Spain Money Saving Tips and Offers

I have just booked a return flight with Easyjet and noticed that they have now sneakily introduced a new £9 admin fee that is automatically added to the booking.  I guess this must be in response to the OFT's recent ruling about card charges?  I wonder what the OFT will have to say about this? The £9 admin fee relates to debit cards only.  There will be an additional charge for Credit Cards.

From the EasyJet website:

All bookings will incur a £9.00 administration fee. Bookings made by Visa Credit Card, MasterCard, Diners Club, American Express, Carte Bleue (domestic transactions only) and UATP/Airplus will incur an additional fee of 2.5% of the total transaction value, with a minimum charge of £4.95, whichever is greater.

This also means that it will no longer be free using a Visa Electron card.

The Sales in Spain started yesterday (7th Jan) and will run for the next month or so, with discounts of up to 70%.  We arrived at La Cañada in Marbella yesterday morning just before 10:00am and we managed to get parked no problem.  By midday, the place was packed, and as we were leaving at around 1:30pm, there were massive tailbacks on the A7, with police directing traffic.

We then headed to Malaga city, and passed the Myramar centre in Fuengirola and then Plaza Major shopping centre on route.  There were massive traffic jams at both places as well.

Despite the stress and crowds, I'm glad I went as I got some absolute bargains.  My best purchase was a pair of Nike Air Max for 50 euros, reduced from 130 euros.

A plan to ban airlines, travel companies and retailers from charging fees when people pay by credit or debit cards will stop customers being ripped off, the Tresury minister Mark Hoban said today.

Holidaymakers will no longer be charged for purchasing foreign currency with a debit card in the UK after banks were pressured into changing complex levies which earnt them more than £1 billion last year.

The Office of Fair Trading led an investigation into the banks' confusing charges and the poor information they provide for travellers after Consumer Focus raised a 'super complaint' about the practices.

It is estimated that around 40 per cent of foreign currency purchases in the UK are made using cards rather than cash, with banks charging 1.5 to 2 per cent of the amount exchanged just for the transaction. 

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Those who have spent time in Jaen, Almeria and Granada provinces will be used to getting free tapas every time they order a drink.  Outside of these 3 provinces, it is very unusual to get free tapas.  At best you might get a few olives or toasted almonds.

I was recently in Madrid and managed to unexpectedly bag free tapas in 3 different bars.  The first bar was in a town called Pinto, south of Madrid.  I ordered a jarra (pint) of beer and was given a couple of croquetas and a small hotdog sandwich.  Not the best tapas I've ever had, but I can't complain because they were unexpectedly free.

Then in Madrid city itself, not far from the Gran Via area, we ended up in a bar and ordered a bottle of beer and received some slices of sachichon and bread. 

Then the following day we eneded up in another bar in the Bilbao area (I think anyway!) and got a free montadito (small roll) with a jarra.

I don't know if this is a response to Spain's economic crisis, or if it has always been like this in certain bars in the capital.  I've certainly never had free tapas in Madrid before in my previous visits.

Just received an email from Mango saying that on Saturday 26th November 2011, there will be 25% off their entire range both online and in store.  To get the discount online, enter the following code:  5DAY2011

Last week Primark opened its 21st Spanish store, in Malaga city.  The 400 square metre store is in Malaga's Larios shopping centre, which is close to both the bus and train stations.  In total, it has created 196 much needed jobs in Malaga city.

Apparently there were hundreds of people queing up to get in, with queues of up to an hour at the tills once inside.  It's sure to be popular with both Spaniards and expats in the area.

Before the new Malaga Primark store, the closest Primark stores for those living on the Costa del Sol were Jerez de la Frontera and Algeciras.

Carrefour in Spain are selling 6 bottles of Ribera del Duero red wine for only 10 euros.  It actually works out that you get 2 bottles free.  The price per bottle is €1.67 with this deal.  I've tried this wine before and it's pretty good, especially for the price.

The offer runs until 27th October 2011, in the following areas/provinces:

Granada, Jaén, Málaga,Almería, San Fernando, Puerto de Santa María, Jerez de La Frontera, La Línea, Los Barrios, Córdoba, Lucena, Cartaya, Huelva, Camas, Dos Hermanas, Écija, Sevilla, San Juan de Aznalfarache.

Carrefour are currently selling 1 Litre bottles (Litrona) of San Miguel for only 1 euro.   At this price, it's not much more than supermarket own brand beer.  The offer is valid until 27th October 2011 and is valid in the following locations:

Granada, Jaén, Málaga, Almería, San Fernando, Puerto de Santa María, Jerez de La Frontera, La Línea, Los Barrios, Córdoba, Lucena, Cartaya, Huelva, Camas, Dos Hermanas, Écija, Sevilla, San Juan de Aznalfarache.

Ryanair customers who try to avoid the budget airline's booking fees by using its new card could be charged hefty fees unless they use it every month.

The user guide for the Ryanair Cash Passport reveals that after six months, anyone who does not use the card will be charged £2.50 a month for inactivity, while a ten pound charge will be levied every time the card goes into negative territory because of the inactivity fee.

Customers will also be charged £2 for withdrawing money from cash machines, and £4 if they try to get cash out over the counter.

From November 1, the new prepaid card the only way to avoid a £6 each way charge per person per flight when booking with Ryanair. Previously, customers could use any prepaid Mastercard  to avoid the charges.

Unlike a debit card, a prepaid card has to be loaded with money in advance before being used to pay for things and is estimated to be held by only 5pc of the population.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has proposed that charges for paying by debit card should be banned, prior to Ryanair introducing the new card.

This followed a super complaint from Which?, lodged with the OFT in March. The watchdog claimed that the actual cost to the retailer for processing card transactions was no more than 20p for debit cards and no more than 2pc for credit cards.

Stephen Heath, CEO of rival prepaid card company Fairfax, said that the Ryanair charges were "some of the most expensive on this market".

"Unlike most MasterCard Prepaid products the Ryanair Cash Passport card is free to purchase, free to top-up and free to use on Ryanair.com, making it one of the most competitive MasterCard Prepaid products available." a Ryanair spokesman said.

"However, the Ryanair Cash Passport will also provide passengers with the additional benefit of avoiding Ryanair's £6 per passenger per flight administration charge."

Source: The Telegraph/Yahoo Finance