Peak holiday season is in full swing, it’s school holidays too which mean’s that travel companies, tour operators, hotels and flights are all at a premium while they cash in on the summer rush. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t any last minute holiday deals to be had, on the contrary, this is probably the BEST time to bag last minute holiday deals as the last few weeks of summer tick down. As living proof I’m currently sunning myself by the pool in Croatia after booking a package last week with over £400 off the usual price, GET IN! However, my tips and tricks for grabbing that deal don’t just apply to August you can pretty much use these techniques all year round as long as you know how and where to start your search. So here are my top tips for bagging an amazing holiday. Be Flexible This is my number one tip for bagging those last minute holiday deals. You can’t really be all that picky with a huge list of requirements if you’re to get the best deal going. I know you sometimes HAVE to go on a certain date or particular week because of other commitments, but if you can be flexible on date and location you will have the best chance of finding a bargain. Use a cheap holiday comparison site Using a price comparison website takes all of the leg work out of hunting for that amazing deal, you don’t need to visit hundreds of websites to check prices. You just choose your dates or other search criteria and they do all the hard work for you in seconds. In my opinion Icelolly.com have some of the cheapest last minute holiday deals around. Search for discount codes A lot of the big tour operators pay for hotel rooms in advance then resell them to their customers, that’s how they make their margins. But they’re out of pocket if they don’t manage to shift those rooms, which is why 1-4 weeks before travel they start heavily discounting and offering incentives to book and travel in a short time frame. Sites like Vouchercodes.co.uk are a great place to look, I’ve found a couple of discount codes to get you started….TUI are currently offering £100 off any long haul holiday before the end of September if you use the code Exotic100 or £50 off Balearic breaks until the end of October with BAL50 woohoo! Use a flight search engine One of my favourite past times is going on a flight search engine like Skyscanner and selecting “Everywhere” as a search criteria. You can also select “cheapest month” or “whole month” if you’re wanting to travel in the next few weeks. Skyscanner will show you a list of options starting from the cheapest destination. Look at different airports Some airports really don’t have the best options when it comes to cheap flights or holiday packages. My local airport doesn’t have a huge choice, but if I travel to Edinburgh or Manchester airport I have a whole load of low cost options. Yes, you have to factor in the time and cost of getting to another city but the savings can be totally worth it. Travel at the very end of the season Yes, you can travel in the low/shoulder season for cheaper prices, but remember that thing about tour operators buying rooms from hotels and resorts? Well at the end of the season they start slashing prices of all those empty spots. There are some amazing end of season deals to Spain with icelolly at the moment, and TUI have slashed the price of many of their holidays to Greece right now too. Book through a cash back portal Once you’ve found the deal you want get a nice little Brucie Bonus by booking through a cash back portal like Quidco which could give you 5-10% of the cost on top of your already sweat deal. So now you know where to look, what are you waiting for? If you have any other tips for finding really good deals I’d love to know them too.