A TikToker has shared her ‘honest’ experience of a £129 Wowcher minibreak mystery holiday to Prague – which ended up costing over £500.
Becky Chorlton, who’s a content creator and verified seller on fashion marketplace Depop, said she would recommend that travellers book the trip themselves, rather than using Wowcher, after the discount site added a host of additional fees onto their trip.
Becky, from Warrington, told MailOnline Travel that her mystery trip amounted to £568 for herself and her boyfriend, far surpassing the original £129 per person they’d originally set out to spend.
Sharing the details of the trip in a video with her 179,000 TikTok followers, Becky explained that these ‘mystery’ holidays involve travellers purchasing a voucher, starting from £99 per person. Wowcher then gets in touch several weeks later to reveal the destination they’ll be holidaying in and the details of their trip.
The trip ended up costing ‘quite a bit extra’ as they wanted to fly from an airport in Northern England and hoped to travel in July or August – specifications that incur added fees.
Becky Chorlton shared an ‘honest review’ of her experience booking a £129 Wowcher mystery holiday to Prague
Becky and her boyfriend spent £568 in total on their holiday in the Czech capital
Sharing more on the experience in a blog post on lifestyle app Lemon8, Becky explained that it cost them £129 per person to travel in peak season, as well as a £10 admin fee.
Becky wrote: ‘We received a phone call from somebody from Wowcher giving us our location for the holiday. They had no beach trips left so we were definitely going to a city. At first, they mentioned a few different locations, including Denmark… and then they asked if we wanted to go to Prague.’
The couple agreed to a trip to Prague, but pushed for three nights in the Czech capital after originally being offered two.
Wowcher offered them flights from London, but as the couple wanted to fly from Manchester, they were forced to fork out extra. Becky explained: ‘To fly from Manchester cost us an additional £130 per person, which was super expensive.’
The pair flew with Ryanair and spent three nights in Prague in a hotel. While Becky described the hotel room as ‘nice’ and noted that it had its own balcony, she said it was situated 20 minutes outside the city centre and was ‘more of a hostel than a hotel’.
It was more expensive for the couple to travel in peak season, Becky revealed. Wowcher offered the couple flights from London, but as they wanted to fly from Manchester, they were forced to fork out extra for their flights
The pair flew with Ryanair and spent three nights in Prague in a hotel
Explaining where they spent further money, Becky told MailOnline: ‘The holiday was also self-catering and didn’t include transfers to and from the airport, which we were aware of when booking.’
The popular video has received over 20,000 views and attracted a number of outraged commenters. One wrote: ‘I’m sorry but that’s my worst nightmare staying in a hotel like that.’ Another said: ‘Oh no, you could have got way cheaper and nicer in Prague for that money!’
Meanwhile, some recounted their own experiences of Wowcher’s mystery holidays. One person wrote: ‘We paid £80 per person for Gdańsk [in Poland, it] was nice but we had to travel from London for flights with no option to change airport, when we live in Leeds.’
‘The whole experience was just a bit of fun, it helped us discover our love for city breaks,’ Becky said of the trip
The couple arriving at their hotel, which was situated 20 minutes outside the city centre
The hotel that Becky and her boyfriend stayed at, which they described as ‘nice’. Becky said that their hotel was ‘more of a hostel than a hotel’
Despite the added fees, Becky appeared to make the most out of her trip and even described it as one of her ‘favourite’ holidays.
She told MailOnline: ‘The whole experience was just a bit of fun, it helped us discover our love for city breaks and meant we got to discover a new place, which we probably wouldn’t have visited on our own.’
She added that it would be a ‘great gift’ for somebody if they could travel from a London airport. However, she said: ‘I do feel that if we booked the holiday to Prague ourselves we could’ve got a lot more for our money.’
While Becky said she would be ‘hesitant’ to book with Wowcher again, she told MailOnline: ‘If you’re struggling [with] deciding where to go and just fancy a holiday I’d recommend doing this experience – but manage your expectations!’
To see more videos from Becky visit her TikTok account.
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