Haggle Down Your Holiday Costs Discussion Area

shinydoc

When you book a holiday, some people say I am a little OCD as I literally spend ages checking, looking, rechecking and looking at options. You need to be flexible and be aware of the ‘systems’.

I usually take the DIY approach and usually save big, and continually check afterwards, which drives my party nuts cos, "but we've already booked!" It's still nice to understand the systems pricing calendar, and even if you haven't got the absolute best deal this time, you can learn for next.

People say to me how do I get the deals I achieve, and the simple matter is, it is hard work constantly checking and being flexible, it doesn't come easily, but sometimes there are lucky opportunistic deals.

I have 2 real holiday passions, cruising and Florida.

For Florida…

I always use many flight search engines (eg, Skyscanner, Momondo, Kayak as a minimum, but there are others like Kiwi and Hopper) You MUST use a private browser mode so that cookies don't track your interest, as that will affect price. So, before you search again, close the browser and open a new private window before searching the same again. This is called 'Incognito mode' in Chrome, my browser of choice, but all browsers have them.

You will then need to check each one of the top prices for the cost of baggage, as they are all different! Think about can you share checked baggage? BA for example have a really generous hand luggage allowance, so this year 5 adults are flying from Gatwick Direct to Orlando in August for £307 each and we only have one checked bag for liquids etc, as we have a villa with washing facilities so can keep washing the clothes.

Think about other Airports that you can use, at departure and destination, as you can be amazed about savings to be made, but you need to trade off and minor inconvenience. My preferred Florida choice is Gatwick and Orlando, but I have used Southampton, Manchester, Stanstead, Heathrow, out and Sanford, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, Miami. You can also save loads by having one stop in your journey too. You need to understand the timings in that if you stop in the US, you clear customs and immigration there and the last leg is internal, so get your bags and go! On the return most direct flight back to the UK leave late afternoon/early evening, and you will have to check out by 10 ish, so why not leave and be on your way, rather then wait around with a car load of luggage.

Also, think about travelling on days other than a Saturday, even going on a Friday can save loads. Also remember that some Airlines like Norwegian don’t supply anything free whilst on board, like meals, so maybe take a meal deal from the airport or sarnies. The last Norwegian flight I took, the people next to me looked on at my sarnies with envy as they tucked into their paid and disappointing airline meal!

I usually have a villa and this can be sourced from eBay, Trip advisor, and many other villa vendors on-line by searching your favourite search engine. Don’t be afraid to email the owner and ask, you might be surprised at the discount you may get. This year we have a 5 bedroom Villa in Kissimmee, within walking distance of the huge WalMart, Aldi, Steak n’ Shake, Chick Fil’A etc for £900 for 2 weeks in August. The villas also has an airconditioned Games room with Pool table, Air Hockey, etc, Sofa and TV

Car Hire is another search you need to do and spend time on and I would suggest leaving booking this until last, as these prices can vary +/- £50 on a daily basis for a 14 day rental. I usually use the big engines like Skyscanner, Kayak and Money Maxim. Other are available, but I also use Money Maxim for Excess insurance too. Again, this year in August we have 14 day hire of an SUV using Dollar on Airport for £289

For Park tickets, the very cheapest is to suffer the time share presentations when you are there, sourced from booths at the outlet malls! I know what you are thinking, but they are really cheap and presentations are regulated by Federal law and they have to let you go after 90 mins. So 7am start, free breakfast, tickets in hand and on your way to the parks by 9! That said, I have given up on those after doing them for over 10 years and use a UK ticket vendor. There are several available using your favourite search engine, but after you have found your cheapest, use the on line chat to see what you can achieve. To be honest we don’t do Disney any more, so stick to Universal And Sea World Parks combos - £340 each each this year

So to sum up for this year, and most years are not that different, I have managed to achieve Airport Taxi transport to Gatwick for 5, Flights, Car hire, Villa and Park tickets for c.£950 each. The only thing you need is food and fuel. I don’t think that is a bad deal for 2 weeks in Orlando, Florida in school holidays?

Don’t forget to get your cheapest travel money using a fee free Debit card like Starling and get Cash Back in WalMart. ATMs in the US usually charge a fee.

For Cruises…

I must be subscribed to every mailing list possible and literally must get over a 100 emails nearly daily with offers. My philosophy is to be flexible and opportunistic here and keep looking for the deals and when you find one that fits, do more research! In my experience, most of the time, is is usually cheaper to book the parts separately, but this depends on if the cruise line are using their own airline, or one they have chartered specifically. One example is that P & O often charter to Barbados and sometimes when you look, these flights are virtually ‘free’! Use the advice in Florida above when booking flights.

When booking separately, you need to be mindful that if the flight doesn’t get you there in plenty of time, you are on your own and rely on insurance, so be sure to take this into account with timings. An example is that flight from the UK land in Florida in the afternoon, the same time as cruises depart, so really you need to be looking at flying the day before and staying overnight. Check your hotels, for complementary Airport and port transfers, but be careful that you don’t pay more for the hotel to get these ‘free’. The Hotels that offer these port transfers usually have a return deal too, which may be cheaper than a cab, so do your homework first. In my experience using Uber or Lyft is much cheaper than a cab, but some cabs are regulated in what they can charge from Port to Airport. So check, recheck and research on forums like TripAdvisor.

For the cruise itself, you can use Cruise Critic as a search engine for the starting prices, and you will soon see that the prices are so volatile between agents! When you have an agent that you think is cheapest, work with them to get more discount and you can play the same agency off against themselves. I recently had the best prices from one agent and they couldn’t do any better, but using different details, had another colleague for the same agent working on prices and they bettered it by £50 – not bad on a £700 (Discounted price) cruise?

Watch as some agents advertise low and then when you book there are loads of ‘fees’ - I don’t want to mention any names, but there is a big name one who add things like baggage (who goes on a 2 week cruise without baggage?) ATOL fee (?!), and then a ‘Booking Fee’, and sometimes more. A recent practice is to give a discount when paying with a debit card, which is the same as charging more for using a credit card, which they are legally limited in what they can charge now. I often put in fake details until I get the to payment page, so that they don’t have my details should I change my mind.

A few recent examples are a 14 night Transatlantic Solo on Royal Caribbean from Port Everglades to Soton for c.£1000, inc flights/baggage/hotel – this was half the price of the package deal. A Celebrity 11 night Western Caribbean for 2 people with $150 cabin credit for c£1000 each inc Flights/baggage/Hotel – this was 30% on the best package I could find.

If you like cruises and do a few, then consider getting some shares if you can afford it. Carnival offer shareholder cabin credit for their whole fleet, inc Carnival, Princess, Holland America, Seabourn, Cunard, Costa, Aida. Royal Caribbean do the same, but their shares are more tricky to acquire as they are not traded on the London Stock Exchange.

Apologies for a rambling Brain dump post, but I hope that you may have found at least some helpful points.

MSE_Laura_F

Hello, holidaymakers. 

It's been a while since this thread was active and I'm keen to know if holiday haggling is still a thing. Have you had any success calling up travel agents and asking them to beat a price?

Thank you. 🏖️

MSE Laura F

MATTR5

Hi Laura 

It's not exactly the same but Im the Travel Agent who beats the prices on the Beat My Quote! Travel Agents Thread here on MSE ( https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/509598/beat-my-quote-travel-agents-thread/p1236 )

Quite a few people message me on there to beat prices and we have had some great successes - just today I booked a lady with Neilson Beachclubs and saved her over £750 (admittedly it was a big £15k booking) but even on smaller bookings, especially Jet2holidays and TUI holidaymakers are haggling as such via me and getting a result 
If you want any more info or examples feel free to send me a DM

I am a Travel Agent

I’ve sent you a PM

My company’s ABTA/ATOL numbers are G9172/6053. MSE doesn't check my status as a Travel Agent, so you need to take my word for it. You can check my ATOL with the CAA. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Travel Agent Code of Conduct.

Bicycleman22

Hi Matt I have noticed you manage to bring prices on holidays quite often. Can I ask something ?.....You always say for example.....all booked with Jet 2 so like for like....What does this actually mean ? Is the contract then with Jet2 or is it with you using Jet2 ? If any issues/ changes  arise are they dealt with by you with a possible extra admin fee or would communication be direct withJet2. I am guessing it wont be directly with Jet2 as the contract seems to be with you and the company would not deal with this.....I hope you dont mind the question....Thanks

MATTR5

Bicycleman22 said:

Hi Matt I have noticed you manage to bring prices on holidays quite often. Can I ask something ?.....You always say for example.....all booked with Jet 2 so like for like....What does this actually mean ? Is the contract then with Jet2 or is it with you using Jet2 ? If any issues/ changes  arise are they dealt with by you with a possible extra admin fee or would communication be direct withJet2. I am guessing it wont be directly with Jet2 as the contract seems to be with you and the company would not deal with this.....I hope you dont mind the question....Thanks

Hi - no problem - all good questions
So I'm a Travel Agent G9172 and if I book you with e.g. Jet2Holidays they are the Tour Operator - the whole package will be with them and your contract for Travel Services will be with them - im the introducer as such - we have our own terms of business as well mainly over when you have to pay etc etc but I work with Midcounties Coop so all standard stuff 
Any changes/admin come through us from jet2 and there is no charge for us dealing with that - You can speak to Jet2 directly and you will have access to your booking on their website and App under "Manage my Booking" but any extras must be added via us - its a bit like if you order a new car from a dealers and then decide to add some extras - you'd request them via us 
There is no extra cost because you came via us at any point - I make my money from the original sale and im happy with that - if you change a few things it's normal - sometimes people see a room upgrade they want or decide to book seats after all - but if you change 50 things i might get fed up and next time id politely decline any new bookings from you but I've only had to do that 3 times in 25 years 
I can check you in and email Boarding Passes if you like or you can do that yourself (most people do it themselves) 
Finally - if any news comes in that might affect you - eg Terminal changes, new taxes in resort, a change to entry rules - we will make you aware, and again it's no extra charge - I advise a lot these days on Passport Validity, ETIAS visas from next year, local taxes, etc etc -
I work on low margins but I work from home so I have no shop or staff to pay for - I love my job  and work maybe 3 hours a day (I don't do searches for holidays I just Pricebeat) so I have an easy job and a lot of repeat customers (inc many repeat customers from MSE) and im pretty happy - Any more questions just shout
Mattr5 

I am a Travel Agent

My company’s ABTA/ATOL numbers are G9172/6053. MSE doesn't check my status as a Travel Agent, so you need to take my word for it. You can check my ATOL with the CAA. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Travel Agent Code of Conduct.

Bicycleman22

Thank you all very clear and as I have noticed previously a good deal can be had going through you. I am sure others will be interested in your reply as well.