A mystery travel deal is a great way to discover new places, try new and slightly different accommodations or flights, meet new people, and in the end enjoy yourself and have fun. Mystery travel deals as you can guess are exactly what they sound like – an unknown destination, flight, or hotel that you can book at a discounted price without knowing where you’re going or staying or what you’ll be doing when you get there. Though there are always some ways, hacks, or tricks how to reveal some secrets before booking your voyage.
The best part about these trips, tours, or vacations is that they offer all of the excitement of an exotic vacation, but you don’t need to worry about planning every single detail in advance. If there’s one thing to know about travelers, it is the shared love and interest in unexpected surprises and wonders!
Advantages of Mystery Travel Deals
- Flexibility: In case you don’t have enough time to plan a vacation, read nearly every single article about your desired destination, or watch all available videos about it, mystery travel deals can save you a lot of time researching. The only thing you should take into account is to stay open to possibilities and willing to test different routes and not rely on certainty. And it doesn’t matter if you book months in advance or decide to take the last-minute deal, you should end up getting a good deal since the majority of mystery deals, especially mystery hotel deals are great options.
- Affordability: Mystery travel deals tend to be less expensive than other types of vacation packages. They focus more on exchanging lower prices for your ability to take risks. On the other hand, mystery travel packages don’t have to come with a precisely planned itinerary of must-sees, visits, and activities.
- Surprise element: The best part about mystery travel deals is probably how much fun they can be! They give you an opportunity to explore new places without any expectations whatsoever – and can turn into a refreshing change from your usual daily routine full of automatic behavior patterns where we know exactly what we’re doing each day that we don’t even pay any attention to.
How to Find the Best Mystery Travel Deals
– Do your research online
– If you don’t have time for that, use a travel agent, they might have access to additional offers you might not be able to find online
– Subscribe to newsletters, follow the companies that you like on social media, and pay attention to every update.
Some might last only for a few hours.
Where to Find Mystery Deals
If you’re looking for a mystery flight deal, tour, or vacation package, the first place to start is online. Booking websites like Travelonline, Priceline or HotWire are great resources for finding interesting deals that may suit your needs. You can also check out travel agencies like Pack Up and go, Magical Mystery Tours, Surprise Me Trips, or sites like Wowcher – UK based site with a variety of deals and many other categories besides travel like Spa Days, Electronics, Fashion, or Gifts.
If you’re looking for a specific deal, a great way is to sign up for a newsletter and get the information delivered to your inbox: Companies tend to send out emails with special promotions that aren’t available elsewhere, or only for one specific customer, although usually at the beginning they offer special discount for just signing in.
Types of Surprise Trips
There are many different types of surprise trips, and each one has its own unique appeal or can be more or less suitable for certain occasions like Weddings, bachelor party trips, etc.
- Adventure trips: These adventures can take place anywhere from the mountains to the ocean. The main purpose is to go out and experience the world, nature, food, architecture, art, or anything new. Whether it’s a hike up Mount Kilimanjaro or scuba diving in Thailand, these may end up being unforgettable experiences that will stick with you forever.
- Romantic getaways: Surprise your partner with an unforgettable trip that will make them think of only you – and no one else! Whether it’s Paris, Rome, Florance, Venice, Vienna, Istanbul, or Koyto. These romantic getaways will leave both of your hearts full as well as your minds blown away. Explore how beautiful all these splendiferous locations look in person compared to stock photos online.
- City breaks: These shorter trips are great if you don’t have enough free vacation days left and want something short for the weekend but still exciting enough and you would prefer to go further than staying around the place you live or just traveling for the excitement only to a nearby state.
Safety Tips for Surprise Trips
Before you embark on your surprise trip, there are some safety tips you should keep in mind. First and foremost: research the destination. Even if you don’t know where you are exactly going, it’s important to know what kind of climate you’ll be traveling to and how safe it is. You should also purchase travel insurance (and read all of the fine print or just watch the news to stay well informed) so that if anything goes wrong during your trip, there will be someone you can rely on who can help get things back on track.
Secondly, make sure that you register with your embassy or consulate before leaving home – you never know when something might go wrong!
Popular Hotel mystery deals websites
Hotwire and Priceline are two best-known websites that offer mystery deals for hotels where you find out the name of the hotel after you make a booking.
The only thing you need to do is search for your desired holiday destination and filter those secret deals. For Hotwire there is a Hot Rate Hotel category where on top you can find Hot Rate Deals of the Day, followed by lower discount deals. For Priceline, secret deals are listed as Express Deals. You can get additional discounts and save even more money when you book through the app.
Hotel deals come with descriptions, amenities, and pictures. The good thing is you can find out the hotel’s name if you do some online research. You can try searching by image, or go on other travel websites like Expedia and compare the amenities, pictures, and reviews. Or if you are using Chrome you can download Chrome extension called Travel Arrow. This extension can be the all-in-one travel assistant that can help you get the best vacation deals nearly anytime and anywhere. It will reveal all the secret and hidden deals and discounts and help you save a lot of money. It applies not only to hotels and flights but also experiences.
One of the reasons why there are available hidden deals is the fact that some hotels prefer to have booked as many rooms as possible, even if it is for a lower price but they prefer not to make it public and upset customers who have already paid full price. In some cases, the price might reflect unpleasant conditions like ongoing construction works around the hotel, or part of it where the discounted room is offered.
Pros & Cons
- lower price saves money
- offers a surprise moment in case you book without travel hacking
- you might get a hotel that you wouldn’t have considered otherwise and it might end up being a positive experience
- it is not suitable for people who prefer to plan every single detail
- sometimes you can not choose the amenities you are looking for, for example, a swimming pool, gym, etc
- you might end up staying at a hotel that is too far away from the airport or from attractions you want to see
About Author
Freya
Photographer, artist, content creator, and solo female traveler since 2017.