on tick tock will spend just under 1400 pounds tick tock claim that's 400
29:11pounds more than those who don't book as a result of social media spending like that doesn't go unnoticed by
29:18the travel industry what started off as ordinary travelers sharing their experiences with friends
29:25turned into individual influencers making a living from it and now the industry sees it as a powerful
29:33marketing tool brands do work with influencers because i think you know an influencer could change
29:40something overnight for a brand you know if an influencer posts something and it goes viral
29:45it could be the difference of where's hot this year to where's not and i think brands are aware of
29:50that and it's not just brands i'm julia labue saeed i'm the ceo of the advantage travel partnership
29:57advantage is a network of travel agents we have 750 locations across the uk all independent so travel
30:05agents have always influenced the way people buy holidays you know they are influence influences whether
30:11they're in their bricks and mortar shop or whether they're online but a lot of our agents have started
30:16off online you know that's how they start their business they start working in that kind of influencer
30:21environment phenomenal number of our members are operated on social media and you wouldn't even
30:27think about them as travel agents brands are online travel agents are online and lots of marketing
30:35happens on those socials and marketing campaigns are built on the back of social media something like
30:4125 percent of new business that comes through travel agents actually has is coming through social media
30:48channels and so for travel agents you know using social media to really bring those holidays alive be
30:54able to infiltrate people's phones you know their laptops with these incredible offers and incredible
31:00destinations and it's an incredibly important marketing tool for them from agents to operators
31:06marketing on the socials is huge from sponsored posts to strategically placed ads to brand partnerships
31:14influencers can be paid from hundreds to tens of thousands of pounds for a single post
31:20and those with particularly devoted followers are the most successful
31:27people whilst the travel industry and social media are a match made in heaven from the business's
31:33perspective it isn't just promotional materials that we're looking at online but wherever you're
31:39looking social media does sometimes have its downsides we're having a real crisis of expectation
31:47versus reality at the moment and i do think it is because of social media sometimes what you see online
31:55might be different to what you get when you arrive perfect example of this is somewhere like
31:59santorini beautiful island it's absolutely stunning however you get there there are thousands of
32:05people there and it is kind of shocking a lot of these videos are being filmed in destinations that are
32:11already quite busy but if you're a professional influencer you're going to be getting up at 6am and taking your
32:18videos when there's no one else about in fact there's a whole meme humorously poking fun at the phenomenon
32:29tiktok users are never afraid to call you out i mean look at the hashtag expectation versus reality if
32:35you're creating content showing an experience or a beach or something that it's really not like that you
32:41can really get called out but viral moments have a life of their own i mean is there anything more
32:50instantly recognizable in the travel world than jess glenn's ubiquitous sun-kissed tones begging you to
32:57hold my hand nothing beats a jet to holiday complete with that super charged and super cheery advertising
33:07voice that's 200 pounds off for a family of four and it went from a normal ad to a viral
33:13marketing
33:14dream a random creator started to use one of their previous tv ads as a bit of audio behind a
33:21piece of
33:21content that they created and all of a sudden from nowhere this song just went absolutely viral on
33:26tiktok with so many other creators using the song for them to create their own content nothing beats a
33:34jet 2 holiday and 1.4 million videos were posted using this sound gleefully lip-syncing to the catchy
33:41voiceover in a free marketing trend jet 2 could only have dreamt about of course anything viral is a
33:50double-edged sword whilst jet 2 jumped on the bandwagon sharing their own videos it soon became used
33:58fairly sarcastically to show decidedly unappealing situations it's a jet 2 holiday and right now you
34:07can say but it hasn't done them any harm their tagline had over 80 billion views and they had 750
34:15000 more passengers in a six-month period so between the marketing and the memes how should we get the
34:23best out of social media for one thing make sure you know when you're being sold to in the uk
34:30if you
34:31are being paid by a destination to advertise it you are legally obliged to include for example the word
34:38ad or something to indicate that it is being paid for the the only problem is that a lot of
34:45influencers don't make it very obvious they might only include the single hashtag ad as opposed to
34:51putting something actually in the reel so i would just say instead of just watching the video also check
34:56the captions and just make sure it hasn't been paid for and to be extra safe i've got some other
35:01suggestions you can look for paid partnership tags like this one on instagram or this one on tick tock
35:11or look for signs of a collab in the post like this and look for comments by brands or affiliate
35:18links
35:19these are both signs that the content might have been paid for all these are legal practices of course but
35:26it's important to know whether you're viewing pure enthusiasm or excitement for profit
35:35coming up before you even get to the beach how to save money at the airport we see even some
35:42airports
35:42more than half of what they earn can be from retail from parking cars and the secret to free
35:50accommodation at the beach so once you've got there whether you stay for one week or 10 weeks
35:56it doesn't cost you anymore welcome back to bargain holiday secrets and our guide to great deals on
36:08your next beach break before we even get to our sun sea and sand holiday we're likely traveling through an
36:16airport where we're faced with a cash grab of costly coffees and big budget breakfasts but oh also a last
36:27minute sarong a bikini sunnies anything to get us in the mood so what are the secrets to avoid spending
36:37your holiday cash before you've even hitting your holiday cash before you've even hit the beach
36:46airports are constantly evolving my name is henrik rothe my background is architecture and i've
36:52specialized in airport design henrik has seen it for himself over the years in the past retail was
37:01a kind of an add-on and if you design passenger terminals today they are very much designed around
37:08the retail so that's why you could say an airport is kind of becoming a shopping mall with with boarding
37:16gates attached the way how passengers are guided through an airport is very important specialist
37:23architects who understand the psychology of the passenger and the requirement of the airport
37:30retail it's a principle of retail concepts which have been applied for instance in ikea
37:37it's why at many airports you're led along a winding path through duty-free as soon as the horror of
37:44security is over it's all because of the way airports do business we might not pay to use them but
37:54they
37:54do need to make money somehow in the past airports made their money out of the charges they levered on
38:00airlines for landing planes for handling customers but increasingly that's not the case
38:07the competitive nature of the low-cost market has meant that
38:12airlines have a choice about where they fly from and to and as a result of that they put pressure
38:17on the airports over time the non-aeronautical fees and the revenues that we drive an airport
38:23will drive from those sources as in is increasing so the aeronautical fees tend to be coming down
38:30as airlines pay less aeronautical fees to the airports passengers need to pick up the tab with
38:37non-aeronautical charges we see even some airports more than half of what they earn can be from retail
38:44from parking cars from rent-a-car concession fees and so on airlines know that they have a bit of
38:51leverage there in terms of producing high volumes of passengers so they look to airports to offer
38:56discounts on their fees so all those shops and restaurants at airports are actually subsidizing your
39:04flight when i go for an airport and i look at what i call the yellow brick road through duty
39:08three i
39:09try to cut the corners and get past because i just want to get to my gate as quickly as
39:13possible they're
39:13not going to get any more out of me for the duty three but if you do want to spend
39:19where are the deals
39:20there's really only one answer duty free take this litre of vodka it's close to half the super market
39:29price and this bottle of gin over 15 pounds cheaper but don't get too carried away while spirits are
39:39typically good value that doesn't apply to all of the duty free at all we also looked at some fragrances
39:46and here you do have to be careful a bottle of yves saint laurent perfume was 126 pounds 85 at
39:53duty free
39:53but eight pounds cheaper on amazon and mark jacobs daisy was 59 pounds 20 at duty free but 10 pounds
40:02cheaper at savers on the high street biscuits and chocolates on the other hand no real saving at all
40:10and shopping to avoid last minute toiletries they're often much more expensive at the airport than on the
40:18high street so the advice is simple check online to see if what you want is a good deal and
40:26if you
40:26can avoid spending at the airport you can know that everyone else is making your flight ticket that little
40:32bit cheaper we love a beach holiday but however savvy we are it's a big expense the average cost of
40:48a
40:48holiday for a family of four is more than three and a half grand it's hardly surprising that lots of
40:56us
40:57will try to save on accommodation costs and that often means using sites like airbnb or vrbo a place
41:04for the whole family to stay which might be much cheaper than staying in a hotel so what do we
41:11need
41:11to know to get the best deals with self-catering as with so many things in the travel industry websites
41:19and apps turned everything on its head meaning the possibilities to rent whole homes have exploded
41:26airbnb revenue for example has grown three times bigger from 2020 to 2024 but there's a fly in the
41:35ointment lots of areas are clamping down on airbnb and other short-term holiday lets because of concerns
41:42about their impact on local housing costs so those options might be quite hard to come by in your ideal
41:49beach destination but what if i told you there's an alternative way to get self-catering
41:55accommodation at the beach for almost no cost at all hello we're the male family i'm becky i'm
42:04casper i'm poppy and i'm christian and we're doing a house swap to spain so it's the morning of our
42:10house swap we are up early and that means getting the house ready it's called home exchange and this
42:17year the male family are going to a spanish beachside village near mercia so how does it work
42:24it is possible to save thousands of pounds per holiday all you need to do is pay for your travel
42:29to that location joy of a home exchange is once you've got there whether you stay for one week
42:34or 10 weeks it doesn't cost you anymore so it's just the cost of your travel travel your house in
42:39the uk doesn't have to be massive or in a swanky location to attract a nice beachside swap i have
42:46lots of members with quite modest homes people use the home as a base so when you go on holiday
42:51it's
42:51not for the house it's for the location so it's not just about going to london or edinburgh there's
42:55lots of beautiful places in the uk that are much less well known but just as appealing as you know
43:00what might seem normal or mundane to us yes might actually be amazing unusual yes to the airport we
43:08go so it's worth investigating a home swap for a low-cost beach holiday
43:21that's the pool that comes with the apartment and then there's the sea and sometimes you can borrow
43:28more than just the house so we're borrowing a little beach trolley and beach chair and we're off
43:35out to explore a new beach today and crucially because no money is changing hands home swapping
43:41is often outside the legislation that restricts short-term lets so you might not be able to airbnb
43:48but home swapping could still be an option
43:54and another local's recommendation was this beach tucked away this is about five minutes from where
44:01we're staying some avid home swappers claim to have saved up to 70 grand across their lifetime
44:10this is definitely my favorite ever holiday i think we've done poppies there snorkelling
44:19you need to make sure your insurance covers you for home swapping and check whether your travel
44:24insurance covers the cost if your host cancels at the last minute if you're thinking of a house swap
44:33or a bit curious definitely look into it we've had some of our best ever holidays house swapping
44:39we've gone all around world and i think it's fantastic
44:47so what do we need to do to get in on the home swapping action first things first go online
44:54the
44:54good news is that there are loads of websites that can help facilitate this i mean that you can have
44:59a
44:59look around you know look at the photos of the place that you're hopefully going to swap your house for
45:03and even better news is that you don't always have to do a simultaneous swap so you don't have to
45:10swap
45:10at the exact time as somebody else big home swapping sites include home exchange love home swap and home
45:17link and some even offer more flexibility than you might expect some sites allow you more than just a
45:25direct swap with one other family and although there are a few more hoops to jump through like cleaning your
45:31house the savings can be massive a holiday at the beach and you only pay for the flight it's got
45:40to be worth a look
45:48whether you're getting your accommodation for nothing or going the more traditional package holiday
45:54route for your next beach getaway it's going to be a whole lot more fun in the sun knowing you
46:00snagged a bargain
46:04so
46:24you
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