I realise that there will not be an 'answer' to this but I would like to know what others have done and experienced please.
We usually manage to get away in late Jan/early Feb each year for 1 or 2 weeks holiday in the sun, hot !
We decide where we want to go, find the hotel we want to stay in and book, either with our good , local travel agent or on-line. Always a comfortable, good class hotel.
Normally we would have booked by now but this year we thought that we would leave the booking until a little later. Reason is that a number of companies are now discounting their winter sunshine breaks. Bearing in mind that we will want a particular hotel, how late do you think we can gamble ?
All the dates we want are still available on web sites and some with discounts now. Should we wait longer and see if prices fall further but then run the risk of not getting in where we want or will most places have room this winter ?
What have other people found when they have tried this..success or not ?
As I said, there is no 'answer' but your experiences if you have tried this ploy would be welcome.
Many thanks.
Brian
If the hotel you want to stay at is available now at a reasonable price I would book now.
I used to wait until 3 weeks before going to book but I have found the hotel we stayed in last May on Thomas Cooks website at a price for May 2010 for less than what we paid this year.
I have booked it as the price is great and I cant see how it can come down any more in price nearer the time.
I used to wait until 3 weeks before going to book but I have found the hotel we stayed in last May on Thomas Cooks website at a price for May 2010 for less than what we paid this year.
I have booked it as the price is great and I cant see how it can come down any more in price nearer the time.
find the hotel we want to stay in
This is the important bit of your post. If you know where you want to go & you find a price that you think is reasonable then I'd certainly go ahead and book now, while its still available.
Hi Brian, I hear your dilema I'm in the same boat really, have been researching our march 2010 hols to mexico for a little while ( about 6 months now !) and have now narrowed it down to 3 hotels and the prices have been quite steady ( pretty good prices really ) now they've gone up by a good £300 ! aaargh ! so am biding my time too in the hope they'll come back down to what they were, but it is a bit of a lottery, so am gonna check on a daily basis, think that may be the answer and when I see the holiday at a price I don't mind paying, then am booking straight away and never looking at the price again !!! ( if it goe's down in price after I've booked , am always gutted !!)
We always used to book late deals. This time we decided to book early because we saw our hotel on a holiday programme on tv, and thought it looked great. I had a peek at the thomas cook website last night and discovered our holiday is now £200 per person cheaper than we paid. I don't mind really as we got what we wanted, but now not sure next time whether to book early or late.
Thanks for all the comments and experiences.
I think that I will wait a little longer, and see what happens (fingers crossed).
Cheers
Brian
I think that I will wait a little longer, and see what happens (fingers crossed).
Cheers
Brian
Although getting a room in your favourite hotel might not be a problem, most tour operators are cutting down on the number of flights/seats on flights they have available because of a drop in bookings due to the recession, so you may find the flights get sold out for your chosen dates if you leave it too late 
If there was a particular hotel & date and price that you were going for then I would go for it now, I booked my April 2010 in April this year, as I wanted a specific Hotel, resort date etc and got a brilliant deal with the t/a for early bookings.
It would be a shame if you missed out on the holiday you wanted.
It would be a shame if you missed out on the holiday you wanted.
Delaying the booking hoping for a good late deal is probably not as feasible if you want to stay in a specific hotel in a specific resort. If you widened your options by having a contingency plan of a 2nd or even a 3rd choice of holiday destination and hotel then you start stacking the odds in your favour to get a good late deal. Personally, I would also price up the cost of the flights and accommodation separately as that is another option that could also save you money, possibly even more than any late deal might.
Hi Brian, well, I had to go and book mine today as I went on one website to see if I could do d.i.y for our mexico holiday, and it was flashing up ' only 5 seats available' for the particular flight I wanted, now, I spoke to my mate who knows about these things and she said it would mean that only 5 seats were available at that particular price, the prices were only going to go up and up, so, I bit the bullet and went ahead and booked and I was happy with what we paid, so I would say now to you, if you want a particular flight and hotel, sort it now pal !!!!
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