Package holidays are all-in-one tour operated holidays with the flight, connections and accommodation all included for one fixed price.
If you can afford to be really flexible with the date of your holiday then even greater bargains can be had. When booking with a tour operator you are protected by the Air Travel Organisers Licence if anything is to go wrong with the holiday.
Package holidays are perfect if you don’t want to organise any of your trip and want it all done for you. You can read reviews of your accommodation and resort on websites such as undercovertourist.com .
Booking a Package Holiday
If you can book your holiday a few weeks before (i.e. last minute), or 9 months in advance, you can make huge savings. Package holidays are well suited for sunbathing or skiing holidays.
- Remember that different companies will sell the same holiday. Tour operators make the holidays and travel agents sell them, meaning that different travel agents can have the same holiday – shop around for the best price.
- The best way to make savings is to go when others don’t. As a student , you can go in contrast to peak season by going away at the end of the summer (Sept)
- Search on teletext, this can often be cheaper than the internet. If you don’t have teletext use teletext.co.uk
- Examine your Sunday newspaper; most have travel sections which show the best prices from independent local travel agents. Compare the price in the paper and on teletext to ensure you have the best quotation available for the starting point of you haggles with the high street agents. Do have a look at comparison websites such as travelsupermarket.com to get an idea of what the starting price for haggling should be. Both sites have databases covering every major tour operator in the UK – around about two million holidays per site.
- Holidays shown on teletext are usually phone operated agents. Once you have conducted your research you can phone to book directly, and haggle with them. When suggesting a price to the agent, give your ideal price as a figure per person – it sounds less to the agent but will probably be more to you.
- Phone the agents– Thomas Cook and First Choice all have direct numbers. Try looking at their website for extra information that they can provide such as info on no-go areas or building work currently ongoing near the hotel. Have a look at a review website to ensure the reality of your holiday matches up to the brochure pictures – holidaysuncovered.co.uk.
- Take your quotation back to your initial travel agent and see if they can match and/or beat it. It is even better to use an “aim to beat quote” travel agent in the first place. Try travelcareonline.com.
- If you are going to be booking online make use of Quidco , or a cash-back website if possible, and your cash-back credit card to gain even more savings
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Organising your Holiday Yourself
These are holidays where you plan every detail yourself – from the flights, to car hire, to accommodation. These are perfect holidays if you like to be in control of what you do and when, and especially good if you want to do something which is different, and maybe of the beaten tourist track. See the cheap hotel and flight sections for information of how to do this in the cheapest manner possible.
Some budget airlines fly to the cities further afield in Canada and America; if you pre-plan early enough ticket prices can be really cheap. Keep an eye out for newspapers adverts for seat sales, in some cases the flight will be “free”, all you have to pay is the aviation tax.
To download the free tourist guide before you go, helping you to plan what you want to do and see, have a look a:
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