Nothing makes me more money than booking holidays. Investing large amounts of money into projects with so many moving parts makes me nervous. I can spend the same amount in stores for a day without a second thought, but on a travel website I have to think anxiously for at least a few days before I can make the payment.
In short, I am exactly the kind of person who is offered a two-night mini-holiday for £99. This is a respectable figure, not quite a few Reaching the “too good to be true” threshold, but not completely devastating if it doesn’t come together (at least in my case).
Discount site Wowcher, which launched its “£99 mystery holiday” offer at the beginning of January, says it has sold more than 4,000 trips, from the Maldives to Ibiza, Paris to Berlin, New York to Las Vegas.
While the chances of being assigned to a headline-grabbing destination like New York or the Maldives are extremely slim, £99 promises you’ll get at least two nights’ accommodation in a three-star hotel. The majority of potential destinations were in Europe; primarily France and Italy, but also Germany, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Austria.
But of course there are catches. You kind of choose your dates. For example, if you choose a weekend at the beginning of the semester but cannot choose your destination, the company reserves the right to ask you to make changes. This is the “mystery”. Once you pay your money everything is revealed.
Also, the price of £99 is per person based on two people sharing the same room. You are not allowed to pay £99 for a single room. There are also a few optional extras. If you don’t like the location you’re given, you can pay £30 for something different. If you want to go in April, June or July, the price is £129 per person. There is also an administration fee of £6.99.
But a two-night break for £204.99 still seemed like a bargain, so I took a deep breath and paid.
My destination… Milan; I decided it wasn’t a bad place to go in late February and approved. A representative would contact you within three to four business days to arrange the details, after which I was unfairly removed from the website.
As I waited to hear back, I began to become convinced that I had been scammed. After hearing nothing for a week, I sent a nervous email asking for more information. No answer.
Ten days later, an automated email explained that they were very busy due to the high interest in the Wowcher offer and would contact you before they departed. I began drafting the email I would send to Telegraph consumer champion Katie Morley to expose the fraud.
But at 9.30pm on Monday night, less than a month before I was due to board the plane, my phone rang. “Hi, I’m Kanika from WeekenderBreaks [a third party acting on behalf of Wowcher] – I am calling to organize your trip to Milan.”
I remained skeptical due to the late hour, but Kanika shared a list of potential hotels and flight times. He offered the opportunity to swap Milan for Lake Garda but I declined and he took my passport details and promised an email confirmation once the booking was made. A few minutes later my phone rang.
It wasn’t luxury: I was flying Ryanair from London Stansted to Milan Bergamo at 9.35am on Wednesday, then back at 10.30pm on Friday night – but it looked real. My digs? An outpost of the B&B Hotel chain, it looked understated but beautiful on the outskirts of the city, next to AC Milan’s San Siro stadium.
But as my holiday approached, my anxiety continued. Maybe I’d like to come to the airport and be told there are no flights. Or when I would come to the hotel, I would see that it was under construction.
Actually, nothing like this happened. It was all pretty uneventful. However, the £204.99 note soon began to increase. I paid £11.15 to get from London to Stansted and €12 to get from Bergamo to Milan. The hotel was a slightly arduous half-hour journey from the city center by public transport, so I paid €15.50 for the Metro ticket, which offers unlimited travel for three days.
B&B Hotels have proven to be the Continental version of Travelodge: cheap and forgettable, but clean, modern and with free Wi-Fi. I forked out 7.90 euros per day for access to the breakfast buffet and 9 euros over the “city tax” paid by all hotel guests.
The “mystery” element of the trip had its drawbacks. To see one of Milan’s most important works, Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper, reservations must be made more than a month in advance; so I wasn’t given enough time to buy a ticket. The same was true of the show at the La Scala opera house; Even the backstage tours were already sold out.
However, the day before, I managed to book tickets to the spectacular Duomo and rooftop terraces, and got into the TikTok-famous QC Termemilano spa.
I had no difficulty finding a table in the city’s restaurants and enjoyed the city’s famous aperitivo scene like a prince.
It’s easy to get caught up in the “£99 holiday” scam and forget just how expensive travel can be. Factoring in food and drink, transport and sightseeing, the initial booking price of £204.99 quickly ballooned to over £500 for my two-night mini-break.
Despite this, I have no regrets. This low-end entry cost eased my usual booking anxiety and finally led me to a city I would never hesitate to visit if I were fully in the driver’s seat. The mystery element won’t suit everyone, especially planners who like to plan their holidays in advance. Yet for those who are at peace with spontaneity, evviva la vacanza is also £99!
