would you go DIY to save £350?

jammin_2

DIY for sure.

ferf1223

Pelican_eats_pigeon wrote: »

Even when it doesn't appear you could get a better deal, some hotels are prepared to match rates offered by booking websites if you ask them directly. It all depends if you speak to the right person of course, but I've got a pretty good success rate with it.

Agree - and some hotels (at least in the US) have a best rate guarantee - in some cases to match the rate plus a further discount...so if you see it cheaper on another website and follow their matching process you'll get an even better rate.

I agree with the flexibility of DIY many have mentioned, and the being the master of your own destiny that others have mentioned...both of which may not have a direct financial value, but combined with a significant savings I can't see any reason to book a package myself.

Alias_Omega

Tom,

I now live in Cyprus (work), and i book hotel rooms for about £32 a night (2 adults, 2 children) self catering, to upgrade to All inclusive drinks is €20 per person per day. To upgrade to all inc food & drinks its €40 a day.


If you booked the flights only with thomson, they offer a shuttle transfer to the hotels in the extra section. So you could book the flights & tranfers with thomson (online) by using the best fair price finder, which could mean a 8-10 night stay might be cheaper than a 7 night. Then you can book your hotel room from many of the online websites such as.

Hotels.com
Hotels4u.com
Lastminute.com
Laterooms.com
Thomson.com
Thomascook.com
Alpharooms.com

Plus many other more websites.

Alias

jammin_2

Alias_Omega wrote: »

Hotels.com
Hotels4u.com
Lastminute.com
Laterooms.com
Thomson.com
Thomascook.com
Alpharooms.com

Don't forget to go through Squidco.

Pelican_eats_pigeon

I would add booking.com to the list of websites to check.

p1tse

mtc95 wrote: »

Bear in mind that if Ryanair decide to cancel your outward flight for any reason, they will only refund your money for that flight. They are under no obligation to offer you an alternative flight to your destination and if they do, it will almost certainly cost a lot more at that late stage.

If the return flight is cancelled then in theory, they may be responsible for paying for extra accomodation and getting you home but it will probably be a struggle as they are renowned to trying to get out of their responsibilities as was seen during the volcanic ash affair.

Of course, you would have to be very unlucky to hit a problem like this but it does sometimes happen so it's as well to be aware of the risks.

yikes worth noting that as look at holiday via travel republic and think they use ryan air to gran canaria from bristol

photome

DIY

IMO you are wasting £350

muirhead_2

Def DIY we got another holiday with what we saved by not using Thompson and same Riu hotel.

All resorts are struggling but the Greed of the BIG Operators who wont cut prices means Ryan Air wins allways.

matty_yorks

Sounds great, aside from Ryanair.

Your family deserves better.