I Dont Think Its Cheaper - Page 4 - DIY Holidays, Holiday Forums

I Dont Think Its Cheaper

shelly

2005-08-26 09:43:03

Well, we're off tomorrow on our first DIY and we really didn't feel we had any option - we are a family of 2 adults and 5 children - 4 boys aged 13-15 and a girl aged 12 so we have to pay full price for them on pretty much all package deals now; can't find hotels to fit us all in and villa packages work out very expensive IMO. So I bit the bullet and decided to go DIY. I have booked a beautiful villa to sleep 7 in the Jalon Valley Spain with a prviate pool and one acre of private gardens - booked direct with owner for just over £700 for the week. We have flights booked and paid a little extra to go from our local airport but still less than £1000 for the 7 of us and then have arranged car hire direct too and we have an 8 seater booked for just over £200 for the week. So we have a wonderful week planned in our own private villa with car and flights for less than £2000 effectively for 7 adults - I think that's pretty good value but more importantly, we staying exactly where we want to stay, flying from where we want, at the time we want plus it's been great fun doing all the research.

Just back from Kenya 3 weeks ago too and did many elements of this (safaris etc) DIY but booked the flights and hotel in a package and have realised how much easier and cheaper it would have been if I had booked direct!

Got the bug now - just booked a DIY weekend in Brussels yesterday and in throes of arranging a DIY weekend for New Year in Paris, a week in Las Vegas in June 06 and all 7 of us in Orlando for 2 weeks next August...it's so good to have all the additional flexibility that you get with DIY and thanks to this site, it makes the researching very much easier.

Will let you know how this first one goes!!!

Alfie

2005-09-03 21:02:47

As some other people have said - if you are a family with say two or three children, booking an apartment or villa directly from the owner, will nearly always be cheaper than booking a package. The other advantage is that instead of just one or two pictures and a short description in a brochure or on a website, you will often be able to get loads more information and photos from the owner or their website. You can then get a much better idea of exactly what you are getting for your money. The accommodation is often far superior, and much better equipped than the standard package accommodation, particularly if the owner uses it themselves. You are also likely to have your own sunbeds, so no more competing with people who get up at the crack of dawn to put their towels on the sunbeds! So even if you are not a family, and the price works out about the same there are very definite advantages.

shelly

2005-09-12 17:38:16

Well we're back and went very smoothly. We had 5 kids with us but it was one of the best holidays we'd ever had - so relaxing. We had planned so many day trips out but found that the kids just moaned that they wanted to go back to the villa and spend the day there!

There were absolutely no down sides whatsoever other than the fact that we won't be using the same local taxi service for the airport transfers! The flights, villa and car hire were just what we wanted. This was great value for money and today, we've just booked flights, car hire and a villa for 2 weeks in Orlando with the 5 kids. The total cost of this DIY package was over £1000 less than a simple FD (without villa) costs with Virgin and we managed to upgrade all 7 of us in that price too to TCD premium with 38" seat pitch...can't be bad!

Can't wait but still got Paris at New Year and Las Vegas is June to organise yet!!!! :lol:

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