A trend has emerged of Britons booking holidays abroad whilst under the influence of alcohol, according to a recent poll by a UK-based online travel agency. More than two fifths of adults admitted to having been drunk when booking a holiday.
New research by an online travel agency in the UK has revealed that as many as two fifths of Britons have booked an overseas holiday whilst intoxicated; with more than a quarter of these admitting that they regretted the drunk booking they had made the next day. Top regrets of drunk holiday bookings include the amount of money spent, fellow passengers they’d picked to holiday with and the accommodation choice.
A trend has emerged of Britons booking holidays abroad whilst under the influence of alcohol, according to a recent poll by a UK-based online travel agency. More than two fifths of adults admitted to having been drunk when booking a holiday.
The team at sunshine.co.uk, the online travel agency behind the poll, has issued a warning to Britons to advise against booking holidays over the internet when under the influence of alcohol; after having a number of customers getting in touch to amend details of late-night bookings the following day, confessing that they’d had one too many.
2,170 people aged 18 and over from around the UK took part in the research and answered questions about holiday bookings. Everyone taking part had been on a holiday abroad within the last 12 months. Initially, respondents were asked ‘Have you ever booked an overseas holiday, either online, over the phone or in a travel agency, whilst under the influence of alcohol?’ to which 42% of those taking part admitted that they had.
These people were then asked how they’d felt about their booking the next day, to which the majority (61%) said they were ‘excited/looking forward to the trip’. However, more than a quarter (26%) admitted that they had regrets about the booking they’d made whilst under the influence. The team at sunshine.co.uk wanted to find out what the top regrets were, so the relevant respondents were asked to elaborate.
According to the findings, the top regrets about drunken holiday bookings were as follows:
1. Spent too much/couldn’t really afford it – 33%
2. Fellow passengers I chose to go with – 26%
3. Unhappy with my accommodation choice – 18%
4. Wish I’d picked a different destination – 15%
5. Didn’t spend as much as I could have/could have splashed out more – 4%
The survey also revealed that 27% of those who’d made drunk holiday bookings in the past had ended up having to contact the travel provider to either cancel or make changes to the booking. The most common changes made included shortening the length of the holiday (16%), downgrading accommodation (12%) and changing the destination completely (10%).
Those most likely people to make drunk holiday bookings were revealed to be from the Yorkshire & Humberside region of the UK; making up 21% of all those who said they’d booked a trip whilst under the influence. This was followed by people in the West Midlands (16%) and those in the South West (13%).
Chris Clarkson, Managing Director of sunshine.co.uk, said the following: “There are plenty of things that you shouldn’t do when drunk; and whilst there are the more obvious ones like driving, operating heavy machinery or texting an ex-partner, booking a holiday should be right up there with them. If you book a holiday when you are drunk, you are more likely to spend more money than you can realistically afford to part with and you might make poorly judged decisions in terms of destination or hotel choice. You need to have a clear head when booking a trip, or else you risk making mistakes that are hard to undo. There are often charges to make changes to a booking and even something as small as inputting your name exactly as it appears on your passport, as is required, can be a challenge after one too many vodkas!”
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
