Black Friday is big for travel. A simple game plan for real savings without the stress

Know what actually goes on sale

The bulk of genuine Black Friday travel savings sit in three areas. Package holidays from operators like TUI, Jet2holidays and easyJet Holidays typically see the biggest cash discounts, often £150 to £300 off summer bookings for the following year. Hotel chains including Premier Inn, Travelodge and international brands run flash sales on room only rates, usually 15 to 30 percent off. And membership programmes like Secret Escapes and Booking.com Genius often unlock additional member only pricing.

What you rarely see genuine deals on is direct flight tickets from major airlines, which tend to discount separately through their own sales rather than participating in Black Friday properly.

Prepare before the day

The single biggest advantage you can give yourself is shortlisting destinations and hotel types before Black Friday itself. Sitting down at 9am on the day and browsing for deals is how people end up either paralysed by choice or accepting mediocre deals.

Have three or four target holiday shapes ready. Something like a Canaries package for 7 nights in October, a European city break in September, or a UK long weekend for half term. When the sale hits you can move quickly on whichever of your shortlisted shapes sees the biggest markdown.

The Cyber Monday effect

Deals often improve on Cyber Monday rather than Black Friday itself, particularly for hotels and packages where operators use the extended weekend to shift more inventory. If you can wait through the initial noise, the third and fourth day of the weekend often carry the strongest offers.

That said, popular flight routes and family friendly properties do sell out during the peak Black Friday window, so if your dates or destinations are fixed you may need to move faster.