Special Edition: Travel Tuesday Deals Roundup

Hi Dubai friends,

Special Edition: Travel Tuesday Deals

Hi Dubai friends,

I occasionally will send a ‘Special Edition’ out when there’s something that can’t wait until Thursday, such as a special deal - like those Lufthansa partner offers a while back.

Today, I thought it may be helpful doing a ‘Travel Tuesday’ roundup of any travel deals online - including Travel Tuesday, Cyber Monday, Black Friday etc. - that could be useful.

Plus my own take on whether it’s worth bothering with, based on my (perhaps biased, and definitely unscientific) experiment 🤷

I know at least one person has ‘got lucky’ from the newsletter in bagging a Black Friday deal, so that’s grand to hear.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you find a deal too 💰

Shaun

Please note: some links in this newsletter may be affiliate links, and will be denoted with an asterisk (*). This is a link to a partner site that may pay me a commission - at no further cost to you - and if so, helps to support me & this newsletter. For more info, please see Disclosure and Policies

FEATURE

Are Black Friday, Travel Tuesday Deals Etc. Really a Good Deal?

It’s quite fitting to be talking about this, as I was in the States for Thanksgiving to see what all the fuss was about. What was once a purely-physical, bricks and mortar stores-centric sales period now seems to have morphed into a different beast altogether online.

There are still ‘doorbuster’ deals to be had, but (in my opinion at least) it seems more about marketing and promotion, or because other merchants are doing something, rather than offering value to the customer.

It is also difficult to anticipate when to ‘push the button’ on a deal, as online deals (at least) tend to be time-limited, relying on ‘scarcity’ tactics (eg closes in next 12 hours …) and you never know if the offers will come out before, on, or after Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Travel Tuesday or what.

Also, your inbox is probably rammed with anyone you’re on a list with pushing their wares, sometimes only because they don’t want to miss the opportunity or have you spend with a rival, rather than offering true value to you.

My Black Friday Pricing Experiment

So, if all this sounds cynical, it perhaps is.

Here’s why - I did an experiment to see how Black Friday worked for something I was looking to book, ie a flight with an airline that shall remain nameless.

Using Google Flights and their ability to track price history, a week before Thanksgiving (the traditional day before ‘true’ Black Friday) I set up price alerts for particular routes and dates I was looking at.

Prices stayed flat for the first few days, then rose the day before Black Friday. Then on Black Friday, the offers were announced via a specific landing page. Clicking through from that page, guess how much discount I was able to avail of?

0%.

The price was exactly the same level it was raised to immediately before Black Friday.

But here’s the interesting thing. Those prices stayed at those levels, ie all of the three possible dates on the same route I was checking for, through Black Friday and only yesterday, the price dropped back to lower than what it was pre-Black Friday. I booked it, cheaper than anything offered during the whole shebang. Go Figure.

Of course, I may just be lucky. The route I was after was on set dates and flexibility is often the key to good deals perhaps?

As the saying goes, ‘Your Mileage May Vary’ (YMMV).

Black Friday and Travel Tuesday Deals

So anyway, without further ado, onto what the main focus of this email is.

On Eat Drink Stay Dubai, I’ve created a page listing all the Black Friday, Travel Tuesday offers I’ve found that may be worth a look.

I’d ask you click here to check them, as it’s easier than having loads of different links in one newsletter.

There are links there to Black Friday, Travel Tuesday and other offers for (so far):-

• Anantara

• Atlantis The Palm

• BookingCom

• Etihad Airways

• Expedia

• Hilton

• Priority Pass

• Qatar Airways

• Singapore Airlines

• Travel Republic

• Virgin Atlantic

• Virgin Holidays

One thing I would say, I don’t immediately see heaps of value (in general). In other words, the deals don’t necessarily stand out to the significant degree they used to, or that much different than other promotions throughout the year.

I would suggest the Dis-Loyalty is perhaps the most interesting one for Dubai, given with a good strategy, you could pay less than £80 and have 50% off Best Available Rate with direct bookings on newly-opened Ennismore hotels.

I’ve covered Dis-Loyalty in a previous edition and all the new hotels Ennismore are opening in Dubai, and they have some really cool brands (SLS, Hyde, Delano, Mama Shelter and so on).

Please keep checking back to the page, as I’ll update it should anything else of note come to light.

🔗 Black Friday Travel Tuesday Deals

PS. Please note, UAE National Day (Mon 02 Dec) and the following day’s public holiday may be a reason why Emirates and Jumeirah don’t appear to have launched any promotions yet. Or, they just may not be giving it a miss …

emirates

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A Note on Advertisements in This Newsletter

As you may have noticed, at the top of this newsletter is a nice advertisement for a superb product, Huel.

Huel is a nutritionally complete plant-based food that comes in a variety of forms from powder for shakes through to meals, and I’ve enjoyed it as a meal replacement. They’re not just protein shakes, and I’ve often travelled with the meal mixes as you can make them just with hot water in a hotel room (for healthy reasons, not just being a ‘skinflint’!). Think Pot Noodle, yet heaps healthier and better for you.

I’ve decided to start including a few select advertisements that may be of interest to you, in aid to monetise and support my time and efforts writing, producing and sending this newsletter.

I do carefully screen potential advertisers and reject any I don’t feel are appropriate (eg crypto, gummies, timeshares - that sort of thing).

If the advertisement is of interest to you, please click through and see what the nice advertiser has to say - it will help to support this newsletter and you may benefit too 👍