Best Stag Do Companies: Our Reviews, Year by Year

Between 2016 and 2019 I did something slightly sneaky. I put on a fake name, invented a stag (and occasionally a brother), and asked the UK’s biggest stag do companies to quote for exactly the same weekend. Then I timed how quickly they came back, rang them up, and scored them on how helpful, knowledgeable and honest they were.

This page keeps every one of those reviews in one place, newest first, along with the new stag do ideas we rated along the way. Think of it as a changelog for the stag industry: who was on top, who slipped, and who never got back to us at all.

A word of warning: these reviews are historic. Prices have moved, staff have moved on and some companies have changed hands or closed. Red 7’s stag do business now trades as Funktion Events, and DesignaVenture has since closed down. Use this page for the lessons, not the prices. For today’s prices, compare stag do packages here.

How the reviews worked

• Every company got the same request for the same destination, dates, group size and activities.
• I timed how long each one took to send a quote, then booked a callback.
• Each company was scored out of 10 across ten categories (speed, quote quality, destination knowledge, flexibility, friendliness, pushiness and so on) for a total out of 100.
• Some of these companies had affiliate links on the site at the time. The scores were based purely on how they treated a paying customer.

Quick summary: the winners

2019: Krakow

The brief: a stag weekend in Krakow, with apartments, a vodka tasting and a session at a shooting range. I created an entirely fake identity for this one: new name, new job, new contact details. And yet again I got away with it.

The nominees:

• Last Night of Freedom knew Krakow better than any other agent and gave a convincing case for their apartments. A pushier sales approach, though, and at £277 the quote was at the higher end.
• Chillisauce came back within an hour, offered a local guide for the whole weekend and quoted a very reasonable £247. A slight whiff of the script, but a solid return to form after a wobbly 2018.
• Stagweb was knowledgeable, friendly and not at all pushy, and requoted quickly when I asked for changes. Their Krakow destination content was excellent too.
• Designaventure was harder to get hold of (they closed at 6pm in peak season) and on the pricier side. But once I got through, the agent was really on the ball.
• Red Seven was friendlier than most and completely across every detail. They’d also book your flights, which most operators won’t. A return to form.

The winner scored 85 out of 100, beating second place by one solitary point:

Planning one yourself? See our Krakow stag do packages.

2018: Edinburgh (the royal wedding edition)

The brief: with Prince Harry’s wedding on the way, I booked a stag for ‘Henry’: two nights in Edinburgh in July for a group of 8, in central self-catering apartments, with clay pigeon shooting, whisky tasting and Highland Games. I contacted 11 providers. Freedom replaced Pissup this year, as Pissup only covered Europe.

The top five:

• Maximise was the best value by a distance: £215 against an average of £252 across all 11 quotes. They were knowledgeable and not pushy, and they threw archery in on the same site.
• Last Night of Freedom was the most consistent scorer over the first three years of reviews. Friendly and experienced, and they made a point of their ABTA bonding, which protects your deposits if a company goes bust.
• Red 7 was likeable, knowledgeable and with no sales push at all. They also tipped us off about the Bier Keller.
• Designaventure had by far the priciest quote at £366, but the apartments were right on the Royal Mile. They were refreshingly honest about their £20 change fee and the £400 apartment deposit.
• Stagweb talked me out of swapping the Highland Games for rafting, because the river is too slow in summer, even though rafting would have made them more money. Integrity points.

The winner: Red 7, by a single point. That made it two wins out of three for the Brighton outfit.

More on the city: Edinburgh stag do packages.

2017: Prague

The brief: 2 nights in Prague in September, in central 3* accommodation with breakfast, airport transfers and three activities. I added Awesome Weekends, Weekend Dr and PissUp, and dropped Clear Cut because they don’t do Europe.

The winner: Off Limits, thanks to an agent so cheerful and competent that I broke my own rule and named her. Chillisauce, Stagweb and Weekend Dr tied for second.

Worth knowing: the average score was 74 out of 100, exactly the same as 2016. But the eight companies reviewed in both years improved to 78 between them. Weekend Dr also gave the best tip of the year: don’t book an activity for Sunday morning, because nobody’s getting up for it.

More on the city: our Prague stag do guide.

2017: New stag do ideas from Freedom

That year we also shone a light on Freedom Stag Weekends (established 1996) and the new activities they’d added:

• Beer Goggle Football: special goggles that make you play like you’ve had a skinful, without the skinful.
• Electric Shock Football: one all-powerful player gets to zap the opposition. Cheaper than a VAR review.
• Mud wrestling: where the stag takes on two mud wrestlers.
• Stag-lympics: multi-event games such as MegaMix, Crazy Gang and Goofy Games, for groups who want more than one activity for their money.

2016: Newcastle (the first review)

The brief: one night in Newcastle in July for around 15 lads, in central 3* accommodation with a morning of paintball. I approached 10 companies.

The winner: Red 7, by a nose, with Maximise second and Off Limits third. Red 7’s agent knew Newcastle inside out and was more interested in what I wanted than in what he could sell me.

More on the city: our Newcastle stag do guide.

2015: The best new stag do ideas

Before the mystery shopping started, we rounded up the year’s most inventive packages:

• Play with a Legend (Chillisauce): a match in a proper football stadium against former Premier League players.
• The Million Pound Stag Do (StagWeb): seven days, ten people, one million pounds. Private jets, a Scottish castle and a Caribbean island. We never did find out if anyone booked it.
• Hire an island (StagWeb): your own island for the weekend, from around £400pp in Scotland at the time.
• Bear Grylls Survival Weekend (StagWeb): hunting, raft building and fire making on SAS training ground. Bear not included.

What hasn’t changed: lessons from four years of mystery shopping

• Book early. The best central hotels in popular cities go fast in summer, and festival weekends (like August in Edinburgh) cost more and book up first.
• Use the online payment system. Most companies let each lad pay his own share and chase him for it. That saves the best man a lot of grief.
• Check the small print on deposits. First deposits were usually £25 to £50 and non-refundable. Ask about change fees, per-payment processing fees and what happens if people drop out.
• Ask if they’re ABTA bonded if you’re booking a package abroad, so your money is protected if the company goes under.
• Get more than one quote. Several companies offered to price match, and one quote dropped sharply as soon as I mentioned I was shopping around.
• Don’t book anything for Sunday morning. Trust us.
• Local knowledge matters. The best agents had actually been to the city. If yours can’t pronounce the main square, ask for someone else.

Ready to start planning? Compare stag do packages from the companies we list, or get ideas from our stag do ideas guides.