Financial adviser identifies the exact time to book 2026 holiday | Travel News | Travel

If you’ve yet to arrange a holiday this year and are uncertain about when is the best time to do so, a financial adviser has identified precisely when you should – and shouldn’t – make your booking.

Abs Mechial used TikTok to reveal that not only are there more favourable days to book, there are also more advantageous times. “When is the worst time to book a holiday and when is it actually cheapest?” he asked his followers in a video.

Surprisingly, according to research, Abs claimed there is a one-hour window in each day when holidays can cost you significantly more money to book. “According to the data, the most expensive time to book is between 9am and 10am,” he explained. “Bookings in that window came in around 30 per cent more than the cheapest time of the day – so no more booking holidays as soon as you log in for the day.”

Regarding the most economical time of day, Abs advised that you may need to set the alarm. “Early… and I mean really early,” he said. “Between 4am and 5am – and the logic does make sense.”

Abs pointed out that overnight, demand “drops off” and consequently prices “reset” to their baseline. He elaborated: “Then as the day goes on, the more searches and more clicks result in prices starting to creep back up again.”

For those reluctant to rise before dawn, however, Abs provided guidance for those preferring to act during “more realistic hours”.

“Late evening, around 8pm to 10pm tends to be noticeably cheaper than the morning rush,” he enthused. “But if you want to go even further and want the exact moment – not just the hour, but the minute – according to the data, the single cheapest minute to book a holiday is 2:48am.”

Incredibly, bookings at that specific time came out up to 60 per cent cheaper on average, Abs reported. He concluded with a word of caution though: “Now, definitely take that with a pinch of salt – booking at 2:48am isn’t going to make every holiday 60 per cent cheaper, but the pattern is clear – if you want to save money, avoid peak booking hours because timing, just like everything else with money, makes a massive difference.”

Writing in response, one TikTok user shared their own unverified tip: “Best to search in private browser so prices do not increase if you are searching for same destinations. Prices increase with demand so private searching will prevent this.”

A second person added: “I usually book mine within 72 hours of departure… like 50% cheaper! I find the hotels I want and then I wait for them to deal them off.”

A third declared: “Wow that’s crazy how the time of day can cost you!”

And a fourth TikTok user commented: “Doesn’t change if you want a certain resort at a certain time of year.”