Groupon Review

I have been including Groupon as part of our activities in some of our travel posts but never really got a chance to properly review the site. Here’s our review of Groupon’s offerings, and if it buying vouchers from the site is worth it.

It’s no secret I’m a big fan of Groupon. From shows (Cirque du Soleil, for example), concerts, and attractions, we have saved a lot of money by not paying full price for the entry fees or additional fees that Ticketmaster levies on concerts and shows.

I’ve used Groupon to search for events in the area we live in as well as traveling to, and to look for interesting attractions and activities to partake in. Some examples are swimming with the manatees in Crystal River, going to a big cat sanctuary in Sarasota, which has always been in our list, and pottery painting.

Since Black Friday is coming up (here’s our survival guide), I figured that Groupon will come out with some deals as well. Be it an additional percentage off on already discounted attractions and shows, or maybe they will have something new in store for us!

To save more on Groupon, you can buy gift cards from grocery stores or office supply stores that your credit card provides bonuses for (hello more points), load the gift card to your account, and use a shopping portal to get some cash back (or more points) on your purchase. Isn’t it great?

A downside with Groupon is that these vouchers do expire. If you catch the expired Groupon early, they will let you exchange the voucher for another live one, extending the expiration if the experience or attraction you bought is still available.

You should definitely consider Groupon when it comes to your travel research when it comes to things to do. We’re definitely big fans! I know there’s some physical goods available on the site as well, and deals on food, but we are not experts in that area as we have not really bought any physical items from the site. However, this could be a great option for those who don’t like leaving the house to look for deals or dealing with the crowds.

Take us, for instance. With a newborn baby, we don’t have the option of going to a store as often as we used to since our babys schedule comes first and everything revolves around him. If we do have time to leave, it’s an hour or two, max!

I also know that Groupon offers hotels and package tours on the site and we have partaken a hotel deal or two ourselves (pre-baby, of course). It was indeed cheaper than the advertised price (trust me, I’ve researched), but we stayed at a non-chain hotel on a random weekend 2 hours from where we live.

Some of the tours are tempting, but the flights that are included in the package usually fly from big airports – and from where we live, we don’t get any deals from it!

Will you try Groupon for your discounted travel research then?