The Travel Plug

The Travel Plug: insider fares curated from Manchester

The Travel Plug is a UK-based travel deals service that describes itself as run from Manchester. Its model is to monitor fares, flash sales and error-price drops across major booking platforms and then pass the resulting offers to travellers through its social channels and an email list. The site presents the service as free to use and requiring no account.

The company states that every link it shares leads directly to the booking site, so the traveller completes the purchase with the platform itself rather than through an intermediary. It also discloses that some outbound links are affiliate links: if a booking is made through them, The Travel Plug may earn a commission at no additional cost to the user. According to the site, this is how the service remains free.

Routes highlighted on the departures board

The site organises part of its offer around a selection of routes it says its followers actually book, presented as cards that link to live prices. The routes listed at the time of writing were:

• Manchester to Santorini (JTR), framed around caldera sunsets, cave hotels and ferry connections to Ios.
• London Heathrow to Seoul (ICN), with palace visits, night markets and KTX day trips.
• Manchester to New York (JFK), oriented to Broadway, food and city sightseeing, with the note that winter fares drop sharply.
• Manchester to Barcelona (BCN), presented as a weekend-friendly option with Gaudí, tapas and beach time.
• London Heathrow to Sydney (SYD), for harbour swims and coastal walks.
• Manchester to Paris (CDG), where the site notes that trains beat planes and highlights the food.

Sample fares shown on the page included Manchester to Barcelona from £34, Heathrow to Dubai from £289 and Manchester to Keflavík from £59.

Deals board: flights, hotels and experiences

A second section gathers what the site calls boarding passes, described as verified weekly, with the caveat that prices move fast. The examples displayed combined different product types:

• A flight-plus-hotel package from Manchester to Barcelona with three nights in a four-star Eixample stay for October and November dates, from £189 per person.
• A small-group Northern Lights experience in Reykjavík from £64 per person, with a free retry if the aurora does not appear.
• A five-star Dubai hotel with palm-view rooms and breakfast included, offered in a January sale from £97 per night.

These figures reflect the catalogue as displayed on the site at the time of writing and are subject to change.

How the service works

The company summarises its process in three steps. First, it tracks fares, flash sales and error-price drops across major booking platforms. Second, it distributes the deals through its social channels and by email. Third, the traveller books and pays the platform directly. The site adds that dead links are removed and that no middleman markup is applied.

Personalised deal matching

Beyond the public listings, The Travel Plug offers a free email service that matches deals to a traveller's profile. The sign-up form asks for a name, email address and dream destination, with destination options covering European city breaks, Mediterranean beaches, the USA and Canada, the Middle East and Dubai, Asia long-haul adventures, or a surprise choice. It also collects travel dates, number of travellers (1, 2, 3–4 or 5+), budget per person in bands from under £200 to over £1,000, and interests such as beach, adventure, culture, food, luxury or budget travel. The site states that subscribers receive only deals fitting their preferences and can unsubscribe at any time.

Editorial content and destinations

Alongside the deals, the site maintains sections on destinations, a blog and a contact page, and describes itself as a source for travel deals, tips and hotel recommendations worldwide. Its destination menu covers Europe, Asia, America, Canada and Dubai, with hotel categories including luxury and five-star properties.