Five free apps for booking a last-minute Lunar New Year escape
With fuel surcharges for flights from Hong Kong to be dropped from February 1, booking a last-minute getaway is more tempting than ever. Use these apps to bag a great late deal at Lunar New Year
If the Lunar New Year has crept up on you and you’re worried you’ve left trip planning too late, fear not: there is a wealth of apps out there catering to those on the lookout for a last-minute escape.
“The generation of millennials uses mobile phones for everything,” says Raphael Cohen, co-founder and CSO of HotelQuickly. “When planning and booking trips, they want to be able to do it from their mobile phone, quickly.”
Data from the last-minute accommodation-reservation app shows about 70 per cent of hotel bookings made on mobile phones are to check in within 24 hours.
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Debby Soo, vice-president of Kayak, says top Lunar New Year destinations from Hong Kong include Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Cebu, Kaohsiung and Singapore. “Chinese New Year is always one of the most anticipated times of the year for people in Hong Kong,” she adds. Taiwan and Macau are hot spots with HotelQuickly’s Hong Kong clientele.
Cohen advising planning a departure and arrival one to two days out of peak period to make great savings. And with the recent announcement of fuel surcharges being dropped from February 1, meaning cheaper flights for travellers from Hong Kong, what better time to start planning your money-off getaway?
Jetsetter (iOS)
If leaving things until the eleventh hour doesn’t have you breaking into a sweat, then Jetsetter is the app for you. With parent company TripAdvisor and partner Secret Escapes having access to some of the world’s top hotels, holidays and curated trips, the options to choose from are seemingly endless. Offering customers up to 60 per cent off as well as hotel market rates, Jetsetter hosts limited-time flash sales that last five to 14 days, or until sold out. This makes it well worth your while holding off booking a holiday right until the last minute. The app comes complete with insiders’ tips, reviews and photos of destinations and venues.
