Best (cheapest!) way to build a tailor-made itinerary?

golfamo

Having received a ridiculous [1] quote from a travel agent for a package including hotel stays in San Francisco and New York with connecting flights, I decided to try building my own package.

I can easily (by ~£1000) beat the travel agent's price by booking the flights and hotels via a combination of ebookers.com, expedia.co.uk and hotels.com, but booking a single package seems to be beyond any of the sites. Closest is expedia.co.uk, which allows me to build a package including all of the flights plus a hotel in SF, but is unable to add a hotel in NY. Customer support say it is not possible to include more than one hotel in a trip with multiple destinations (duh!) - I would have to book the NY hotel as a separate deal (which would therefore not qualify for ATOL protection since it has no flight component).

Has anyone found a way to build a tailor-made package including stays in more than one US city plus connecting flights, apart from via a traditional travel agent (and therefore paying through the nose for it)?

All suggestions would be much appreciated!

[1] 2 adults & 2 teenage children, staying 8 nights in SF & 4 nights in NY, with flights to SF, then NY and back to LHR - over £5500.

Doshwaster

I don't know a way of doing an "individual tailor-made package" without paying TA fees.

Then again, is it really that important to have everything on one booking? Just book a hotel in New York separately. Yes, I know it doesn't give you ATOL protection but if you don't pre-pay for the room then you haven't had to pay anything up front either (you just end up paying more for a non-pre-pay booking). If the worst happens you just can cancel the hotel room. This also give you more flexibility to change your mind mid-trip.

I often book multi-city trips and usually book everything separately. Sometimes I will do an Expedia type deal on the hotel for the first stop - but that would be on a price basis rather than protection - and then go with the flow. The fewer things you pay for in advance the less financial risk you have.

littlereddevil

Best and cheapest don't always go together. You are not really paying through the nose if the TA is doing all the work and you are fully protected.
Although I have to say I alway DIY nowadays, some I win some I lose if the unexpected happens!

getmore4less

I would check carefully that the TA is providing an ATOL covered package.

If traveling scheduled with a decent airline and decent hotels what are the chances of total failure to travel.

What about one of the specialist like trailfinders, or going back to the TA with your pricing for flights hotels they should be able to get close.

Hotel rates in the US for refundable or cancellation are often not that much more than cheapest.

Have you checked the Holiday Inn thread, family & friends rates for US can sometimes be very good and better than the discounters.

Also check out priceline and hotwire.

Moonchild

May I suggest you speak to a specialist Tour Operator as opposed to a Travel Agent?

You might well find they have better contracts, sense, and ideas to bring costs down. Tell them what you have found if you book by yourself, let them try and work your magic.

I wouldn't rely on purely 1 quote, especially if it's high street - who may not have the relevant experience.

I'm not going to recommend, but have a scout at AITO http://www.aito.co.uk/ who will have a few US Specialists.

golfamo

Thanks folks!

I'm going to contact a few more TAs, including the one who provided the quote, and explain the sort of deal I can get if I arrange the deal myself. Let's see how close they can get to the price I have in mind...

I am also encouraged to hear how popular the DIY option is!

HXDave

Golfamo, a word of advice:

1 single booking for everything provides valuable cover should any of the element fail. yes, it is cheaper booking things seperate, but what happens if the flight goes technical, and you then miss other flights that are on seperate bookings, or you are charged directly by the hotels who normally have your CC number because you haven't checked in on the day you said you were due to stay.

I must admit, travel agents are generally more expensive, but then again you are paying for SERVICE, someone there to sort things out if things go wrong, and for valuable advice and information.

golfamo

Understood - thanks HXDave. I am certainly prepared to pay a little extra for service and peace of mind, but £1000 is more than "a little" in my book!

ferf1223

HXDave wrote: »

Golfamo, a word of advice:

1 single booking for everything provides valuable cover should any of the element fail. yes, it is cheaper booking things seperate, but what happens if the flight goes technical, and you then miss other flights that are on seperate bookings, or you are charged directly by the hotels who normally have your CC number because you haven't checked in on the day you said you were due to stay.

I must admit, travel agents are generally more expensive, but then again you are paying for SERVICE, someone there to sort things out if things go wrong, and for valuable advice and information.

Out of curiousity, for a trip like this, what cover would you get from a TA that you wouldn't effectively have already?

If you book all flights on one ticket (easily do-able, using expedia/kayak/etc. to do the initial multi-city search then checking the individual airline's that give the best price for an even better deal) then there's no risk about the missing the other flights issue...as the airline would have to sort it out for you...even separate bookings, provided that you aren't arriving on one ticket and departing on another the same day, except exceptional circumstances, the risk goes away...so no cover there.

If you book hotels direct in general in the US you can cancel until quite late - usually 24 hours, sometimes as late as 6pm the night of arrival (in a few cities, granted, it's 48 or 72 hours, but not many). Some 3rd parties have good late cancellation/modification provisions too - but in general I would only use them as a starting point for searching...once I'd narrowed down my choices I would go direct to the hotel's own website. So in the unlikely event that a flight delays you such that you would miss a night's stay in your next hotel, you ring the hotel and explain the situation and it's sorted out. Even if you ended up getting charged for a night you didn't stay, I would have thought travel insurance would cover that?

Booking using a credit card would protect you if the airline goes bust. A TA isn't going to pay for your extended hotel stay in the case of an ash-cloud like incident so there's no benefit there.

I can accept that the advice and information angle has some value (from proper TAs that know what they are doing, so many do not seem to by a lot of posts on these boards), but for some, doing the legwork is part of the fun. I totally accept that for some people who don't want to/don't know how to do the planning themselves a TA may provide a valuable service...but the OP is obviously OK with doing the research. I also acknowledge that trips to some locations would be far more tricky to do DIY and there may be value there in having someone else sort it out. But in this case, I can't understand it and really am curious as perhaps I am totally missing something?

Doshwaster

golfamo wrote: »

I am also encouraged to hear how popular the DIY option is!

There are some niche areas where specialist TAs can help but a two-centre trip to the US is easily a DIY job. As has been said, working out all of the permutations of flights, hotels and transfers is half of the fun. I like nothing more than creating a virtual itinerary in Excel then deleting it and starting again.

Personally, I haven't used a TA in over 10 years. This whole "protection" thing is overstated. A tour operator is much more likely to go bust than a scheduled airline or major hotel chain.