Booking holiday extras abroad using a UK website can cost hundreds of pounds more than using the local website. But new research from Which? Travel has found that you don’t need a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to access the best rates.
A VPN allows users to access the internet as if they're in another location, usually for a monthly fee. This means you can trick the internet into thinking that you’re in another country in order to search for cheaper local rates on products and services such as hotels, car hire and attractions.
But when we searched for the best international prices, we found that in most cases you don’t need a VPN. You can save money, and even find country-specific money-off deals, without paying a penny by using the local version of a website and paying with a card that doesn’t charge for foreign transactions.
For example, Brits booking a Disneyland Paris holiday online can save hundreds by buying the trip through its French website (disneylandparis.fr) instead of the British site (disneylandparis.com).
We found that a family of four could save £170 on a seven-night stay with two-day park tickets, paying €3,318 (£2,801) on the French site instead of £2,971 on the British version of the site.
When we put this to Disneyland Paris, they confirmed that customers could benefit from another country’s prices.
Taking the Mickey
We also checked Walt Disney WorldⓇ Resort in Florida and found that in the UK and Ireland consumers are only offered a seven or 14-day Magic Ticket, Disney’s most expensive option. But just by purchasing through the mainland Europe version of the site (disneyworld.eu), customers have a choice of cheap, average and premium options.
The cheapest ticket for a family of four in mainland Europe is around €1,869 (£1,575), whereas in the UK and Ireland it’s £1,856. Unable to skip some of the pricey extras included in the premium Magic ticket, UK consumers are expected to cough up hundreds of pounds extra.
Walt Disney WorldⓇ told us that consumers who book UK and Ireland exclusive tickets enjoy 'a host of incredible benefits'.
Cheaper car hire
The car hire industry also charges different prices based on the customer’s perceived location.
Hiring a car at Harry Reid International (Las Vegas) Airport with Hertz would cost £220 more at hertz.co.uk compared with hertz.com (its US site): for exactly the same car, with the same insurance.
This was the case for four of the eight US airports we tried: see below.
Hertz price differences
| Airport | US price | UK price | £ increase | % increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austin-Bergstrom International | £486 | £597 | £111 | 23% |
| Boston Logan International | £520 | £582 | £62 | 12% |
| Harry Reid International | £458 | £678 | £220 | 48% |
| San Diego International | £409 | £515 | £106 | 26% |
Table notes: Prices shown are for a four-day car rental between 1 and 5 September 2022, for a small sedan (Ford Focus or equivalent), gathered and converted to sterling in August 2022.
undefinedWhen we challenged Hertz it admitted that the US and UK are ‘independent marketplaces with rates tailored specifically for that market’, but added that if a customer found a better rate on another country's Hertz website ‘we would certainly honour the reservation’.
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Can a VPN help you get cheaper flights?
Despite the rumours that circulate online, we found that flight prices don’t change very much when booking in different countries using a VPN – and we wouldn’t recommend it as it can be a legal grey area.
Instead, use our tips below to access other countries’ rates and see if you can save some money.
How to get cheaper holidays without a VPN
By following our five steps below, you could access the best prices and even find country-specific money-off deals. All it entails is a simple tweak to the web address.
- Search for the UK website For example, enter ‘Disneyland Paris UK’ into your web browser and it will direct you to the UK’s disneylandparis.com.
- Tweak the URL Replace the end of the URL with the respective countries’ top-level domain. For example, switch ‘.com’ or ‘.co.uk’ for ‘.fr’ to access France’s website. If this doesn’t work, try searching for the company/country eg, ‘Hertz USA’.
- Translate If necessary, use the Chrome web browser’s translate function to read the page in English (you should get a pop-up when you enter a foreign website).
- Compare Browse the website for any price or deal differences, making sure that it’s a like-for-like comparison and the savings could not be negated by exchange rate fluctuations.
- Pay in the local currency Pay in the local currency so you’re not caught out by the exchange rate and use a card that doesn’t charge for foreign transactions. Which? Recommended Provider Starling Bank is fee-free for overseas purchases and ATM withdrawals, as is Halifax Clarity. Credit cards also offer legal protection.
source https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/vpn-cheaper-flights-hotels-holidays-aXbTv9A7xaa6