Booking honeymoon direct to save £££?

Mrs_Y_2B

My fiance and I are planning to go to the Cook Islands for our honeymoon in October. We've found the resort we want to go to after some recommendations from a Travelbag advisor, and I've contacted the resort direct and got a great deal - £700 cheaper than booking through Travelbag!

Only thing is - we wouldn't be covered by ABTA or ATOL if anything happened and I'm wary of booking direct as details can get lost in translation: I don't want to find out that my brilliant deal is too good to be true too late!!

Any advice on booking direct to save some hard earned cash?
Thanks

miamoo

I wouldn't risk it with it being your honeymoon, its going to spoil it if your worried about companies going bump etc. Especially in the current climate.

dacouch

There aree some travel insurance policies that now include cover for cancellation if your travel provider eg airline or accomadation provider eg hotel go bust.

You would probably save money by using them for your travel insurance

becominganobsessivesaver

Pay the deposit and for the flights by credit card and you should be fine.

I really hope you plan to spend some time on Aitutaki - it's fabulous. We stayed at Etu Moana - it was truly the most special place we have ever been.

becominganobsessivesaver

Forgot to say we did it all on our own - the resort was fantastic - had everything in writing via email, plus I think we only paid the deposit until we arrived.

Moonchild

Why not take the quote direct to Travelbag and see what they can do? If they contract the hotel directly, they would not want to be undercut, so they could well try and do something to match the price.

Also double check that your price from the hotel is full inclusive. I see a lot of 'the hotel is cheaper directly' type comments but 80% of the time the price:

a) Doesn't include taxes and service charges (adds on at least 21%)
b) You've used an unrealistic exchange rate to convert the price offered that won't apply (recently had someone trying to tell me the US$ was "about" $1.65)
c) Different inclusions - meals, transfers, honeymoon upgrades etc

So double and triple check, and speak to Travelbag. You could possibly end up with the best of both worlds...! And let us know what happens.

Mrs_Y_2B

thanks all - really helpful advice!! :T

We've got everything in writing so far (including the fact that the cost does include taxes), so just need to suss out the exchange rate...

And becomingandobessivesaver, the resort is in Aitutaki - the Pacific Resort (not sure if you know it), we were looking at Etu Moana but wasn't sure if it was 'fancy' enough for a honeymoon?!

Any more tips and advice always welcome!!

becominganobsessivesaver

The rooms at Etu Moana were fabulous and the service was great. You didn't get a bath, but there were only 8 villas, so got total privacy.
We ate at the Pacific resort and it was very lovely. I suppose it depends what you want really - if you want facilities then the Pacific resort I suppose, but for boutique Etu Moana was amazing. You are on the same beach and can actually walk to the Pacific Resort. They organised us a trip for 2 out to the Islands, which was wonderful. We hired mopeds from there, and they also arranged transport to different restaurants on the Island. The pool was quite small, but there was never anyone in it. The honesty bar was great, and meant we didn't spend a fortune on drinks - but got whatever we wanted!!!

I'd suggest maybe splitting your time if you're really set on the Pacific Resort, because I think Etu Moana offers much better value in my opinion.

I'm so jealous - it is the most magical place I've ever been.