If you are looking to go on a resort style family holiday in the UK then Haven is a good choice. There are 37 sites around the UK and it is mostly caravan based accommodation. Haven normally works out cheaper than Butlins or Centerparcs, but it can still be expensive especially in school holidays. The good news is there are ways you can make your Haven holidays a little more affordable with these money saving tips.

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Sit back and relax on your Haven holiday knowing you got the best deal you could

9 Ways To Save Money When Booking A Haven Holiday

Avoid busy weeks

Obvious yes, but it needs putting out there. Haven will always have higher prices at the most popular times because more people want to go then. Unsurprisingly these are school holidays, especially in the summer so if that’s when you want to go away, you’ll pay more. Check the prices for the weeks at the beginning and end of your school holiday dates as they may be cheaper, especially if your school has slightly different term dates.

Book well in advance

It’s not necessarily the case that the deals are any better if you book early (although they can be), but if you are looking for the cheaper caravan types they can sell out first. Find out why you might want a Saver or Bronze caravan in this post which explains the difference between caravan types. If you require particular facilities such as pet friendly accommodation or accessible accommodation then booking early will give you more choice.  Haven currently have a Price Promise so if you see you exact same holiday (same dates, caravan type and location) for less then they will refund the difference.

Check the Haven Offers Page

If you just want to get away and have flexibility on when and where then head to the offers page as they highlight where the cheapest breaks are. You are more likely to get a deal if there are 4 of you or less and you can go off peak. As an example looking at midweek holidays (in term time) you can easily book 4 nights away for a family of 4 in a saver caravan at many of their sites for under £100 or booking a little further ahead you can get a Bronze caravan (sleeping 6) for under £150. Saver caravans may only have heating in the lounge and you have to bring your own towels, but £100 is a great price for a few days away including access to the pool and free activities. 

If you are booking last minute the bad news is they don't dramatically reduce the prices. Looking at the current last minute deals the prices for this coming weekend (arrival from the day after writing this) there is a mix of prices. There are a lot of dog friendly caravans available as these aren't allocated to people unless they have selected pet friendly accommodation and there are several options for families of up to 6 for under £250 for 2 nights in Saver caravans or glamping. These look like a good price because you can't normally book for just 2 nights, but it's obviously cheaper than booking for 3 nights. 

Look for Discount Codes

Haven used to take part in Sun Holidays and other offers, but now they are encouraging people to book direct with them and they promise people will get the best price by booking on their site. There are still numerous websites that claim to have discount codes for Haven which are worth a try, but often it is just the sites advertising the deals that are already available on the Haven website. As they will get ad revenue for you visiting their page and they may have affiliate links this feels like they are cheating at bit, but as some sites may have genuine codes they are still worth looking at. 

NHS workers reportedly get a discount of around 10% so look at whichever scheme your work is signed up to or sign up yourself , I don't currently have access to check if they provide a code or not. Make sure the actual booking is through the Haven website though and enter the code on check out to make sure it’s a genuine offer. You can book through 3rd parties, but look at what that company offers in terms of guarantees as your booking will not be with Haven directly so they wont be involved if you need a refund etc.

Don't Arrive On A Saturday

Saturdays are the busiest days for handovers so Haven encourages people to arrive on other days with cheaper prices. For a week away in the summer you can choose to arrive on a Friday, Saturday or Monday, if you choose the Saturday option you can expect to pay an extra £200 or more for the convenience! Not ideal if you want to minimise the amount of time you take off work, but this is one of those saving secrets that everyone should be aware of.

Choose Your Location Wisely

Parks in Northern England or less popular sites can be cheaper even for similar facilities, so if you don’t mind driving further it can be worth looking around. It's not just up North though, Haven have 4 sites close to each other in Norfolk, but Wild Duck which is a lovely site inland costs less than the other 3 sites because it isn't walking distance to the beach.

Book The Haven Hideaway Option

You can save money by booking the Haven Hideaway option, but this means you don't get a Play Pass and can't use the swimming pool, enjoy the entertainment or book activities. This saves you more money at peak times than off peak, but if you aren’t using the facilities you might be better off booking onto a smaller caravan site or staying in an air bnb.

Book Privately

Some of the caravans on Haven sites are privately owned and you can book them via the owners which can come up cheaper. Remember you will need to buy your Play Pass separately (if you want one) so that cost needs factoring in. I talk more about the advantages and disadvantages of private bookings in this post. 

Look for Cashback

If you click through from a cashback site you can get a small amount of money back later via the cashback site. Haven aren't currently on the main sites like Quidco or Top Cashback, but some of the less known cashback sites claim you can still get money back through them. Cashback doesn't always track though and there is no guarantee you'll receive it so it's one of those things that is nice to have, but don't rely on. If you are lucky you might get enough to buy an ice cream or two.

Saving Money When You Are On A Haven Holiday

It's not just the booking of the holiday that can get expensive, but while you are there too. Here are a few suggestions of what we do to save money while we are on a Haven holiday.

💰Stick to the free activities. There are lots of them and they are fun. They include: swimming, kids club sessions, children's discos, the playground and of course the beach.

💰Bring cereal for breakfast, sandwich fillers and bread for lunch and plenty of snacks with you so you only have to pay for dinner, drinks and ice creams (although you can obviously save money on those too if you want).

💰I bring a selection of fun sweets from the supermarket and let my children do a pick n mix in the caravan to avoid having to spend lots of money on sweets.

💰Make sure you check out this Haven packing list to avoid having to buy essential forgotten items. Forgetting arm bands or floats for the pool and bucket and spades could cost you as much as forgetting to bring a coat!

💰Pre-buy tat from the pound shop. Just like the delicious sweets that will be available everywhere there will be cheap plastic toys too that your children will want, we got talked into a bubble blowing machine after everyone in a disco had one. If you can buy a few treats for very little in advance you might be saved on site. Alternatively...

💰Give your children a budget. It's a holiday after all and part of the fun is buying ice-cream, sweets and playing in the arcade. If you children are old enough (probably 5 upwards) give them a budget for their spending and let them choose how they spend it. It's funny how they are so much more careful with money when it's theirs. I previously would have given them the actual coins so they could keep track but as more places are cash free now it doesn't always work as well.

I hope these money saving tips help you make the most of your money and you have a great holiday, if you haven't booked yet then here are a few more things you will want to know before booking your Haven holiday.