Lucky Trip - An Unbiased Anecdotal Review of a Lowkey Service

Let me start off this article by disclosing that I in no way work for or am affiliated with Lucky Trip at all (as much as I'd love to be). I simply utilised their service earlier this summer and I'd like to share my experience of it. I would also like to disclose that I am from the UK, and Lucky Trip only seem to, at the moment, cater for people from the UK.

I first heard about Lucky Trip via an off-hand suggestion by one of my group members during a seminar at university. He whipped his phone out and briefly demonstrated all the different slider bars, features and what-not, and I didn't take much interest at the time.

Fast forward a few months, and my girlfriend and I are planning to book a holiday. It's later in the summer (just at the close of May), we hadn't booked anything far in advance like we usually do, and we're struggling for ideas or decent deals from Google searches. We knew we wanted to go on a cheap-ish city break somewhere in Europe, but didn't know where to start. Pinging to the forefront of my mind from deep in the recesses of conversational memory, Lucky Trip stepped up front and centre.

After having downloaded the app, we quickly got to know the fundamentals: You select your budget, how many people, and press the button to allow the app to search the best and cheapest deals for Europe's major cities (and its hidden gems). The app comes back with a location, accommodation (allowing you to swipe and select the most suitable from curated selections ranging from hostels to swanky hotels), as well as an activity (which is either inclusive if paid admission, or suggested if free). You are free to search again, in which case it comes back with a different destination for you each time.

The Journey Begins...

20 minutes later, and we'd booked a 3 night, 4 full day trip to Prague. All inclusive, with decently-timed flights and a lovely looking loft apartment all for around ~£400 for the both of us (super cheap considering everything!) and setting off in under 4 weeks. Brilliant. The only thing required of us was to send our names and passport number to a given email address, and we'd get the check-in links for our flights closer to the time. Okay, sure, done.

Here's where we thought it got a little sketchy. After sending over that info, we got nothing back. No confirmation email, no "here's what's going to happen now," nothing. Having heard the nightmare stories of people sending thousands of £££s to a cheap deals company only to never hear from them again, we frantically Googled everything associated with Lucky Trip, and found a few positive reviews about them and that they're ATOL-protected, but little else.

We decided to trust the process and just be happy we've booked a holiday. As the week of the trip approached, we still hadn't heard a thing from Lucky Trip, and my worrier of a girlfriend implored me to chase it up. We sent an additional email just asking what's going on.

4 days before our trip, and no reply. Now we're both starting to panic a bit. However, I sent them a Facebook message and they replied within 10 minutes issuing an apology (apparently my email ended up in their spam folder), and assuring me that the airline (Jet2) would send them our boarding passes, and we'd get them forwarded by the evening's end. Cue a huge sigh of relief from the both of us.

The Tribulations Continue

Our relief was poorly founded. We got zilch in the way of boarding passes that evening, and I once again contacted Lucky Trip asking what was going on, and once again they reassured that we would get them THIS evening. Lo and behold, we actually did, as well as the assurance that we only needed to turn up to the apartment and be let in, but gave us the owner's phone number just in case. Wonderful! Our problems are behind us and we can now enjoy smooth sailing from here on in!

Not quite.

Our flight went very nicely, and besides a hiccup with figuring out the ticket machine and logistics of the bus service, we got to our apartment easily enough. We only had one reference to our flat outside from a single picture of the overview of our loft apartment, but we managed to find the door to our imposing building. Almost as if to perfectly balance out the prior ease of our journey to a degree Thanos himself would be proud of, the locked door greeted us with nothing. No intercom, no mention of our apartment name on the tenant labels and no indication of what to do next.

Locked out and stranded outside in the lovely 25 degree Czech sunshine (the horror!), I rang the owner's number (praise all that is holy that phone calls in the EU are now free of charge), but to no avail, the fittingly foreign pattern and pitch of beeps and boops akin to a flatline for our excitement. 3 times we rang the number, to be met with the same song and dance of endless ringing tones. Exhausted from carrying our overfilled rucksacks since Wenceslas Square, we sat down in defeat.

Act Three (Of Three)

A brief, teasing respite from the sun and our troubles was offered by a Czech man leaving the apartment building, but after me trying to ask him about our apartment in broken Czech, he shook his head, said "sorry" and went on with his day. We were inside now, at least, and since our apartment was a loft one, I bolted it up 5 flights of lengthy stairs to investigate.

On the top floor, I was met with a seemingly refurbished wooden door with no labels or notices—only a button that, when pressed, seemed to do nothing, as did a knock or three. I returned downstairs with my girlfriend fruitless, and we once again sat down on the steps, attempting to ring the owners one last time for the time being, as well as messaging Lucky Trip, to no immediate reply.

After exchanging our stresses and qualms for 5/10 minutes, my phone rang, showing the very number we had been trying to contact for the past 20 minutes. The owner explained that she needed to nip out to collect her child from nursery, and that she would be back momentarily.

Sure enough, she collected us and we went up the stairs together, her apologising at least once per step. She lived a floor below our apartment, and she parted ways after outlining that her husband would take over showing us our apartment. Once again returning to the wooden door of silence at the top floor, he let us in and showed us around.

The pictures we saw via Lucky Trip barely did it justice. A lovely, seemingly brand new loft apartment greeted our weary eyes, and after a chat with the owner, he left us to our devices. Boy, what a stressful 30 minutes.

We unpacked and went out. Food was eaten. Many drinks were had.

Summary

So, was all this hassle worth it? Would I recommend Lucky Trip overall?

Absolutely.

We had an amazing time in Prague (which I also highly recommend), initial issues aside. However, I ponder what would've happened if we weren't given the phone number for the owners, which only seemed to happen because I was actively messaging their customer service due to other issues. The process was otherwise streamlined and easy, and cheap for such a nice apartment and agreeable flight times we had, which essentially gave us an extra full day.

I highly recommend Lucky Trip to any student, professional, singleton, or couple who are looking for a reasonably priced and somewhat luxurious method to explore Europe's best and trendiest cities. They've recently started doing features and articles, the down-to-earth, approachable and understandable colloquialisms and language they use usually providing me with a chuckle or two.

My advice is to, despite your potentially worrisome disposition, relax and trust them to do their thing, even if it becomes mere days until your visit. Their customer service is only a Facebook message away for any issues you have, and they were overall pretty on it with their response.