Hints and Tips for the year 2005

[thefoxes]

Hello Again Everyone.

Well i have not been on this forum now for some months, but i have got the itch !!!

After speaking to the boss (my wife), we have decided for another trip to Florida in July 2005, only this time i want to book it under my own terms and conditions not a travel agents. I want to sort it out prefferably in the next months 3-4 months.

Can anyone pass on any tips and hints of where to get cheap airflights and villas from - basically to cut out the middle man !!

Thank you in advance for all help received.

 

[keswick1uk]

Don't forget you have another alternative to use a package operator and book online. Virgin holidays give a discount for booking online and we found their prices excellent. Even with the deals for flight only and hotel booking on the net around at the moment (we go in two weeks time) I cannot beat our package price which we sealed in June 03.

However, the villa and flight prices via virgin in June 2003 were considerably more expensive than we are paying in a hotel and so, if that is your plan, I would think you could do a better deal by sorting individual elements. Just don't discount that alternative, thats all.

I would certainly not use a high street agent ever again.

 

[Sue F UK]

Definately book all the elements of your trip separately. Great flight deals can be had online (although many you cannot book until 11 months prior to your trip) Booking your villa direct through the owner can save you alot of money and you also have the bonus of knowing which exact villa you will be staying at before you travel.

There are masses of threads on the forum for booking both flights and villas along with car hire. tickets etc. Just do a search and see what comes up.

Happy planning

 

[vernon]

While it's possible to make an advance registration for flights more than 11 months ahead, usually you can only get the guaranteed booking at 11 months or less. In my experience you pay more to book that far ahead. If it's school holidays you're looking to book you'll have less flexibility than before the stampede. Keeping up with the flight costs for this year on the dates you plan to travel next will give you an idea of how the costs ebb and flow. It's a complicated balancing act between getting the best price for tickets and the comfort of knowing you've booked your seats. Outside of school hols you can usually afford to leave flights to 8-10 weeks ahead of travel and be fairly confident you'll get flights to your destination ( or close i.e. Miami or Tampa) even if it means a connection but it does depend on how jumpy ( or more to the point how jumpy the missus gets) you get not having the flights in the bag. If you're going in school hols I probably wouldn't leave it more than 6 months ahead of departure to book flights. The more you keep up to date with flight costs this year, the better informed you'll be to what looks a decent deal next year.

For acommodation there are so many villas that are privately owned and operated you'll have no problems booking them after you have your flights secured, IMHO flights are the more important detail to have set.

For flights I keep in touch with http://www.ba.com expedia and ebookers. Accommodation there are many villa websites but with the strength of £ at the moment you should get better deals next year than available at the moment. It's worth checking with some US rental companies to see what they are charging compared to bookings from owners as the UK owners may keep the same price (in £) they have been charging for the last few years, while US based organisations will have become markedly cheaper than they were. I used http://www.pr-vacation.com to manage my house when I owned one and found them very professional, you can use them as a guide to see if their prices are in line with those of villa owners. If you've not rented a villa before ( or only used a UK based company) you may prefer to use a US based company for a little extra insurance, in the unlikely event the villa you booked proved incompatable with the needs of your group. Renting through a company you have a much better chance of being moved to a more suitable unit, booking direct from an owner makes this a much more difficult manoevre.