Tesco vouchers on virgin VS DIY ...cheapest?

[princessmummy]

Hi there.
I am planning a trip for my family Me DH DD1 (now 11) and DD2 (now 3)at easter 2013 (yes I know its a long while in the future but was planning to save my tescos vouchers up)

It has suddenly struck me though, that I can probably DIY book and save more than the virgin brochure price Minus around the £1000 or so will have in Tesco vouchers by next spring. GRR Now can only get 3x value not 4x as originally...

I am comfortable with the whole DIY planning/ booking thing etc.

Does anybody have any experience of getting REALLY good deals with virgin when using tesco vouchers or should I just give up and DIY book?

Thanks for your help....

 

[princessmummy]

prob should have mentionned trip to WDW. Prob staying in a villa offsite!

 

[2Tiggies]

First of all, is there something you would rather do with your Tesco vouchers if you don't use them to offset the cost of a trip? I wonder if it would be better for you to save up your vouchers anyway and then see as soon as the prices are released for 2013 which should be sometime near the middle of next year. There is really no way of telling what will be best this far out. It will also depend on how much your vouchers are going to be worth in rewards by that time, i.e. more or less how much do to expect to collect in points?

Personally, I have never found VH to offer me a good deal - or even anything near good and some of the quotes have been downright laughable. However there are others who have benefited from some great offers on VH packages and come out even better with reward vouchers.

I know this is not much help, but maybe by asking yourself a few of these questions it will give a starting point for others to comment.

 

[starrysky]

Hi
I agree with 2tiggies in that I have never found Virgin to be a good deal at all. We have also looked into Airmiles and BA miles and never seem to have enough or there are never enough flights or dates available suitable for us to use. Where are you flying from and would you mind doing a multi stop flight or do you just want to do direct? Netflights and sites like these are a good place to check for flights and check the airlines main sites as well.
Or the alternative is to use a site like Quidco where you get cash back for booking through them and its free to sign up.

My best advice is to just keep checking the flights etc on a regular basis and see what sort of prices you are getting on villas and car hire.

There are lots of people on here who do find Virgin to be a good deal so its up to you what you think is a good deal.

We have booked DIY the last twice and found that its worked out way cheaper than some of the package deals we could find. Just make sure your travel insurance will cover if you book DIY.

 

[B2B-2008]

I'm saving my tesco vouchers so will be interested in the answers to this question. We only have £77 worth so far and we are looking at Sept 2012. Its my understanding that you can't use them and your flying club discount at the same time but I'm going to talk to the virgin lady tomorrow to confirm.

DIY is looking the best option to us at the moment as Virgin have priced us out of going with them

 

[princessmummy]

Thanks to all who have replied to this so far:

The real sticking point for us is I will have to decide before the end of 2011 as thats when my first Tescos vouchers need to be exchanged by... and I don't want to swap them for virgin vouchers only to find that I could have saved more by doing DIY......

We would prefer direct flights as DD2 (who will be 5) is a real fidget bum and we want to get there as fast as possible > Plus DH doesn't DO queues, waiting, travel etc.... so we need to get there ASAP with as little faffing around as possible.

I read somewhere that I can use by Tescos vouchers for Cosmos/ airmiles. has anyone done this? I am beginning to feel that the £1000 I will save on the virgin bottom line prioce will still be more than doing it another way!

Thanks for your comments so far!

 

[orangetiggs]

virgin is very expensive at the moment and their quotes for next year

I however did get a good deal with them last oct for this oct

I'm paying 2900 for 2 adults and 2 infants for 14 nights staying in 1 bed villa at old key west with 14 day passes and free disney dining plan

this has saved us over 3000 compared to any over deal as it includes flights as well

disney direct wanted 2300 just for the villa, tickets and dining plan

this was all thanks to a post on here mentioning a possible glitch and i had the money to book so booked it quick in hope it wasnt refunded! thankfully all is well and we are going in less than 240 days!! not that i'm counting!

 

[higgy66]

As far as I'm aware you can't use your 10% Frequent flyer discount & Tesco deals so we've never found using our clubcard deals worth it - better spent on other deals and taking the 10% discount.

We booked with the same glich as Orangetigs after a tip off on here and the price we booked at £4500 is now coming out at £8400!

Prior to this we had found Complete Orlando were the cheapest for what we wanted and then we would have had to find flights when the 11 months were out. I think we';ll be looking at these for 2012.

By the way if you want to extend the date on your vouchers you can always order the virgin holday deals and then return them and say you couldn't get your dates and then the vouchers are converted back to points and the 2 year date starts again. I've done this twice

 

[Dizneemad]

It will be all dependant on how many vouchers you have. " year ago I got a complete 2 weks at the Animal kingdom lodge paid with Tesco vouchers plus free dining with Disney so a big saving. Due to the restrictions of only £750 per person now I have a 10 day trip to California booked with £1500 savings leaving me to pay £600 another good deal.
Have a look around at ways of getting more tesco points to boost your options.A web site called paid to shop has good tips and all the best deals on offer but I must admit Tesco's have closed the loopholes in getting points for free.
Also be aware that yes you can use your vouchers with Cosmos but when you enquire suddenly you are not off the brochure price but some made up prices that they quote which basically gives you no discount for the vouchers. With Virgin the prices quoted in brochure or web site are the price you will be given.
Hopw this is of some help and not added to your dilemma.

 

[T16GEM]

We always do DIY, but this year we had lots of vouchers to use from Tesco so we looked at doing the exchange, at the time we did it it was 4x the value. We got 17 nights in a villa for £3400, we used £2800 of vouchers leaving us the remainder to pay.

We won't be using VH again through Tesco though, now that the value has come down to 3x I just don't think that the deal is that good anymore. It would cost a lot more than a DIY in my opinion.

You won't be able to use any other discounts what so ever if you choose to use your vouchers, we had booked our package when they were offering the free Universal Studios tickets with any 7 day stay, they confirmed this to us on the phone but then when we booked we were told that the assistant on the phone had told us wrong information, they didn't honour the free tickets but they gave us them at half price instead which we were happy with.

If I were you I would weigh up the savings - if you convert your vouchers I'm sure that you can change them back too so you won't lose them in you decide not to use them.

 

[heatherbelle]

Now that VH have reduced the amount that you can put towards your holiday, there isn't much point to be honest. You will be able to get the holiday far cheaper DIY than booking with VH.

For example last year alone, the Beach Club cost 1800 less with a DIY than with VH. So once you have taken off 1100.00 for two adults, you are still paying more.

I was fortunate, in that most of my holiday was paid with vouchers. I think from memory the whole holiday only cost 1900, and 720 of that was park tickets. Not bad for a 6000.00 plus holiday.

I will be taking our last VH next year, I managed to book before they lowered the limit and got 2100 against the booking in vouchers, but I'll still probably end up paying around 3000.00 cash towards that. I have booked for Easter 2012, but I intend to move this to August, once the boys can decide what they want to do. FDDP, or NY and Las Vergas, or go to the far east. I may have to pay some dosh to move the holiday too, unless the new holiday costs more more and then I think they do it for free.

There are a couple of cruise companies that you can pay in full for your holiday with Tesco vouchers, if you have loads, so that may be worth considering instead of Disney.

 

[princessmummy]

Thank you all for your helpful advice.

Its so difficult to price up in advance now, as I can't compare THIS easter coming (its too close and the flights are OUCH expensive). I have been comparing Xmas deals as it seems Xmas hols prices are around about the same as those at Easter....
at the moment its looking around the same for VH with vouchers and DIY for an offsite villa, flydrive but obviously will keep checking......
I suppose its just whether the convenience of VH (and not wanting vouchers for anything else) outweighs the pain in the bum off all the responsibility of the DIY.

DH delights in asking on the way to the airport " are you sure you got the date right?" "are the passports valid" and the best one "are you sure you really made the booking" He's SO funny!

 

[2Tiggies]

DH delights in asking on the way to the airport " are you sure you got the date right?" "are the passports valid" and the best one "are you sure you really made the booking" He's SO funny!

Oh so he's the one who keeps the calm in the house then

Honestly, I would just keep saving the vouchers anyway and wait until prices are out and then assess the situation. I did DIY for our October trip this year and it really wasn't a hassle at all. I booked the hotel and tickets with Disney directly and then booked the flights as soon as they were out. There was really nothing else to it. And as for price checking, you do that anyway if no matter how you book.

 

[london75]

Thank you all for your helpful advice.

Its so difficult to price up in advance now, as I can't compare THIS easter coming (its too close and the flights are OUCH expensive). I have been comparing Xmas deals as it seems Xmas hols prices are around about the same as those at Easter....
at the moment its looking around the same for VH with vouchers and DIY for an offsite villa, flydrive but obviously will keep checking......
I suppose its just whether the convenience of VH (and not wanting vouchers for anything else) outweighs the pain in the bum off all the responsibility of the DIY.

DH delights in asking on the way to the airport " are you sure you got the date right?" "are the passports valid" and the best one "are you sure you really made the booking" He's SO funny!

One thing you could look at was what we did a couple of years ago.

I booked my flight and a villa for 3 weeks via VH using 1200 Tesco vouchers and some cash then booked the rest of the family (2 more adults and 2 kids) directly with VA. EDIT: That was before the per person limits so if you have an infant, you might want to put them on the VH booking so you can use more vouchers.

This gets you the best of both worlds although by my calculation I only saved around £600 over doing it all DIY so the 3x 4x debate is moot as in this case all I could squeeze out was 2x value.

Now what we do is just convert them where possible on mundane things we need like dry cleaning etc and put the money we would have used in a jar. that then becomes a very real 3x benefit off a DIY holiday which is cool.

 

[T16GEM]

I really like booking DIY as it is so flexible. I very much dislike package holidays, being tied to 7 or 14 nights and having the accomodation allocated when you get there aren't that much fun!

I love the research and planning that goes into a DIY and just remember that here on the DIS there are SO many helpful people who will answer your questions to make sure that it's all ok and that you book the right things!

 

[Chilly]

Now what we do is just convert them where possible on mundane things we need like dry cleaning etc and put the money we would have used in a jar. that then becomes a very real 3x benefit off a DIY holiday which is cool.

I love that idea

 

[princessmummy]

I am just bumping this back for anyone else who is interested in my progress as the dates are due to be released soon......

Have been doing Tescos Xmas shopping this week! LOL! as the swines have reduced the number of points you get now....

Good job tescos sell so much now. Basically if you're in my family, you're only getting a present if its from tescos (this year)

will keep you all posted on progress.

Checking tonight villas and car hire seem to have come down a bit on DIY since I last looked. Obviously flights not out yet.

 

[Kath2003]

We've looked at this but Virgin's prices are so bonkers that there's no way it's worth it for us - we saved £900 per adult just on flights by booking with a different airline - Virgin wanted more than our entire holiday cost just for the flights?!? Still, someone must be buying those flights because they're showing as sold out

 

[martinrmn]

I have to be honest, we have always used Tesco vouchers to book with Virgin. We have always saved money this way and had good holidays. Not happy Tesco have changed to 3x the value. We are looking at booking next year on I drive and Wilderness Lodge, about a week in each. We are 2 adults one child. Including car hire, free DDP and tickets its about £5500for May. Haven't booked yet as this does seem a lot of money. Seems to be a lot of DIY talk. As every £ is a prisoner what are the best DIY options?

 

[daipp]

We've booked 3 of our 11 WDW holidays using Tesco vouchers and we are currently saving for a fourth. Basically, you pay what the brochure price is - no discounts. For our last holiday, we managed to get free hotel and parking BUT that was a mistake which they have agreed to honour.

David