If booking DIY how far in advance should I look to book?

[Julia Ann]

Looking to do DIY in Oct 2015. When I have booked a package hol in the past i've booked 12 months in advance but I've never done DIY so don't know the best time to start looking/booking.

We will be looking at at going around 20th october 2015 (to include school half term)
Holiday Inn International (or poss Pop Century if budget allows)
Car Hire
Flight from Bham if poss or Manchester if not
14 nights.
2 adults and 1 child under 10

i know its along way off yet but saving, on a tight budget so want to make use of any best times to look/book.

 

[bazzanoid]

Car hire tends to stay static in price and is available from about 18 months out, but it's often worth waiting for a sale and book when it's a good price right up to a couple of months before you go. And do shop around on uscarhire, holiday autos, etc etc.

Same with everything - shop around for the best deal. Accommodation is normally bookable about a year out, and this one is a dice roll as you take the chance of the accommodation you want being available the longer you leave it.... but then if you can have a couple of backups and you're not too fussy, you can always find something!

Flights are available 360 days before, so for arguments sake you flew out on the 1st and back on the 14th, the flights would be available from the 20th or 21st (everybody forgets the return leg being a later date!). Same as with hotels, it's a dice roll on the whole wait-for-a-deal versus book-now-and-its-guaranteed.

Also shop about for tickets, there a fair few sites out there and they all vary slightly and sometimes have sales, grab the tickets when it's a good deal as with car hire. Don't leave it any later than a month before, because while they won't sell out, if you're ordering from a site that sends out actual tickets you need time for them to get here. Or more to the point, time to get a second set sent should the worst happen and they get lost in the post!!!

Most flight sites offer holiday insurance, it's always more expensive than booking independently through something like moneysupermarket so do your homework on that as well!

I know it sounds daunting, but it really isn't once you get into it. Make a spreadsheet with everything on along with a schedule of what to be done when, and you'll be fine! Plus everyone here will support you as well, any questions or concerns just ask before you press the BUY button!

 

[CAROLINE4]

For our holiday at end of April we booked everything 3 weeks before! We got a villa from owners direct which was great. We got car hire through a comparison site and flights from monarch in their sale! Price wise we saved a fortune doing it this way, however, if you are including school holidays I would probably get accommodation and flights booked and wait to get everything else when offers are on!

 

[Elise79]

Flights are released 11 months from the return date. Car hire is about a year in advance as are hotels.

I tend to book accommodation & flights then sort everything else out in bits after. Never book car hire more than few months out as prices tend to drop a bit closer in.

 

[bex7583]

its soo tricky , i had originally been keen to book and wanted to do it as soon as my required dates were available but having looked at more last minuite flight prices and seen how big the savings can be i would now be tempted to hold on as long as you possible can

i have never booked diy either but think this has to be the only way we will be able to afford it

at least you are planning for 2015 so can have another good 18 month saving and then start looking

weare also on a tight budget and its soo boring but i have to have this holiday happy saving and enjoy planning

 

[Kath2003]

Book whenever you see a price you're willing to pay.
For flights, I've booked 11 months out, all the way up to a few weeks before.
Hotels - you could easily book on arrival or a day or two before.

 

[T16GEM]

This year we booked our flights on the Thursday morning and flew on the Friday, we booked everything during that day and everything turned out fine......however I wouldn't recommenf leaving it so close to the wire!

I would echo what other posters have said about booking when you see a price you are willing to pay, this is the only way really, once I have booked I don't tend to keep going back to see if things have changed etc as I can't do anything about it now!


We book our tickets with Undercover Tourist as we have always found them to be the most competitive, bear in mind that Disney usually increases prices annually in August by around 5%.