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Cheaper Way of Booking a Thomson Holiday
beachbeth
Posts: 3,862 Forumite
I apologise if everyone on here already knows about this but I thought I'd share what I know. This is only for people who are going to book with Thomson already as there are probably cheaper ways than this of doing it.
We are a party of three (two adults and 17 year old daughter) and wanted an all inclusive four star in Majorca in September for 2 weeks. We chose our hotel in Alcudia and went into the Thomson shop on our high street.
The very helpful lady in there said that the hotel in question only had rooms available for two people and that we would have to book a suite which is more expensive and the total cost was £3200 for the 3 of us. She then said she would de-package it which meant booking accommodation, flight etc separately but still through Thomson. This worked out at £2342 for the exact same holiday. Same suite, same flight, transfer to resort etc. A saving of about £900!!!
I decided to look online myself and on the Thomson website at the top you can choose "package holidays" "flight and hotel" or the "hotel" and "flight" separately. I chose "package holidays" first and it quoted me £2739, which is cheaper than the high street cost above of £3200. I then went back to the beginning and chose "flight and hotel" instead. I picked the exact same flight, hotel, coach transfer, in-flight food etc and it gave me the price of £2122, which saves us £220 on the high street price for the exact same holiday!
So if we had just gone into the Thomson shop and booked outright we would have paid £3200 but by doing it as a non package online we are now paying £2122. Quite a saving and all on the same website!!!
We are a party of three (two adults and 17 year old daughter) and wanted an all inclusive four star in Majorca in September for 2 weeks. We chose our hotel in Alcudia and went into the Thomson shop on our high street.
The very helpful lady in there said that the hotel in question only had rooms available for two people and that we would have to book a suite which is more expensive and the total cost was £3200 for the 3 of us. She then said she would de-package it which meant booking accommodation, flight etc separately but still through Thomson. This worked out at £2342 for the exact same holiday. Same suite, same flight, transfer to resort etc. A saving of about £900!!!
I decided to look online myself and on the Thomson website at the top you can choose "package holidays" "flight and hotel" or the "hotel" and "flight" separately. I chose "package holidays" first and it quoted me £2739, which is cheaper than the high street cost above of £3200. I then went back to the beginning and chose "flight and hotel" instead. I picked the exact same flight, hotel, coach transfer, in-flight food etc and it gave me the price of £2122, which saves us £220 on the high street price for the exact same holiday!
So if we had just gone into the Thomson shop and booked outright we would have paid £3200 but by doing it as a non package online we are now paying £2122. Quite a saving and all on the same website!!!
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Comments
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and if you had booked directly with the hotel and arranged the flights yourself..imagine how much you would have saved then!..the last tine I had anything to do with Thomson holidays was when I was facing their barrister in a court of law after they had lied to me (I won )....
With places like spain you are wasting your hard earned money using package tour companies..there is no need to use them in this day and age of the internet...
Hope you enjoy your holiday though
The Early bird may catch the worm ...but its the second mouse that gets all the cheese!0 -
mike_the_bike wrote:and if you had booked directly with the hotel and arranged the flights yourself..imagine how much you would have saved then!..
I know you can do it like this but Im not sure how to do it and Im a bit of a scaredy cat doing it like that incase I forget something important!!!0 -
beachbeth wrote:I know you can do it like this but Im not sure how to do it and Im a bit of a scaredy cat doing it like that incase I forget something important!!!
Take a chance, if you really do your homework you can't go wrong.
Book your flights.
Book your accommodation.
Get a decent insurance quote.
Get yourself a return transfer. Done.
I had a look at the holiday I had booked for myself and the kids, going through Thomson it was going to cost over £2,500 more, same dates, same flights, and a bus transfer (not private) with every TD&H going the scenic route 3 hours after arriving you finally get to your resort. Whereas I've booked a private transfer that takes us direct to the Apartment Complex we are staying at. Also my price also includes insurance for a family, whereas the price through Thomson doesn't, so I'd have paid £2,500 more for a bus transfer and also have insurance on top to pay for.
Hiring of cars etc, no idea as I don't drive. We just use local transport, buses, trains etc.“Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.” - Oscar Wilde0 -
hi beachbeth
i always do a diy holiday and have done 2 times a year for the past 3 years i end up saving about a grand im off in august for 2 weeks 2adults and 2 children aged 14 and 11 for 1100 quid package holidays cant beat that
dont be afraid of doing a diy holiday its easy and touch wood nothing has ever gone wrong.
i have even been skiing for a week for the 4 of us for 600 quid which is a bargain
so give it a go
hope this helps
sammygave up smoking 07/01/09 :j:j:j0 -
I booked 'diy' last year for the first time (to Cyprus) and it saved us a good £800, and we went for 17 nights, (instead of the 'normal' 14) so it gave us more flexibility too!
However, if you do book through Thomson online, don't forget to use your
discount code (found on this site!!!) for an extra £100 off, and go thru Quidco!
Happy Hols!makinprogress0 -
Hi, Thanks for your replies. My main point was that you could get a holiday so much cheaper just by using the same website in a different way! I would expect a small difference perhaps but not £900!!!
I will take heed of your advice for next year, however, and give the DIY a go. As it is, we have a two bedroomed suite with two bathrooms (which you need when you have a teenage daughter!), overlooking the beach and we are all inclusive which I think is very good for £2122 for 3 people!0 -
makinprogress wrote:However, if you do book through Thomson online, don't forget to use your
discount code (found on this site!!!) for an extra £100 off
It won't allow me to use a discount code when booking a "Build your own holiday" unfortunately. I suppose they think they've already given enough money off when you book this way!0 -
You can only use discount codes on package holidays not on BYO or flights.beachbeth wrote:It won't allow me to use a discount code when booking a "Build your own holiday" unfortunately. I suppose they think they've already given enough money off when you book this way!"Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."0 -
Can you still use the discount codes if you book flight and hotel through thomson or is it just on package holidays?If you're going to stalk me, while you're at it can you cut the grass, feed the dog & make sure I've got bread & milk in
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There's nowhere to put the code in so I'm assuming you can't use it on unpackaged.If you're going to stalk me, while you're at it can you cut the grass, feed the dog & make sure I've got bread & milk in0
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