What are the benefits of a package holiday?
You know everything is taken care of inside of that bubble; everything is covered. Some people are willing to pay for the convenience and fair play to them. Chances are though if you've clicked onto this you're probably wanting to know how to save as much money as you can.
Without wishing to sound like I'm bagging on package holidays the massive negative is that when something goes tits up, you have only one place to contact, and more likely than not they'll fob you off or whatever course of action will be at best delayed if forthcoming at all. The issue here is that you have already paid the travel agency your money and they are essentially a third party. We don't need to go too deep into detail for this, needless to say that the travel agency and more often than not the accomodation will (quite rightly) be more inclined to protect their own interests rather than yours. I know this because I had a temporary job at an online travel agents and when I was essentially told to lie to the customers to fob them off (ie. advise them their problem would be sorted within 48 hours if they got off the phone), obviously as a person with some decency I couldn't do that to other people even to earn money for myself.
Personally, other than the inconvenience (if you can call it that) of spending more time and doing it all yourself, I see no drawback with assembling the holiday yourself. As long as you are organised and intelligent enough to spot a good deal or a trend then you can't lose.
I'll give you my recent experience - one that I have had many times over in the past since I decided that I would use my own ways and means. I booked my holiday abroad and my mother is planning to go to the same place at the same time. She had been told by her bank that they had a deal with a travel agency where she might benefit from a discount of upto 55%.
That of course was total tosh and I went with her to see what they said - I appreciate that workers for travel agencies have a living to earn but I think they do themselves no favours by thinking everyone that comes into their shop / store is a total moron who will lap up anything that is said to them. The lady we were sat speaking to had the audacity to try and say a hotel my mother requested firstly didn't exist (I stayed there last year and have just booked again this year) and then after flight prices came up said she was "just waiting for the system to add tax". The worst thing was these are such pointless lies and as I said they don't do themselves any favours. Then when the final price got presented and it looked astronomical she said "fuel prices" were the reason.
First of all; I don't want me or my family to be entrusting upwards of a thousand pounds to someone who is so clearly stupid, second of all, I don't want to entrust that kind of money to someone who thinks I am too.
I'm convinced that nearly every holiday that you get a price for from a travel agency can be found cheaper - I don't have the time or energy to go through every possible destination here but what I will do is pick one of the most popular destinations (and one that I have direct experience with, so you know I am being straight up). The first thing you need to think of, is in the mind of the travel agent. Wherever they are making money is where you can be saving money.
If we go along on the proviso that you have been given a price by the agency and you want to manually check it out - first of all you'll have the main features of your holiday which will be the flight and the accomodation. The internet really is your friend here; the time I would have real concerns was if an agency recommended a flight or accomodation that you would not be able to find information out via a quick google search.
The biggest cons that agencies try and sting customers with is firstly the airfare which, when all else fails, they ambiguosly attribute to "taxes", and then my personal favourite, room occupancy - for people travelling as a pair agencies will always try and sting some money out of you for this when in actual fact hotels simply just charge for the room.
From the searches you should easily be able to find the prices direct from the business or service that the travel agency is using for you and compare them to the prices you were given. 99 times out of a hundred the prices you find will be significantly cheaper in total; you then have the choice of booking direct with the accomodation and flight company or taking the information you have back to the travel agents and challenging them.
The other thing you should do is google search hotels in the area you want to stay - for example, I googled "hotels on international drive" and after some searching found a map of the I-Ride trolley schedule - what a handy guide, with an itemised by number list of every hotel and where they are situated. Travel agencies obviously have working relationships with hotels and that means you're getting the best prices from their selected hotels, not the best prices in the area, and it really is worth checking to find out. Also, go to the trouble of checking out Trip Advisor to see if your hotel has been reviewed. If you have got a hotel at a good price and are concerned about the quality go and check there - even if you are put off by the reviews, there's no need to worry. If you contact the hotel yourself prior to your stay outlining your concerns you generally find the service will be improved as they are eager to please. I have done this and got little extras such as a fridge in the room when I stayed in Orlando, as well as a preferred view, which isn't always guaranteed. I would advise always being friendly and dismissive of the possibility things could go wrong as you trust the hotel, if only because it will make a good first impression and that of course is never a bad thing.
If you are going to deconstruct a package holiday to pass the savings onto your wallet you should always remember that those package holidays have several components. To ensure your holiday is complete you can just remember "FIAT" - Flights, Insurance, Accomodation, Transfers. Most travel agencies will deal with each component individually anyway so if you have problems finding a taxi firm or shuttle / transfer from airport to hotel and vice versa you can always use the travel agency for one of their recommended companies even if it's just to get the name.
You also get the added benefit of knowing if you do encounter a problem you're going direct to the source and not an agency rep who with the greatest of respect you can't trust will do what you want - the response will be quicker; you have full responsibility for explaining your issue and knowing that they are dealing with a customer, companies feel obliged to act sooner. Again, helps to do this as friendly as possible.
All this may be nothing new for seasoned internet connoisseurs but there are still a remarkably high number of people who are willing to go full whack and pay a travel agent money that is far better in your pocket. At least by applying this method you're going to know the best price and go in with your eyes open, able to challenge the fictional taxes that get added on.
There are a few websites that will help you - bearing in mind all you really need is google and the area you want to stay in, ie. "hotels in costa brava" - you should always check out what the moneysupermarket and moneysavingexpert websites too.
http://www.cheapflights.co.uk or http://www.cheapflights.com will, as you might have guessed, give you a list of the cheapest air fares from a range of companies. It really is worth the hassle; assembling yourself a DIY holiday in this fashion can shave more than just a few quid off the price. In percentage terms you're talking anywhere upto 50%, in my experience.
I would go into more detail but this is when we delve into the realm of specifics and this was meant as a general guide. If you do have any questions feel free to drop me a comment.
Any topics in general that you would like to know my opinion on, email me at yolkietalkie@yahoo.com
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