BRITS have found a new way to book holidays to find hidden gems and free things to do.
Holiday hunters have for years relied on brochures, travel books and the internet for advice on where to go on holiday.
But now a new generation appear to have embraced a cutting edge social media platform to book holidays.
Gilleesa Gillen, 24, a social media manager, said: “I think of TikTok as my travel best friend.
“It’s so good for finding recommendations for places to have lunch,
dinner, brunch, breakfast, drinks, events happening that maybe when you Google a place they’re just showing you sponsored ads.”
Gilleesa said that TikTok helped tourists find underground spots not widely advertised.
She said: “I was staying with my friend who lives in Paris and I found this speakeasy bar on TikTok and I took her there.
“She couldn’t believe she’d been walking past this bar for so long because it looks like a grocery shop from the outside.
“She’s been taking her husband and friends there ever since.”
Gillen recommended TikTok to people who had not used the platform before. She offered advice to first timers on what words to search for.
She said: “I’ll combine the place name with something like ‘travel’ or ‘itinerary’ and then things that I want to do.
“If I want to see if there’s any thrift shops or flea markets, I could
put something like ‘New York thrift shops’ and see what comes up.
“Or if I want to discover the countryside in Turkey, I’d put ‘Turkey countryside itinerary’.”
Stuart Flint, Head of Global Business Solutions for Europe at TikTok, confirmed that the platform was being used as a search engine for travel content.
He said: “71 per cent of European TikTok users intentionally search for travel content on TikTok, and 77 per cent of users are inspired to visit a destination, or even purchase a travel-related product, after discovering it on TikTok.”
Gillen also said that TikTok was an option for budget aware travellers. She explained that users can search for a place name with ‘free things to do’.
A travel expert recently revealed some tips to customers getting a good deal on hotels.
Jane Knight, 55, is a travel writer and the editor of the Good Hotel Guide.
She stays in dozens of hotels a year as part of her job and often checks out new openings before anyone else.
Speaking to Sun Online Travel, she said: “My top tip for getting a great hotel deal is to book a Sunday night stay.
“During off-peak months in particular, these can be up to half the price of a Saturday night, often with extras such as a free meal or a spa treatment thrown in.”
Jane Pendlebury, CEO of The Hospitality Professionals Association (HOSPA), spoke to Sun Online Travel about how to find a bargain or get a free upgrade when wanting to book a hotel stay.
She explained: “Families should look where they want to go and just call the hotel – they may have great offers which they can’t make public but can offer you.”
“You won’t find many big names putting deals out there in the public space as they don’t want to damage their brand or get their rates back to normal, but if you call them you can always get something even better.”
TV travel expert Peter Greenberg agreed, telling Forbes: “Only 52 per cent of all the available inventory is online – it is only there as the travel providers want to make it available.
“Pick up the phone, have that conversation […] what you’re seeing your screen is not what they’re seeing on their screen.”
A Which? study in 2020 found that eight out of 10 rooms were cheaper if you went straight to the hotel website.
When getting in touch with hotels directly to book a room, some even offered free upgrades or breakfast as an inventive, as well as discounts on spa treatments.
That’s because they have to pay between ten and 30 per cent commission to booking sites for every reservation that comes through them – a big chunk of their income.
However, if you book with the hotel direct, all of the payment goes to them.
This means they are far more likely to be generous with upgrades, WiFi and all of the other add-ons.
