Lastminute.com reviews: the short answer
Lastminute.com is a real, publicly listed travel company that’s been trading since 1998, now part of lastminute.com N.V. Lastminute.com reviews are mixed rather than uniformly good or bad. Its main Trustpilot profile scores 4.0 out of 5 from over 211,000 reviews, a broadly positive, large sample, while Which?’s own testing places it in the bottom half on customer satisfaction. Both things are true at once. Browse live today’s deals or head straight to lastminute.com’s holidays if you already know what you’re after.
| What you get | The detail |
|---|---|
| Booking model | Online travel agent (OTA), not a tour operator. It packages flights, hotels and transfers from third-party suppliers rather than owning them. |
| Financial protection | ATOL (flight-inclusive packages) or ABTOT (non-flight packages), depending on what you book. |
| Signature deal type | Top Secret Hotel, a blind-booking discount hotel product with the property name hidden until after payment. |
| Deposits | Book Now Pay Later on eligible packages, from as little as a deposit with the balance due closer to departure. |
| Loyalty scheme | lastminute.com PRO, a paid membership tier with extra discounts and perks. |
How to make sure you’re on the real lastminute.com
In May 2025, a reader told Which? they’d found a cloned lastminute.com website via a Google search, booked a fake New York trip on it, and paid a deposit by card. Scammers then rang posing as the card provider, talked the reader into granting remote access to their phone, and used that access to spend thousands before the fraud team blocked the cards. The reader was refunded in full, but the case shows how convincing a copycat site can be. Lastminute.com itself runs an official fraud prevention page warning about fake websites and social accounts using its name.
| Red flag | What to do instead |
|---|---|
| You arrived via a sponsored ad or an unfamiliar link | Type lastminute.com directly into your browser rather than clicking through |
| The URL has extra characters or an unfamiliar domain ending | Check the address bar carefully before entering any payment details |
| Someone calls claiming to be your card provider after you’ve booked | Hang up and call your bank on the number printed on your card, never a number they give you |
| You’re asked to grant remote access to your phone or computer | Refuse. No genuine bank or retailer needs this to process a booking |
| You want to check how long a site has existed | Look it up on who.is; lastminute.com has traded since 1998, a copycat usually hasn’t |
Is lastminute.com actually any good?
Which?’s most recent travel agent survey doesn’t rate lastminute.com highly. Scores across the categories it tested sit mostly in the low-to-mid 70s out of 100, its best result is for ski holidays, and it isn’t a Which? Recommended Provider in any category. That verdict is drawn from a large sample: tens of thousands of member-reported holidays. For the full category-by-category breakdown, see Which?’s own review.
Booking.com’s UK package holidays are fulfilled behind the scenes by lastminute.com, using the same booking engine and the same ABTOT protection. They’re separate brands with separate owners, but if you’ve booked a package through Booking.com before, you’ve already used lastminute.com’s infrastructure without necessarily realising it.
Real customer reviews tell a more mixed story than Which?’s scores alone suggest. The main lastminute.com Trustpilot profile rates “Great” at 4.0 out of 5 from more than 211,000 reviews, a large, broadly positive sample. A separate profile for flights.lastminute.com scores far lower, but on close inspection it’s built on just 63 reviews and the profile isn’t claimed or actively inviting reviews, so it’s too thin a sample to treat as a reliable score. If you’re booking a package rather than a flight-only deal, the main profile is the more representative read. Compare today’s deals before you commit.
“Top Secret Hotel is worth trying: a real chance of a 4 or 5-star room below the going rate, with ATOL or ABTOT protection behind your booking either way. Just check which cancellation fee applies before you pay a deposit: £45 for a package, £20 for hotel-only. Don’t expect Which?’s scores to move much any time soon.”
Kate Acaster, Chief Editor, Flight Tribe
Booking flights and packages
Flight-inclusive holidays booked through lastminute.com are ATOL protected, which means your money and your holiday are covered if the company or a supplier collapses before you travel. Check lastminute.com’s current flight deals to see live pricing for your dates.
Is the Top Secret Hotel deal worth it?
Top Secret Hotel is lastminute.com’s best-known product: you see the star rating, general area, guest score and amenities, but not the hotel’s name until after you’ve paid. Lastminute.com claims 95% of Top Secret Hotels are rated 4 or 5-star, with savings of 10-40% against the same room booked openly. Real examples support that, but it’s a genuine gamble rather than a guaranteed win, some travellers have ended up with a disappointing room in a mediocre location. Three things narrow the odds in your favour before you commit:
- Copy a distinctive phrase from the hotel’s description and search it. Listings often lift wording almost word-for-word from the hotel’s own site or another booking platform.
- Reverse-image-search the listing photo through Google Lens. It frequently surfaces the real hotel, though some listings use generic stock photos that won’t match.
- Cross-reference the star rating, area and specific amenities named against known hotels in that location, the method crowdsourced for years on MoneySavingExpert’s Top Secret Hotels thread.
If you’d rather know exactly where you’re staying, browse lastminute.com’s Top Secret Hotel deals to see the discount on offer, or stick to a named-hotel package if certainty matters more to you than the extra saving.
Booking a Top Secret Hotel
You’ll see the star rating, area, guest score and amenities before paying, just not the hotel’s name. Once you’ve booked, the full details reveal instantly, so there’s no long wait to find out where you’re staying.
ATOL, ABTOT and what protects your money
Lastminute.com is not currently an ABTA member. It moved its financial protection to ABTOT instead, which offers a similar safety net if the company collapses but doesn’t come with ABTA’s specific complaints and arbitration scheme. Which protection applies depends entirely on what you book:
| Scheme | Applies to | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| ATOL (licence 11082) | Flight-inclusive packages | Refund or repatriation if lastminute.com or a supplier fails before or during your trip. |
| ABTOT (membership 5503) | Non-flight packages, e.g. hotel-only or city breaks | Refund or repatriation equivalent to ATOL, without ABTA’s dispute-resolution scheme. |
| ABTA | Not held | Lastminute.com is not an ABTA member; use ABTOT’s complaints process instead. |
Deposits, price match and the PRO loyalty scheme
Book Now Pay Later lets you secure eligible packages with a low deposit and pay the balance closer to departure, useful if you want to lock in a deal before prices rise. A price match guarantee applies to hotel and city-break bookings, and the paid PRO membership tier adds further discounts for frequent bookers.
Cancellation isn’t free. Per lastminute.com’s own terms, cancelling a flight+hotel package carries a £45 per person administration fee, on top of whatever the airline and hotel charge, typically 100% of the fare once tickets are issued. A hotel-only booking carries a lower £20 per booking fee, plus the hotel’s own cancellation terms. Neither fee is refundable, so it’s worth checking the cancellation terms on your specific deal before you pay a deposit.
| At a glance | Lastminute.com |
|---|---|
| Trading since | 1998 |
| Financial protection | ATOL or ABTOT, depending on booking type |
| ABTA member | No |
| Trustpilot (main profile) | 4.0/5, 211,000+ reviews |
| Package cancellation fee | £45pp + supplier charges |
| Best-known product | Top Secret Hotel |
What the regulator has said
In November 2020, lastminute.com signed a formal undertaking with the Competition and Markets Authority to repay over £7 million to more than 9,000 customers for holidays cancelled during the pandemic. By February 2021, it still owed money to around 2,600 of them, and the CMA publicly threatened court action to force compliance. Separately, the Advertising Standards Authority upheld a complaint against a lastminute.com ad in January 2017. Both are dated, and no CMA or ASA action against the company has followed in the last three years, but they’re worth knowing about given how recent the Covid-era episode was.
Should you book with lastminute.com?
Taken together, these lastminute.com reviews point to a company that suits confident, price-driven bookers better than anyone who wants hand-holding. If you’re flexible on hotel choice and want a genuine shot at a 4 or 5-star stay below the going rate, Top Secret Hotel is worth trying. If you want the security of knowing exactly where you’re staying and a company with an ABTA badge, look at loveholidays or On the Beach instead, both are covered in our other OTA guides, alongside our Expedia guide if you want a wider marketplace comparison. Whichever you choose, read the cancellation terms before you pay a deposit. Ready to look? Browse today’s lastminute.com deals or go straight to lastminute.com holidays.
For more on how package protection works generally, see our guide to package holidays, or check what’s usually included in a package holiday before you compare quotes.
Frequently asked questions
Is lastminute.com any good?
Lastminute.com reviews are mixed. It’s a real, publicly listed company that’s been trading since 1998, holding proper ATOL and ABTOT financial protection. Its main Trustpilot profile scores 4.0 out of 5 from over 211,000 reviews, but Which?’s own testing scores it in the bottom half on customer satisfaction. A separate, much smaller Trustpilot profile for flight-only bookings scores worse still, but it’s built on just 63 reviews, too few to treat as a reliable score on its own.
How do I know I’m on the real lastminute.com and not a scam copycat?
Type lastminute.com directly into your browser rather than clicking a search result or ad, and check the address bar carefully for extra characters or an unfamiliar domain ending. Lastminute.com has traded since 1998, so a genuine listing on who.is will show a registration date years or decades old, not weeks or months. If anyone calls claiming to be your card provider after you’ve booked, hang up and call the number on your card directly, and never grant remote access to your phone or computer.
Is lastminute.com ATOL protected?
Yes, for flight-inclusive packages, under ATOL licence 11082 held by BravoNext, S.A. Non-flight packages, such as hotel-only or city-break bookings, are protected separately under ABTOT (membership 5503) rather than ATOL.
Is lastminute.com ABTA protected?
No. Lastminute.com is not currently an ABTA member. It moved its financial protection to ABTOT, which offers a similar safety net if the company collapses but doesn’t come with ABTA’s specific complaints and arbitration scheme.
Is the Top Secret Hotel deal worth it?
Often, but it’s a genuine gamble rather than a guaranteed win. Lastminute.com claims 95% of Top Secret Hotels are 4 or 5-star with savings of 10-40%, and real examples back that up, but some travellers have ended up with disappointing rooms. Searching a distinctive phrase from the listing or reverse-image-searching the photo can narrow down which hotel you’ll get before you commit.
Is lastminute.com the same company as Booking.com?
No, they’re separate companies with separate owners. Booking.com’s UK package holidays are fulfilled behind the scenes by lastminute.com, using the same booking engine and protection scheme, but they’re different brands.
What happened with lastminute.com and the CMA?
In November 2020, lastminute.com signed a formal undertaking to repay over £7 million to more than 9,000 customers for holidays cancelled during the pandemic. By February 2021 it still owed money to 2,600 of them, and the CMA threatened court action. That’s a dated, Covid-era episode rather than a reflection of current practice, and no CMA or ASA action against the company has followed in the past three years.
How much does it cost to cancel a lastminute.com booking?
A flight+hotel package carries a £45 per person administration fee, plus whatever the airline and hotel charge on top, which is typically 100% of the fare once your airline tickets are issued. A hotel-only booking carries a lower £20 per booking fee, plus the hotel’s own cancellation terms. Neither fee is refundable.
Kate Acaster is Chief Editor at Flight Tribe. She writes about practical travel planning, budget airlines, baggage rules, city breaks, beach holidays and good hotels that do not cost daft money.
Kate has travelled through Europe, South America and beyond, usually with a notebook, a half-formed plan and a strong opinion on airport snacks. At Flight Tribe, her work focuses on helping UK travellers understand what is included, what costs extra, and whether a trip is worth booking at the price shown.
How Kate works
Kate checks the details that can change the value of a trip, including cabin-bag rules, airline fees, hotel location, seasonality, travel dates and booking conditions. She is especially interested in offers that look useful on the surface but need a proper reader-first check before they are worth recommending.
Editorial standards
Flight Tribe covers deals and travel advice for readers first. Affiliate links do not decide whether an offer is worth writing about.
For more about how the site works, read:
