Haggling with a high street travel agent could cut up to 25% off the cost of holidays and can work out cheaper than booking online in some cases.
The claim comes from consumer watchdog Which? after visiting 48 agency branches in October looking for family summer holidays to Florida and Majorca.
The outlets included The Co-operative Travel, Thomas Cook, Thomson and a selection of independents.
Which? investigators haggled for week long holidays for a family of four, asking for money off, free extras and an improved rate of exchange on foreign currency.
The study found there was almost a nine in ten (87%) chance that haggling could be beneficial.
Thirty eight agents, that were able to sell Which? a holiday filling its criteria, were able to knock money off the total price.
The highest discount achieved was 25%, saving £736, while the overall average in-store price cut was £191 (6%).
Which? also managed to get free extras such as airport parking, child places or visitor attraction tickets in 17 of the visits.
And, of the 28 agents that sold holiday money, 13 were able to give an improved rate of exchange.
Haggling in-store for price reductions on summer holidays had a higher success rate than on the telephone.
While the face to face success rate was 83%, this dropped to 49% when haggling over the phone and the average saving went down from £191 to £150.
Of the 53 holidays available online, Which? was able to beat the internet price in 15 haggles and matched the price in five cases.
Which? editor Richard Headland said: “Eight in ten people don’t haggle over the cost of holidays, yet we found it could save you hundreds of pounds off your holiday. It’s well worth giving it a go.”
Which? issued top tips to a successful haggle:
Tell the agent you want the holiday but that it’s at the top of your budget so can they offer you a deal;
Ask them if they can offer you a reduction for paying in full there and then;
Ask them if they can throw in anything extra.