How do you book and find your holidays?

meester

Just curious how people go about it?

I usually decide about a month before that I want to go on holiday. This is always in a school holiday, though sometimes slightly off the peak, because my son's school has longer holidays than state schools.

In the last three years we have ended up in:

Zante (Greece) (July 2005)
Marrakech (December 2006)
Centerparcs in England (April 2006)
Tenerife (Easter 2007)
Grenada (January 2008)
Centerparcs in Holland (Easter 2008)
Fethiye (Turkey) (May Bank 2008)

as well as our 'planned' (for family or other reasons) holidays which were to:
Amsterdam (December 2005)
Singapore, Burma and Indonesia (June 2006)
Nevada and Arizona (October 2006)
Singapore and Indonesia (July 2008)

The holiday to Zante was a last minute package which cost about £600 for the week for 2 adults + 1 child including the 'surprise' Thomson accommodation, which was self-catering, and nice enough, with a pool, but a 15 minute walk to the beach.

That was booked the week before looking for a last minute package bargain. Since then haven't booked any more packages.

My 'find a holiday plan' now (except centerparcs, which I probably won't go to again) consists of:

www.skyscanner.net
search for flights from London airports for my dates. Look for cheap destinations that are to my taste (usually sun, sea and sand).

Then finesse on price, by researching all the airlines that fly to my destination, and checking their websites individually. I then often end up booking out and return legs on different airlines.

After I've found the flights, I then look at tripadvisor.com for recommended hotels, and try and book the nicest one, but usually spend hours comparing prices on different websites to try and get things cheaper.

At the moment I'm trying to book a holiday to Sharm-el-sheikh for a week from December 13th. The Hyatt Regency looks lovely http://sharmelsheikh.regency.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp, and having contacted Monarch for flights, they told me to contact Lockwood, who have it at £434 with flights from Gatwick, which is extremely reasonable, as the hotel is £100+/night, but they want to charge for £425 for my 6-year old son, sharing the same room, which is a joke.

I'm sure I'll sort it out in the end, I don't really want to go to the Canaries again....

Anyway, poll attached.

dmg24

None of the above.

Have no set dates and no set destination.

See a bargain to somewhere I'm vaguely interested in, check I'm available, and book it. Difficult to do it this way if you have commitments.

Tarry

None of the above either. I just look around for ideas to be honest.

Moonchild

None of the above as well. Sorry!

meester

It does take soooooooooo long. Trouble is I'm too stingy to pay a penny more than I have to (albeit that I usually end up booking at the last minute), even if I waste a lot of time doing so.

Latest annoyance, Olympic are selling a package based on Monarch flights for 7 nights H/B for £254 inc. transfers, exact same flights from Monarch cost £265.

And while Olympic have upgrade options, I don't see why 7 nights B&B in Le Meridien costs £403 * 2 for 2 adults (£298 for the room upgrade), or £403 * 3 for 2 adults and a six year old (£447 for the room upgrade). If I booked the room separately, the cost would be exactly the same whether I brought my son or not.....

meester

dmg24 wrote: »

None of the above.

Have no set dates and no set destination.

See a bargain to somewhere I'm vaguely interested in, check I'm available, and book it. Difficult to do it this way if you have commitments.

Yes...... The bargain holiday to Grenada was actually a 'deal' to St Lucia, but I forgot my son was at school, so I had to reschedule. Fortunately, and I'm not giving much away now that they have gone bust, they didn't charge me any more, even though my dates were more expensive.

mandragora_2

Regular summer holiday - book the ferry as soon as we've plumped for dates (Plymouth/Santander); about a month before ring Marie, and check we can have our pitch (12 euros a night, inc elec) hitch up the caravan, drive to ferry, arrive in Spain, drive for about four hours to Les Landes, park, pitch, get out the bikes and ride to le bar. After few weeks, if we get bored, leave the caravan where it is, stick a tent in the back of the car, and drive till we see somewhere we fancy, and pitch. Again, bikes out and find le bar.



Mhmmmm. Can't wait.:D



The rest of the year - if we can afford it, and if something takes our fancy, see what's cheap and local (Bristol or Exeter), book it and go. With/without accommodation; a long way ahead or last minute - have tried all, love the flexiblity, and because we know that the summer will be a good one, just enjoy the rest as it comes!

Currently, can't wait for Feb - himself is off skiing (Poland, booked when cheap flights were released, months ago) & me to Pisa with my mum for a week, as I'd rather have teeth pulled than go skiing ever again.

meester

meester wrote: »

It does take soooooooooo long. Trouble is I'm too stingy to pay a penny more than I have to (albeit that I usually end up booking at the last minute), even if I waste a lot of time doing so.

Latest annoyance, Olympic are selling a package based on Monarch flights for 7 nights H/B for £254 inc. transfers, exact same flights from Monarch cost £265.

And while Olympic have upgrade options, I don't see why 7 nights B&B in Le Meridien costs £403 * 2 for 2 adults (£298 for the room upgrade), or £403 * 3 for 2 adults and a six year old (£447 for the room upgrade). If I booked the room separately, the cost would be exactly the same whether I brought my son or not.....

Ah, that's slightly better.

Olympic sell flight only as well. Same flight, only £204.

Still think that hotel rooms should essentially be charged by the room, not by the person.

dzug1

meester wrote: »

.

Still think that hotel rooms should essentially be charged by the room, not by the person.

They are (well nearly always) if you book them as rooms rather than as part of a packages


As to the poll - well I've done all of those at different times. It only allows one answer though

Blue264

I get offers of free holidays through work so that has been how I've chosen for the past few years.
Before that, I always choose where from a list of places that I've always wanted to visit and the list gets longer every day.

conradmum

Destination is the most important thing to me, rather than sun, sea, sand. I can't lie on a beach all day and spend all night in a bar. There are lots of places I want to see before I die so I'll pick one then book the flights a long way ahead to get the cheapest fare.

The time until the holiday is spent doing loads of research on what to do, where to stay etc. Well, it's as much daydreaming as research!

Never had a holiday that disappointed doing it this way.