Never found anything jaw dropping on Groupon
You don't think LAX to Beijing with 8 nights at a hotel + all that other stuff for $700 is jaw dropping? I cant even find a flight alone for that price...
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If you go to Groupon you can find deals for incredibly cheap travel packages. The one i'm eyeing is a 8 night stay in Beijing, with roundtrip flight from the US, hotel, train tickets, sight-seeing etc all included...for $699 (depending on what city you fly from and time of year). Another one is a 7 night stay in Costa Rica for $600, same story.
How can something like be remotely possible? What is the catch?
Never found anything jaw dropping on Groupon
You don't think LAX to Beijing with 8 nights at a hotel + all that other stuff for $700 is jaw dropping? I cant even find a flight alone for that price...
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For travel deals I’m not so sure. Never done it for that but for things like bowling, paintball , mini golf and other activities. It can be quite useful.
From what I read that’s economy. With multiple layovers at seedy hotels.
Exactly. And likely no choices to change anything, and lots of add-ons. Read everything carefully!
Yes generally the catch is the flight. Any time I've gone through the booking steps on those things the flights are wildly inconvenient. But if I were solo/younger I would not care
I looked up the Beijing Groupon, and as usual, you have to read the fine print:
There might be more gotchas, but those are the ones I saw right away. Assuming you're able to fly from LAX and find dates at the cheapest possible price, you're looking at a minimum spend of $1,600 for airfare, hotels, the train ride, and a few (but not all) tours, but you call the travel agency first to find out whether the available dates will work for you.
If you're really interested, I wouldn't assume that this Groupon offers the best value. I'd do some more research to see what other travel agencies are offering. My guess is that you'll find many similar offers at or around this price.
I traveled to China using a Groupon in 2019. They make their money by taking tourists to sales pitches disguised as tours. Today we are going to tour a green tea farm, or a jade factory, or a silk factory, or a pearl farm, and then you'll sit through an aggressive sales pitch after every single one. Don't forget that 2 checked bags are included in your ticket, so you have plenty of space to take home the thousands of dollars in silk sheets we sold to you! For real though, besides the hidden extra fees another commenter mentioned, I have no regrets. Just be aware.
My mom did a very similar tour 20 years ago, it was like $1200 for 12 days including airfare from her Midwestern city. It was TONS of shopping. She barely bought anything but talked about going to a tea place where the teapots were hundreds of dollars. And most of the tour group bought them. She managed to find a local market one night and shopped there despite the tour guide saying how dirty and unsafe going out alone was.
Omg yeah I did this as a kid in ~2010ish through a local business group. Honestly I still had fun though and I still have my silk sheet. Also they didnt enforce any kind of drinking age so 14 year old me got to drink beer a few times. And I finally learned to use chopsticks because there was no forks available.
I did this in 2017! The tea farm was amazing, best tea I ever had, I still wear my jade bangle. The Great Wall was included as was the forbidden city and a few other really neat historical places. Plus all of our breakfasts and lunches were covered. We also went out on our own a lot and found a beautiful garden/park, amazing food in Shanghai and a friend traveled down and took us out in Beijing. My friend and I both went and we did our own passports which was better anyways. The only thing I didn’t like is that they split us up on the way home. I ended up at LAX at 9 am and she was there at 8pm. Ended up costing $1200 with the excursions that we picked. She went back in 2019 with her auntie and bright me back some more tea. I really regret not picking up the silk bedding though. The Groupon works because it was discounted pricing for 2. Not really worth it if you’re a solo traveler.
That’s every group trip I’ve ever been on though. You get a somewhat cool experience and then the rest of the time is for shopping. That was everywhere in Morocco and Egypt.
What are they selling? I might not mind buying something jade, or some tea.
I actually used Groupon to fly to Rome in 2019. The price of round trip flights, 7 nights of hotels, a car rental etc was about 1300 a person and the hotels were not seedy. We did a road trip down the amalfi coast. One of the resorts was a tiny boutique health spa, one was in central Rome and had a valet, they weren't 5 star by any means but they were nice little places and the experience was incredible. I wasn't sold anything, or marketed to, I picked up my car and was on my own with my partner. I did book a lot of historical tours but I would have done that anyway and I got to splurge on restraunts and experiences because my flights and hotels were so cheap. I don't think we had a layover. It all depends on which deal you pick so definitely read the fine print, but if you listen to everyone on the internet who tells you not to do something I think you may lose out on some adventures. I am actively looking at Groupons for travel again. You can call and speak to a person when redeeming your voucher and everyone I've spoken to was pretty helpful. I called recently about a Portugal trip and we discussed dupgrading one of the hotels, extending the days a little bit, etc. They're run by travel agents, it's a lot less sketchy than some of these people are trying to make it out to be. I would go for it. Have an adventure. It's less money than some people spend on dinner and drinks in the city and, at the worst, you'll get a good story out of it.
I did something like this on Groupon, was stoked. The hotel was literally under construction. Not renovation. It was still being built. No pools, no outdoor amenities (it was in the Caribbean, so no pool?) as they were just dirt holes. The area was somewhat removed from the tourist area, needing irregular shuttles. It was also a less popular area than their main area. No, will not do it again.
in 2014 i went to a resort in mexico w an ex via groupon! 1. we def had to listen to a timeshare pitch. 2. it was hurricane ssn and the rain behaved as such. i think we got 2/5 days with sunshine?? i was waiting for the other shoe to drop bc of how good the deal was, and sure enough it did.
I did the Groupon China trip about 10 years ago. It was $800 per person and included flights from Portland, OR. I went with my sisters and we just vooked our own private guide for when we got there, for cheaper than the add-on fees to do all the group sight-seeing. Used the flights and hotels and said no thanks to everything else.
Many years ago, a coworker and her sister went to Machu Picchu for ten days through a Groupon deal. Debbie is very particular and did not like traveling, but, she felt the price for the package was too good to pass up. In the end, she and her sister had a good time going to Machu Picchu and participating in a bunch of add on activities like learning to make chocolate. She liked that trip so much that she and her sister booked several more packages through Groupon just because she didn't want the stress of having to plan it all. She now travels a lot more, is more confident and now does all the planning herself. It took the Groupon trips to get her out of her shell, I suppose. No, I do not work for Groupon.
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Yes, got a really nice trip to Jamaica for a great price. Read the fine print before purchasing.
I did a groupon to Playa del Carmen about 15 years ago that was fabulous. I still stay at the boutique hotel a few times a year, here now actually. I also use Sky Auction.
Read between the fine prints there's always something hidden as mentioned by everyone here
Probably hit or miss but might be worth the chance. I did 7 days in Puerto Rico with a friend for \~$700 each (including airfare) and it was GREAT! The hotel wasn’t fancy. More of a local lodging hotel but we spend a lot of time exploring and doing things so I don’t really care about that. You do have to check the price for the city you’re leaving from. Most Groupons rates are for double occupancy (2 people) priced per person.
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the catch is how the price is qouted. those travel packages are usually priced per person double occupancy and the flight portion is priced from one specific airport on the cheapest possible dates. read the fine print on service fees and which tours are optional add ons. id price out the flight and hotel separately first as a baseline and book those through shopback so you could get a little cashback