Holiday price lottery means the cost of a family getaway can soar by £3,000 in just one day
A holiday to Disney shot up in price by 54 per cent in the space of 24 hours, a difference of £3,370
FAMILIES face a holiday price lottery when it comes to booking getaways online, with trips soaring in price in a matter of days.
According to new data, if a family of four had booked a Virgin Holidays Disney trip on April 12, they would have paid £5,683, but if they had booked the deal just a day later, they would have had to fork out £9,053 - a huge £3,370 more.
The stark figures come from currency firm FairFX, which said that families face paying over the odds by booking on the wrong day.
Its holiday price tracker found that a holiday to Disney shot up in price by 59 per cent in the space of 24 hours, while a week in Kos rose by 39 per cent overnight – before dropping back down to £4,315 the following day.
The firm checked the online prices of 10 holidays starting on August 5, every day for two weeks, and found that trips to Spain, the Canary Islands and the Greek islands rose or fell by hundreds and even thousands of pounds in a matter of days.
A Thomson trip to Kos in Greece for one week rose from £3,947 to £5,481 in just 24 hours, a difference of £1,534.
And a one-week First Choice package holiday to Rhodes cost £4,509 on April 16, before jumping to £6,090 a week later.
Travel firms say they use online systems that change prices based on supply and demand.
A spokesperson for Virgin said: "We question the validity of this research as we have been unable to verify the cost quoted on Thursday 13th April.
"To provide the best package for our customers, we operate a dynamic pricing system which regularly updates our website with the latest prices and availability from partner airlines and hoteliers.
First, search for a trip by tapping dates on the app's colour-coded calendar.
Then, get Hopper's prediction about when your flight will be cheapest. It'll recommend whether you should wait or book.
If it says wait, tap the binoculars to watch the flights. Hopper will keep an eye on that trip for you and send you notifications the instant prices drop. If Hopper says buy, choose your flights and book.
The app is able to predict prices as it has a huge historical archive of trillions of flight prices. It claims to perform with 95 per cent accuracy.
Ian Strafford-Taylor, CEO of FairFX, said: “We tracked a basket of holidays across 14 days and found you really do pay over the odds if you book on the wrong day.
“The cost of a holiday has travelled a long way since getting a brochure from a travel agent and paying the price printed inside. If you are unlucky enough to buy your holiday online on the wrong day, you could pay hundreds of pounds more.
“Most people understand supply and demand and that during peak travel times such as the school holidays, they will pay a bit more, but there seems to be no rhyme nor reason to the way holiday prices change and buying a summer holiday, really is a price lottery.
A spokesperson for Thomson and First Choice said: ";Holiday prices fluctuate throughout the year due to supply and demand as there are a finite number of rooms and flights available. We encourage our customers, particularly those that need to travel during the school holidays, to book early."
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