$399+: LONDON 6-night
 

$399+: LONDON 6-night city-break with airfare, hotels, and daily breakfast, for travel through March 24!

You don't say where you saw that price but I'm going to assume it was go-today.com (or something similiar). I did a go-today package to London on March 03 and while it IS a pretty good deal, nothing is as good as it looks at first.

That price is for travel from New York (and maybe a couple other big eastern cities - if you live else where add $25 to $150 per person). The price is per person for each person traveling together - so double it. It's also for travel on (I think) Tuesday and Wednesday, so if you want to go another day of the week add another $25, per person, each way. Anyway, as you can see it does add up. What you need to do is sit down and do some math. How much can you get airline tickets for (on say, Orbitz), how much can you book a similiar hotel room for. In the case of London it did turn out to be a reasonably good (but not fantastic) deal. The following year I looked into it for Paris and did better booking on my own.

London 6 days for $399 IS a great deal!!!

Notice that plus sign ? It means add taxes and assorted fees and surcharges for other departure cities or a hotel that is well-located and a grade above "fleabag." It will come close to $800 per person. That may still be a very good value, but the advertising is deceptive.

I put in Denver and San Francisco as departure cities, chose the cheapest hotel and the rate was more than twice that pp. I noticed the Strathmore hotel listed at 3 times the lowest rate. No way is that hotel that great!

Another thing to note with some of these packages- there is often a surcharge for flights on Thursday-Sunday. But if you can fly mid-week, great!

There is most always a catch to these absolutely wonderfully priced air/hotel packages. For instance, Budget Travel magazine always compiles a listing of low-cost packages in each issue. But when you check it's only good for departure at certain gateways only sometimes and the hotels are inferior.

Of course, if your travel plans can be totally flexible, these can be a great deal. Ziana, thanks for posting- perhaps someone will benefit!

Has anybody ever booked and traveled with europeasap? Obviously, you can't expect 5 star accomodations for those prices, but is this company reliable? I would like to hear from somebody with experience with these folks. Thanks.

go-today has it for $299 now...still too much for you???