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Booking everything directly...?

mystra
Posts: 295 Forumite


Hiya
So it's time for us to finally have a long deserved holiday, we're pushing the boat out and looking into going to Mexico :j
Started looking which areas/hotels etc, and was recommended a lovely hotel with a really good rating on TripAdvisor, but it doesn't seem to come up on any travel agents/hotel sites etc.
If we were to book directly with them, by credit card, would we have similar protection as we would booking a package holiday through an ATOL agent - Been there done that, holiday cancelled last year as agent went bust, got all money back...eventually ... huff... in fact we had to claim the booking fees back separately via credit card company and it was a damn sight quicker than ATOL way of doing things (can you guess... we didn't get our money back in time to book another holiday - not bitter at all :mad:)
Just feels like a popular hotel and booking with a major airline are less likely to go bust than random agents representing other random agents online! Do you reckon this is a good idea? Their website mentions discounts for the amount of nights we want to stay so i'm quite tempted to rely on my credit cards protection rather than the slow process of ATOL when things go wrong. We're not really into All Inclusive so quite happy paying room only sort of things anyway.
Any advise?
So it's time for us to finally have a long deserved holiday, we're pushing the boat out and looking into going to Mexico :j
Started looking which areas/hotels etc, and was recommended a lovely hotel with a really good rating on TripAdvisor, but it doesn't seem to come up on any travel agents/hotel sites etc.
If we were to book directly with them, by credit card, would we have similar protection as we would booking a package holiday through an ATOL agent - Been there done that, holiday cancelled last year as agent went bust, got all money back...eventually ... huff... in fact we had to claim the booking fees back separately via credit card company and it was a damn sight quicker than ATOL way of doing things (can you guess... we didn't get our money back in time to book another holiday - not bitter at all :mad:)
Just feels like a popular hotel and booking with a major airline are less likely to go bust than random agents representing other random agents online! Do you reckon this is a good idea? Their website mentions discounts for the amount of nights we want to stay so i'm quite tempted to rely on my credit cards protection rather than the slow process of ATOL when things go wrong. We're not really into All Inclusive so quite happy paying room only sort of things anyway.
Any advise?
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Comments
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As long as you pay on your card and make sure you take out travel insurance I wouldnt be worried. And then you can stay in the hotel you want, and have a better choice of flights.
I rarely book a package anywhere unless its somewhere in Europe and an online agent has a good price.
I went travelling for 8 months a year ago, that certainly wasnt a package booking and had no probs
Also sometimes when you book hotels direct depending on the deal and country, they dont even charge you until the day of arrival.0 -
It may be it's too small a place for the travel agents/hotel sites to dela with. The only thing I'd say is double-chek the reviews and satisfy yourself they are genuine i.e. how many are from people who seem only to have left the one review and it's for that place and how many from people who have left reviews for lost of places.
They say tripadvisor carries warnings now for places where they think there may have been fraudulent reviews but I have to say i have never seen any warnings and I'm always on there looking for reviews of places.0 -
Also sometimes when you book hotels direct depending on the deal and country, they dont even charge you until the day of arrival.
most times we find, or maybe it's just where we go - we pay the first night room rate as deposit and that is it in advance...so in terms of potential financial loss, it's minimal - if the hotel goes bust...of course alternate accomodation may be a different issue...I know some say that booking a package gives more protection...but to us, DIY gives more freedom and we deal with the hotel/airline ourselves...we don't have to go through an agent if there are any issues...the relationship is us and them, no middleman...and that's what we prefer. There are regularly posts here about people's accomodation being changed shortly before departure - I cannot recall seeing single one where the person had booked direct with the hotel...it's always a 3rd party in those cases.Does remembering a time that a certain degree of personal responsibility was more or less standard means that I am officially old?0 -
most times we find, or maybe it's just where we go - we pay the first night room rate as deposit and that is it in advance...so in terms of potential financial loss, it's minimal - if the hotel goes bust...of course alternate accomodation may be a different issue...I know some say that booking a package gives more protection...but to us, DIY gives more freedom and we deal with the hotel/airline ourselves...we don't have to go through an agent if there are any issues...the relationship is us and them, no middleman...and that's what we prefer. There are regularly posts here about people's accomodation being changed shortly before departure - I cannot recall seeing single one where the person had booked direct with the hotel...it's always a 3rd party in those cases.
oooh that's a very good point!
Whats the point in sending ages finding the perfect hotel if the agent/tour operator has the power to change it to something else last minute, i'm not that precious over hotels but you choose them for your reasons, it would be very annoying for that to be changed!
Sounds like the less middle men the betterI'm really thinking this is a good plan now, thanks to all those who helped!
Plus like someone has already said, building a relationship directly with the hotel is nicer, especially with a smaller hotel like the one i'm looking at - seems from reviews they are quite personal in their service anyway, and if the only way to book is direct it just proves that a more personal service is better0
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