Package Holidays - Pricing, value and general confusion

[pilchardthecat]

So whilst i am quite well travelled I haven't really ever bought a package holiday.

Have looked at a few and the pricing is all over the place - I've seen the same holiday via 3 different companies (same hotel, flights, dates, board etc) for £4800, £3600, and £2800. Then you see 5 star hotels cheaper than 4 star hotels in the same resort.

How the hell are you supposed to decide what is good value? For all i know the £2800 one is a rip off too.

How does one approach the thing when the pricing is all over the shop?

[steveo3002]

if it was me , check what flight is inc and if its direct and with a suitable airline you like the sound off

then use tripadvisor to check the hotel reviews , then see if you can book it seperate for cheaper

[Melman Giraffe]

steveo3002 said:

if it was me , check what flight is inc and if its direct and with a suitable airline you like the sound off

then use tripadvisor to check the hotel reviews , then see if you can book it seperate for cheaper

Do this

[mgroadster]

We are like you, and besides about once, never as a rule booked a package deal.
We've always sorted our selves out and mostly driven around Europe. Yes we've cruised, but never booked a 7/14 night job via package deals.
The reason?.......I have always been happier to make our own arrangements than to book via an internet package only to find that whilst you are there, the company goes bust, you get thrown out of your hotel unless you pay them up front because the holiday co. hasn't paid them etc. etc. Booking via the Net can be like crossing a mine field, because somewhere there will always be a tiny sentence that takes all blame away from the booking co.
So many companies are hitting the deck these days.

[excel monkey]

pilchardthecat said:

So whilst i am quite well travelled I haven't really ever bought a package holiday.

How the hell are you supposed to decide what is good value? For all i know the £2800 one is a rip off too.

How does one approach the thing when the pricing is all over the shop?

Surely a suave, well-travelled, Alan Whicker type such as yourself would have an idea of what the return flights cost, and how much you would be prepared to pay per night for a hotel, based on its description and amenities.

If the package price is comparable to the total of this amount (or perhaps a little higher), then go for it.

Booking everything on the internet is great, but it can leave you exposed if you have a complicated itinerary and stuff goes wrong. A few years ago, we went on holiday to Peru via Miami (there are no direct flights from the UK to Peru), booking everything separately on the internet. We got to Miami without incident and enjoyed our overnight stay, but the next day our flight from Miami to Lima got cancelled. With only one flight per day, and everyone from our cancelled flight fighting for the same seats, we were stuck in Miami for two more nights, buggering up our hotel bookings and our internal flights in Peru.

We had good quality travel insurance from a reputable company, but we got nothing out of them in respect of our Peru hotel and travel re-arrangement costs. Their opinion was that they only covered the outbound flight (London to Miami) and it was our problem. If we had booked the whole lot as a package deal, we would have been in a much better position.

I would still book stuff independently if I was just going on a simple holiday, say a fortnight in Europe at a single destination, with direct flights and minimal onward travel. But for long distance multi-centre holidays in "dodgy" regions where delays and cancellations are common (i.e. most of Africa and South America), I'd stick with a package and pay a bit extra for the convenience of dealing with a single company rather than a number of different airlines/hotels.

Edited by excel monkey on Friday 29th July 10:36

[pilchardthecat]

excel monkey said:

pilchardthecat said:

So whilst i am quite well travelled I haven't really ever bought a package holiday.

How the hell are you supposed to decide what is good value? For all i know the £2800 one is a rip off too.

How does one approach the thing when the pricing is all over the shop?

Surely a suave, well-travelled, Alan Whicker type such as yourself would have an idea of what the return flights cost, and how much you would be prepared to pay per night for a hotel, based on its description and amenities.

Not really, mainly because my travelling days really ended about 10 years ago, when (a) i changed my career, and (b) got bored of running away from myself

The last significant overseas trip i did (8 months in India) i got a one way outbound ticket on a charter flight for £74. Package holidays seem to want £1,000 for return flights to spain for 4 people. (ie; pricing has changed a bit)

[excel monkey]

pilchardthecat said:

Package holidays seem to want £1,000 for return flights to spain for 4 people. (ie; pricing has changed a bit)

Flights have got a lot more expensive recently. Higher oil prices and greater aviation taxes mainly to blame.

Even flights to somewhere like Spain can easily cost £150-200 per person if you're only booking a couple of months in advance and want to take luggage and travel at a civilised hour of the day.