any tips on reducing holiday price

[grazywalker]

Probably going to book our Florida holiday for next October this weekend or next week.Now I am rubbish at bargaining and just accept what I am told but this is not going to be a cheap holiday so do any of you have any ideas or examples of how you saved money.

I am going to First Choice in Cheshire Oaks.

 

Thanking you in anticipation

[Captain]

Leave the wife and kids at home, it'll save you a lot.

[Sweeney287]

Get some prices from the net and they usually price match, especially if you are spending thousands.

[grazywalker]

Leave the wife and kids at home, it'll save you a lot.

 

Now I like that one.

[Spy Bee]

Why are you going to a travel agent?

[Dirk]

Skeet can often find decent deals as he works in the industry.

[Remmie]

Not sure if this works for Florida but certainly works for Europe - go on teletext, have a play with the dates and destinations until you can find out the cheapest deal. You then need to phone up their operators and get the airline and hotel out of them. Book the flights separately and the google the hotel and pay for that separately. In December I went to Malta for a week and flights plus accommodation cost me £35.

[L19red]

1. do your homework, shop around and get more than 1 price.

 

2. Find a feature in another holiday package that you dont really care about but make out its a sacrifice for you to give it up.

 

3. sometime they'll tell you the price really isnt negotiable, but in those circumstances some extra's might be. If you know for sure that you're going to a theme park when you are out there then maybe you'll strech your finances a bit and buy the theme park optional extra but you cant really afford that full amount now, if they can move a bit on the overall price you might be able to find a bit more money that will go to the travel agent in the UK, and not to someone in Florida. Make the overall deal more attractive to them and you're in a better position to negotiate.

 

NB if they CAN, you MIGHT! when you're haggling thats a much better position than I will if you will.

 

4. if you've never booked through this agent before tell them its your honeymoon and the kids are hers from a previous marriage, they'll always throw in free bits and bobs for honeymooners.

[Nick Leeson]

get me some possible dates and I'll see what I can do; better make it quick though as I only work in the travel industry for another 12 working days after that I assume all my logins will be changed so I won't have access.

[Nick Leeson]

1. do your homework, shop around and get more than 1 price.

 

2. Find a feature in another holiday package that you dont really care about but make out its a sacrifice for you to give it up.

 

3. sometime they'll tell you the price really isnt negotiable, but in those circumstances some extra's might be. If you know for sure that you're going to a theme park when you are out there then maybe you'll strech your finances a bit and buy the theme park optional extra but you cant really afford that full amount now, if they can move a bit on the overall price you might be able to find a bit more money that will go to the travel agent in the UK, and not to someone in Florida. Make the overall deal more attractive to them and you're in a better position to negotiate.

 

NB if they CAN, you MIGHT! when you're haggling thats a much better position than I will if you will.

 

4. if you've never booked through this agent before tell them its your honeymoon and the kids are hers from a previous marriage, they'll always throw in free bits and bobs for honeymooners.

 

They don't throw in anything, their accommodation providers will have specials already laid out for honeymooners.

 

They absolutely can negotiate on anything as they make, on any package, their own agent line and the commissions provided by the tour operators.

[elvis]

get me some possible dates and I'll see what I can do; better make it quick though as I only work in the travel industry for another 12 working days after that I assume all my logins will be changed so I won't have access.

 

Howabout 2 adults 2 kids first week in june ???

Anywhere considered :drool:

[grazywalker]

Why are you going to a travel agent?

 

They have shiny brochures .I love shiny things

 

I don't know really .I guess it is lazyness.Someone said it is easier to but that is the reason I asked on here as you always get a good set of answers to most questions,even the real serious ones.(bear,monkey,knife)

[elvis]

Not sure if this works for Florida but certainly works for Europe - go on teletext, have a play with the dates and destinations until you can find out the cheapest deal. You then need to phone up their operators and get the airline and hotel out of them. Book the flights separately and the google the hotel and pay for that separately. In December I went to Malta for a week and flights plus accommodation cost me £35.

 

What did you think of Malta Remmie?

[Nick Leeson]

If you want it as cheap as possible then forget a travel agent, find it yourself online.

 

It's difficult to say how to get the best deal that's right for you as everyone's situation is different.

 

The more bigger your party is the more I'd suggest paying that more to go with somone who's ATOL bonded. Just in case one of the companies involved in your package goes bust. That's not the same for 10 lads who are going to ibiza together. In that case I'd say get it as cheap as you possibly can but if you party is a reasonably sized family and you want to include everything in your price before you go then I'd say go with a major tour operator who is ATOL bonded.

 

First of all you need to see which type of flights go to the destination. So if it's a euro city break then you want to find which of the no-frills carriers go there and get your flight as early as you can because they start cheap and increase in price as the departure date gets closer.

 

If it's a charter destination such as somewhere in the med, cancun, or the caribbean then you want to start looking around a month before you travel as this is when the flight prices fluctuate the most. Often they'll hit their lowest point about 10 days or so before departure as the flight mght have quite a lot of seats left to fill so they drop the price then raise it again as all the last minute bargain hunters start latching on to.

 

In many cases the price a couple of days before take off will rise to more than it was when it first went on sale.

 

skyscanner.net will give you accurate routing and pricing for all combinations of no-frills and charter flights from and to most destinations.

 

oh just to note, no-frills flights are only published up to around 9 months before departure, charter is around 18 months; so you can't get flight prices beyond those thresholds.

 

The absolute cheapest way to book your flight for either charter or no-frills is to watch skyscanner.net then once you find your flight book it directly with the operator, not from some other site as they'll charge you some commission or other.

 

If you want to go to somewhere that only has published/scheduled flights such as the far east, canada, australia, etc then the best way to get them is whenever a season starts.

 

All the major travel companies recieve periodical special contracts intended for them and their 3rd parties, the biggest set of these generally come in around January. The cheapest way to get these flights is to get an ITX fare. An ITX is a heavily discounted flight that is only available if you take an accommodation element along with the flight. So buy flight + accomm and you get a sweet flight price which is always the biggest cost element in one of these unless you're staying somewhere really exclusive in the Indian Ocean or something similar.

 

Simply following the tips above should save you a few bob on any holiday so long as you stand your ground once you get on the phone to the callcentre.

 

For cheap Med and Caribbean packages though, many companies are now offering discounts for booking online. They are usually a real discount and not a fake one where they just threw it into the price because they want the average flight + accomm sales to go through with the minimum of admin.

 

Accommodation is easy as the prices are generally very static and follow date bands so it doesn't matter when you book, the hotel would still be the same price if you booked it 6 months before you were going or 6 days before you were going. they basically have low, mid and high seasons so the price is dictated by the time you decided to go, unlike flights which are constantly changing.

 

If your holiday is an uncompicated package then either package it up yourself and minimise the cost but slightly increase the risk. Not really an issue with most flight companies but can sometimes be a risk with smaller hotels incase they go bust or fuck off with your money.

 

If it's an uncomplicated package and you want ATOL bonding then I'd recommend globallatedeals.com, it's one of the sites the company I work for operates and is pretty cheap, is bonded and is easy to use.

 

That site is to be superceded by beachcollection.co.uk very soon and is a bit more powerful and will allow you to search for an even cheaper deal but again I'd suggest using skyscanner.net to find the right flight and then book it with whoever you feel most comfortable.

 

Once your package starts to become expensive and there's a high number of you going, it's time to start considering if you want to pay what the travel agent is asking because they simply do all the work for you and your arse is generally covered for a lot of situations. If you can afford it, it's what I'd recommend to be honest.

 

They WILL be making a fair bit of wedge on your booking but you get to pay it in installments and booking it all yourself online, often doesn't give you that option so you have to save the cash up and be doing a lot of checking and make sure you still have it available when the price is right.

 

Having said that, you could probably save an amount making it worthwhile so if you really want to do it yourself and are happy with the risk then use seligo for excursions and tickets to things like theme parks, I think I found AVIS to be the cheapest car rental company, holiday taxis to be the most competitive for transfers and the methods above that I suggest for flights and accomm.

 

It's not hard just make sure you keep it all in a word doc or something so you know what prices you saw, to wher, on what date and which site you saw it on. Then keep tallying it all up to see how the prices are changing. Maybe even take one of those that you packaged up to a travel agent and see how close to it they will go if you still want to make sure you're ATOL bonded.

 

I didn't actually intend this post to be so long but as I said there's a lot of factors involved in finding the best deal.

[Flying Pig]

Why are you going to a travel agent?

 

 

Great point Adam.

 

Firstly I would trawl the internet (ooer) and use this as a negotiation tool. If anything you'll get a price promise or similiar offer.

[bigredruss]

Why are you going to a travel agent?

 

online for best prices and take in the price to see if they can match it, that's what i used to do

[Remmie]

What did you think of Malta Remmie?

Yeah I had a really nice time and I think it was a good time of year to go. Low season, still sunny, deserted beaches, a fantastic coastline and getting around the island is easy on the bus. Obviously the time of year I went meant it was only £35 return (4 star hotel did I mention?). Getting pissed with a mate in an otherwise empty Paradise bay was a highlight. Not quite as cheap as some other med locations in terms of food and stuff, but considering what I paid staying and getting there, it was definitely worth it.

 

Have you got anything booked Elvis?

[elvis]

Yeah I had a really nice time and I think it was a good time of year to go. Low season, still sunny, deserted beaches, a fantastic coastline and getting around the island is easy on the bus. Obviously the time of year I went meant it was only £35 return (4 star hotel did I mention?). Getting pissed with a mate in an otherwise empty Paradise bay was a highlight. Not quite as cheap as some other med locations in terms of food and stuff, but considering what I paid staying and getting there, it was definitely worth it.

 

Have you got anything booked Elvis?

 

No i havent as yet , i would really like to go to Malaysia again , but the prices for flights are a bit steep for 4.

My wife wants to go to France, or northern spain, but i would prefger somewhere new Malta Cyprus or Sardinai perhaps.

Its only a june break so the cheaper the better really.

By the way , who did you fly with ?

[Remmie]

No i havent as yet , i would really like to go to Malaysia again , but the prices for flights are a bit steep for 4.

My wife wants to go to France, or northern spain, but i would prefger somewhere new Malta Cyprus or Sardinai perhaps.

Its only a june break so the cheaper the better really.

By the way , who did you fly with ?

Ryanair. If you are going on the cheap, you should try out what I suggested above with undercutting teletext. Book now to save money.

 

I stayed in this place: Travel Republic - Cheap Holidays, Hotels and flights to Tenerife, Alicante, Las Palmas, Dalaman, Egypt, Greece and much more

 

Although as you can see the price is a little more if you go in June!

 

Being flexible with dates will help.

[Remmie]

1 week in Malta flying from Luton, staying in a 4 star hotel twin room with B&B looks like costing £630 for some random week I picked in June (12-19th). Seems quite a lot to me, but then I'm used to just paying for myself and going whenever (usually out of season).

 

If you do your research you may find far better, this was just copying my holiday.

 

If you do go to Malta, beware those evil words - Timeshare meeting!

[elvis]

1 week in Malta flying from Luton, staying in a 4 star hotel twin room with B&B looks like costing £630 for some random week I picked in June (12-19th). Seems quite a lot to me, but then I'm used to just paying for myself and going whenever (usually out of season).

 

If you do your research you may find far better, this was just copying my holiday.

 

If you do go to Malta, beware those evil words - Timeshare meeting!

 

I will give it a go this morning, what im really after is cheap flights as i prefer to find accom. through Ownersdirect and such like. That way we tend to get a little bit more space if we can find an apartment (self catering)

Cheers Remaldo.

ps. How did you find the cost of eating out etc.?

[Remmie]

I will give it a go this morning, what im really after is cheap flights as i prefer to find accom. through Ownersdirect and such like. That way we tend to get a little bit more space if we can find an apartment (self catering)

Cheers Remaldo.

ps. How did you find the cost of eating out etc.?

We went out most nights and it totted up but wasn't too bad. I'd say it was about 30% cheaper then here. Depends on your standards I suppose. As a veggie I was limited on my restaurant opportunities.

 

As for flying Ryanair only fly from Luton to Malta.

 

Budget Airline FlightChecker tells you when to go for the cheapest price: MoneySavingExpert.com is a good cheap airline checker

 

Some low cost airlines you might not have heard of that fly there include British jet and air Malta. Easyjet fly there from Manchester as well.I can't remember if Thompsonfly go there.

 

What's ownersdirect about then - you get some good deals?

[elvis]

We went out most nights and it totted up but wasn't too bad. I'd say it was about 30% cheaper then here. Depends on your standards I suppose. As a veggie I was limited on my restaurant opportunities.

 

As for flying Ryanair only fly from Luton to Malta.

 

Budget Airline FlightChecker tells you when to go for the cheapest price: MoneySavingExpert.com is a good cheap airline checker

 

Some low cost airlines you might not have heard of that fly there include British jet and air Malta. Easyjet fly there from Manchester as well.I can't remember if Thompsonfly go there.

 

What's ownersdirect about then - you get some good deals?

 

ownersdirect is a web site where property owners all over the world , advertise their houses , apartments etc and you just book direct with them.

We booked a place in spain last year and all went well.