As travel firms get well into their January sales, we here at
Discount Insurance offer you advice on finding the best holidays at the best
prices.
Despite a general trend towards later and later booking,
January is still the peak booking time for summer holidays – especially for
families. As a result, hundreds of tour operators, airline and travel agents
are trying to grab your custom. Like all businesses, they know that the best
way to get your attention is to promise incentives and discounts. They also
hope that you won’t take the trouble to compare prices too carefully. But if you do, you may well find a better
deal.
Here are some points to watch out for:
Discounts
Discounts
When we see the words ‘discount’ or ‘special offer’: it
always makes you feel better about the price you are paying. But a discount is
worthy of the name only if it represents a true saving on the price that is
normally charged.
The trouble with travel is that such “fixed” prices are
now quite rare. Airline, ferry companies, hotels and tour operators charge
whatever price they think they can get in the current market. And this month
you will also find many travel agents promoting discount and deals.
To ensure savings here check the bottom line once all the
extras have been added. And then only will you know if that represents the best
value by getting quotes from several sources.
Added extras
Added extras
Five nights for the price of four, a free extra week,
upgrades – all these booking incentives can be worth having. As with a
discount, however, you will only know what the ‘extra’ is worth, after you compare the
deal as a whole with what is being offered by competitors.
Low deposits
Low deposits
During these ‘sale’ periods there is a clever ‘soft sell’
approach designed to reduce the amount you have to pay upfront and so tempt you
into committing to book.
Particularly, just after Christmas, when money is low,
they can seem an attractive way of securing the holiday you want without having
to pay a full deposit. But you may still end up paying the balance a long time
after departure.
Look at the small print on the Thomson website, for
example: its low deposit is reasonably attractive - £150 for two adults. But
you have to pay the rest of the deposit (another £250) eight weeks later -
which is compulsory, regardless of cancellation. And pay the remaining balance
in 14 weeks time which is still more than three months before departure!
Free child places
Free child places
These are normally offered by big tour operators on
family trips where a child will be sharing a room. Since the two adults will cover the cost of
the room in any case, the only things ‘free’ are meals included in the board
basis, and the flight, but they can still represent a decent saving.
On some holidays, however, especially in self-catering
apartments, the value of a ‘free’ place is seriously undermined, since the children
concerned do not count towards the ‘occupancy’ of the apartment or room, so the
adults in the party have to pay an extra ‘under-occupancy’ supplement that they
would not have had to pay had the children not taken a ‘free’ place.
This is one of the most long-standing and unfair
techniques of holiday marketing and it’s time the industry changed its
practices. In the meantime, check the total cost of the holiday before
comparing prices.
Villa extras
Villa extras
Typical extras include bed linen, pool-heating,
electricity use, and a hefty fee for cleaning at the end- watch out for them in
the small print; they can all make a big difference to the final price.
Hire car charges
Hire car charges
From a customer’s point of view, the hire car market is in
a mess. The extremes to which hire companies and brokers have been going to try
to make their prices look cheaper are getting ridiculous, and there are several
issues to be aware of before you book.
Most importantly, do not assume that the lowest price will lead you to the cheapest car. It probably won’t.
The additional costs of insurance, excess waivers and petrol
really add up.
When at the dealership be sure to question the age and
quality of the car you get and the service you receive at the local office will
all make a huge difference to the true value of the deal.
Travel Insurance
Travel Insurance
Buy your insurance at the same time as you make a travel
booking – then you will be insured if you are forced to cancel through illness
or other eventualities covered by the policy.
Checked baggage
Checked baggage
The difference that baggage charges can make to the cost
of your flight has been well-publicised in recent years.
But if you can’t get by without a suitcase weighing more
than 10kg, you will need to cost it into your price calculations. For example,
although it has cut its rates recently, on some route in peak season Ryanair
will charge you £45 return to check in a 20kg bag.
Credit card charge
Credit card charge
This is another charge that can be added legitimately to
an advertised price. It’s not just airlines that levy it; many tour operators
are also adopting it, adding up to 2% to the cost of your holiday if you
choose to pay be credit card.
Price-match promises
Price-match promises
Firstly, not many people bother to check prices once they
have booked a holiday – which is what you need to do in order to take advantage
of the price promise. The chances of finding an identical holiday are also very
limited.
For example, the Virgin Holidays Price Match Guarantee,
will either match a lower price or offer the option of cancelling your holiday
for a full refund ‘if, within 48 hours of booking with us, you can supply a
copy of a brochure, or a written quote from any other ABTA Tour Operator
holding an ATOL license, offering an identical holiday which is available at a
lower price than you have paid us’.
But the holiday really does have to be identical – down
to the same dates, flights and extras such as car hire, car size and insurance.
Virgin also excludes a list of ‘special offers’ that it doesn't promise to
match, and also excludes offers from companies which sell ‘primarily online’.
As a rule, don’t take a price match as a guarantee of low
prices. You will do better to compare rates before you buy, and get the best
deal that way.
Categories: holiday deals, january