Tips on how to book cheap self catering holidays pls :)

Rochelle

Hi all usually on the few occasions i have travelled i have got a package trip but have decided to take advantage of the budget airline flights and book my flight and apartment separate.
Can someone pls tell me how to find the cheapest self catering apartments or hotels. I hope to be going next summer and would like to book in Jan.I am not 2 fussy where i go, spain canaries cyprus or portugal or open to any ideas as long as its nice and sunny.
Thanks and take care luv Roch xx

BusPass_2

Do you have any Airmiles?

I usually convert my Tesco ClubCard points to Airmiles then book my hotel or apartment through them.

I book my budget flights separately taking advantage of the special offers (ideally 1p flights but there are not a lot of them to the sunspots) and then get on to the Airmiles site to see what my airmiles can get me by way of accommodation.

We have had a week on Costa del Sol last year for £20 total and have got another lined up in Costa del Sol next March for £26 all in. It is a 4 star hotel we have booked.

Unfortunately it is practically impossible to do this in high season or school holidays because flight and hotel charges are not reduced at these times.

jimd-f

have a look here
http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=394

you will get lots of tips.

the main tip i would give you is to check for approximate hotel costs first to get an idea, but don't book any accomodation until you have booked your flights.
the flights are the bit you can get super deals on, rather than the accomodation, so that is the bit that makes all the difference to getting a cheap holiday.

Jelliebeen

Have you looked at sites like www.holidaylettings.co.uk? They have a section for people booking early and have deals on there. You can also order general searches by price and get the cheapest first. Anyway, that might be of some use?

chriswilmore

BusPass wrote: »

Do you have any Airmiles?

I usually convert my Tesco ClubCard points to Airmiles then book my hotel or apartment through them.

I book my budget flights separately taking advantage of the special offers (ideally 1p flights but there are not a lot of them to the sunspots) and then get on to the Airmiles site to see what my airmiles can get me by way of accommodation.

We have had a week on Costa del Sol last year for £20 total and have got another lined up in Costa del Sol next March for £26 all in. It is a 4 star hotel we have booked.

Unfortunately it is practically impossible to do this in high season or school holidays because flight and hotel charges are not reduced at these times.

Hi, how did you manage this?

Thanks,
Chris.

Pee

I would check the prices of a DIY trip against a package... for those destinations, you might find that a package would be cheaper.

mrsdee

if you re restricted to school holidays it's tough but keep an eye on when easyjet summer flights are published and book straightaway. they usually come out late december. As said earlier, book flights first then accommodation. midweek flights are cheapest so check that the accommodation is open to flexible start and finish dates, i.e. not always saturday - saturday when you will get stuffed on the cost of flights! Flights to canaries can be expensive during school holidays. As mentioned earlier look at accommodation on holidaylettings.co.uk also ownersdirect.co.uk and holiday-rentals.com. We've had good experiences with all of them. Also, ask everyone you know if they know someone who has an apartment or share of a place abroad! You will probably find that someone knows someone!! Then you might get very low cost (or even free) rental in return for leaving place clean and tidy and leaving bottle of wine etc.
As has also been mentioned - you might be better off getting a late package but if you do your homework you should be ok. try and find somewhere where you dont need a car as that will also hike your costs.