Who do you book with?

[jen_uk]

Ive been pricing up another trip in August and I was just wondering who everyone uses to book their holiday with?

We have always booked with Virgin but people seem to say on here loads that they have got fantastic deals by going with other people or booking each part of the holiday separate. I have priced up 15 nights staying at POR, flying with Virgin and 2 x 14 day ultimate passes and if booked direct it comes out as about £3200 (including our 10% FF discount). I have priced up with TCD, Thomas Cook, Thompson and BA and they all seem to be around the same price.

How do you all get your bargains??!! Please share the secret!!!

 

[ely3857]

Last year we booked everything with TCD and it beat everyone else hands down, we browsed the internet and high street for days but nothing came close.

Next trip will all be seperate although we may get flights & car together.

Looking, looking and looking again is the only way to get a good deal.



Jodie

 

[jockey]

I find VH hard to beat! I priced my next trip with BA - they were £400 more expensive and Thompsons were approx £1000 more!

 

[jtlover]

Last year and those before I have booked independently, but this August we have booked with Virgin holidays as it was cheaper than getting the flights with virgin atlantic

 

[wifey]

On our trip in "05 we booked through First Choice who had the right holiday for us at the right price. Last year we booked with Virgin holidays (same reason) for this summer, they had some great discounts at the time and since then we have managed to get a Disney hotel instead of an offsite hotel for £60 less than our original cost, all we needed to do was request a change of hotels on our booking and pay one admin fee and it still worked out better for us and now we'll be right in the heart of it all

 

[Chilly]

I booked with Expedia last year. I have found www.Americas4u.co.uk to normally have good prices although so far I have not booked with them.

 

[Haworthfamily]

We booked our flights directly through BA - DH is an exectutive club member due to work and we get a good price £324 flights for April this year.

Villa we booked through, villarenters and then as we are returning to villa again this year we booked through the owner and got a 10% discount.

good luck
Sarah

 

[wideeyes]

I booked with VH as with the 10% FC discount the were cheaper than others.

 

[CustardTart]

Always end up booking with Virgin Holidays - 10% discount means I've never been able to beat their price. Doesn't stop me from trying tho'...

 

[spincandy]

We've always booked with Virgin- we were willing to pay a bit more for the service we got. But last year we booked with TCD twice and couldn't be more impressed with them. We saved a bundle and didn't notice any difference in the service we got! For the price of economy in Virgin we travelled Sunshine First with TCD and got all the perks!

 

[BingsingsWaltDisney]

very interesting looking at some of the comments, as i had nothing better to do i did a little research on prices at a given date and number of people flying these are my conclusions

first i said that the date would be as near to 9th august 2007 (school hols)
4 people travelling (adults so you may save with children)
staying at the POP or All Stars

Virgin - 2 weeks - Manchester-orlando 09/08/07 - 23/08/07 4 x adults
Pop - all car ins £5052.90

First choice - 2 weeks - manchester 04/08/07 -18/08/07 4 x adults
all stars - all car ins £5679.00

Thomas Cook - 2 weeks Manchester 09/08/07 - 23/08/07 4 x adults
Pop (could not get quote for all car ins) £4080.00

Tompson 2 weeks Manchester 11/08/07 - 25/08/07 4 x adults
Pop (could not get quote for all car ins) £5064.00

TCD (travelcitydirect) 2 weeks Manchester 09/08/07 - 23/08/07 4 x adults
Pop all car ins an amazing £3574.00

I could not believe how cheap TCD was and had to check it twice

there could be cheaper ones out there but i dont think you'll get much better than TCD

hope this helps

 

[fizz13]

Now thats very interesting harry, thanks for doing that I'm shopping around at the mo, have already booked the hotel direct with disney, but expedia seem to have a few good deals booking flight and hotel together and United Airlines are coming out on top for air fares. what a fun little game this is

 

[Strommie]

We have booked seperately for the last few years. On our last trip, we booked our flights directly with Virgin, and our hotel directly with Disney. However, if we saw a package that was right for us, we wouldn't say no When we have decided when and where we want to go, I just scour the internet for days and days looking for good deals. Luckily, I love doing this

 

[jdybnsn]

Last year we booked everything with TCD and it beat everyone else hands down, we browsed the internet and high street for days but nothing came close.

Next trip will all be seperate although we may get flights & car together.

Looking, looking and looking again is the only way to get a good deal.



Jodie

I had exactly the same experience last year when booking a fly drive ...however I have noticed that their prices are alot closer to the competion's prices (though still cheaper) this year.

That said, we will probably be looking at Virgin this year as we don't want the set in stone 14 day package that most other operators offer...we are going for 16 nights hopefully, in 2008.

 

[jen_uk]

I priced up 2 weeks with TCD and its only about £200 than Virgin, when other people book with TCD they seem to save £££ tho!!

 

[ely3857]

I priced up 2 weeks with TCD and its only about £200 than Virgin, when other people book with TCD they seem to save £££ tho!!

I can't remember what the difference was last year but it was significant, but when I browsed for Sept 25ish for two weeks (flights only) to get a inkling of what it may be next Sept TCD were only around £100pp less than VA. This does add up when our travelling companions are 2 adults & 2 children (classed as adult fare) though.

There was definately a bigger difference for our holiday last year but we booked 13 months in advance which for me has always been the magic number when booking.



Jodie

 

[jdybnsn]

I priced up 2 weeks with TCD and its only about £200 than Virgin, when other people book with TCD they seem to save £££ tho!!

Just what I am finding this year ........you are not alone ...perhaps things will improve shortly though ......this is traditionally a peak time for booking holidays, so perhaps they are all taking advantage of this and not giving too many discounts at present ????.

...or perhaps TCD have realised they can increase their prices, and still be the cheapest ????

 

[ely3857]

Just what I am finding this year ........you are not alone ...perhaps things will improve shortly though ......this is traditionally a peak time for booking holidays, so perhaps they all taking advantage of this and not giving too many discounts at present ????.

More than likely, January blues and all that



Jodie

 

[DisneyJo]

I just priced up our VH this August with TCD and it came in at £20 cheaper but had worse flight times and at least I know what the Virgin planes are like. I would love tips on getting a cheaper price though. Maybe it's harder as we always go in August and the travel agents hike the prices up.

 

[sammyteach]

The first year we went- 05- with VH (3 weeks) and originally booked a 2 centre 3 week hol with them we changed this (long story) to a flight with them and booked our accomodation which saved us a lot.
Last year we booked a fly drive with TCD (2weeks)and again booked our own accomodation and this was a good price lot cheaper than VH and the service was ok all on time etc.

This year we are flying with Globespan (3 weeks)from Glasgow (Yikes) and booking everything ourselves again. It is approx a 1000 pounds cheaper on the flight alone and we get to do all the fun research about where to stay. We find this way very flexible for us