groupon or living social vacation?

kaos16

I keep seeing what appear to be amazing vacations on these two sites.  Has anyone taken a grouon or living social vacation? What did you think?  Is it worth it?

jenna8984

My friend bought a living social trip to Bali for her honeymoon and she loved it. I would just make sure it lists the hotel and then I'd research the hell out of reviews on Trip Advisor and Hotels.com. For instance Travelzoo always has this one hotel in Domincan Republic for $30 a night. It's not really a deal because it's ALWAYS on there for that price, and it has tons of terrible reviews but people get caught up in the price and dont research and keep booking it apparently. Make sure you know exactly what's included and what's not. Some places charge an additional $25/day resort fee once you get there. Or airline taxes, or airport transfers.

Jells2dot0

You can get some awesome deals on there, but you have to be flexible. If you are planning on using this for your honeymoon, and you only have specific dates that you can go, this may not be the best option for you. It's also often times for a "run of the house" room, meaning they can put you in any room category. So, if could be great or terrible. Again, if you are dead set on something very specific, it may not be such a great deal for you. 

Pepper6

I've used Groupon twice for booking vacations and they both turned out to be amazing deals.  However, there were booking limitations, specifically with dates, that we wouldn't have had if we'd booked on our own, but since we were flexible with timing, it wasn't a big deal.

My only other advice would be to fully research the deal before committing to the purchase.  Read all the fine print, ask questions of the deal representative, look at reviews on tripadvisor, compare regular booking prices for the time you would like to go (to make sure it's actually a good deal), make sure the airfare prices are reasonable for the time you want to go, etc.

CMGragain

Have you talked to a travel agent?  Their services are free to you, and they have amazing deals, too.  They can also share their personal knowledge of the different resorts or cruises.

kaos16

CMGragain said:

Have you talked to a travel agent?  Their services are free to you, and they have amazing deals, too.  They can also share their personal knowledge of the different resorts or cruises.

My MIL is actually a travel agent!  I would probably have DH run any deal by her before purchasing in case she can get it for better. . . but sometimes she can't.

silver0319

Ditto @Pepper6.  I bought a weekend trip on Groupon.  The place was gorgeous and it was a great deal, but it had a lot of restrictions and black-out dates. 

H's friend bought a trip to St. Lucia on LivingSocial.  She and her H went for their "babymoon" a year ago, and she's still raving about what a great deal they got and how gorgeous the resort was!

rsbloom

I've bought a few local weekend trips on living social, but you have to be aware that they aren't always going to be in the best places, or close to where you think they're going to be.  

For example, I live in San Diego, and their deals for SD are usually in places I would not recommend visitors stay.  Places where you have to drive 15-20 mins or longer to get downtown or to other attractions.  And I know this is true for LA and Florida too, as I've lived there as well.

However, the accommodations themselves have always been good. I booked a couple of 4 star hotel weekends because we weren't planning on seeing the tourist sites, just wanting a stay-cation.