Benidorm - 2013 Holiday Help

mdkyoshi

Another day, another attempt at finding a suitable holiday for next year.

We have been told to try http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/ to find a nice villa to save money next year, would it simply be a case of booking flights (through expedia?) and paying the weeks rent for the holiday? Or would there be extras on top?

We have looked at this villa http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/spain/S15716.htm amid hopes of possibly going to Benidorm and to the theme park/waterpark/aquarium etc.

Any additional info as always is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

budgetflyer

Thats not a villa, its a 1 bed apartment!
Details are a bit vague.Strange no pics of pool and only a couple of pics of apt anyway. Id want the name of the block b4 booking. whether it had a concierge or not. High season 2012 prices certainly cheap enough. Maybe too cheap. Id expect even a budget 1 bed apt to be around £300 pw July/Aug

Ive used http://www.benidorm-apartments.co.uk and http://www.beninter.es/ before.

mdkyoshi

Well a 1 bed apt is more than enough for me, my missus and our little one. Theres a chance another couple could come along too, so is this site a good place to find such places?

budgetflyer

get the flights sorted first. There's always plenty of accom available
Wait for Ryanair and Easyjet summer 2013 schedules to come out. Its really too early at the moment. They are only up to end of March at the moment, if you want lowest prices.
Prob wait at least after Jan imo

tori.k

They are not ATOL or ABTA bonded as it's just a booking site, don't let that put you off booking direct with an owner just make sure you have the right travel insurance in place asap when you book, your also have to add in airport transfers, extra baggage, the price doesnt worry me, we had a 5night break in june to Santa Susanna 3* H/B for £75PP this year, with Ryan Air flights from Bristol. and the recession is more noticeable in Spain then the UK.

mdkyoshi

So step-by-step i should sort;

1. Book return flights (using expedia?), making sure to include transfers

2. Book the villa itself (using the sites on here?), adding in insurance (available where?)

Additional questions if anyone can help;

Can we take food on the plane for the villa? Or is it easier to just use supermarkets in Spain, as we've heard food is fairly similarly priced to UK over there...

Do most flight sites offer transfers?

How does payment work for these villas? A bit hesistant about handing over money to a home owner for a week next year without some kind of contract etc...

tori.k

I will try and answer a few.

Flights look at skyscanner or netflights,

Most insurance is geared towards package holidays, with a DIY trip you want to make sure that your travel insurance has end supplier failure, that way id something goes wrong with one part of your trip (say the flight's) the other parts (hotel, car hire etc) is covered do read the small print.

Food to Spain you can take pretty much what you want, milk still banned? (not sure on that one) but your find pretty much everything your want over there.bear in mind that if your using a low cost airline what you will pay in extra baggage fees it would be cheaper just to buy food over there to stat with.

Airport transfers Benidorm is about about 1hr by bus from Alicante a bus transfer wont drop you to a private address but may run to a nearby hotel and will cost you £5-6pp, taxi transfer will cost you anywhere from £25pp+ depending on your flight times have a look at flybus. or just google Alicante airport transfers.

payment with Villa's most will take card, cheque or paypal, dealing with an owner it's very much down to trust on both sides your trusting them with your money, but then they are trusting you with there home, there more risk on there side then yours to be honest, talk to the owners they should be more than happy to answer any question's you have about the property and the area. go with your gut feeling, if something sounds to good to be true then usually it is

I would price up a DIY trip, then look at somewhere like teletext or travel republic and price up a package we've sometimes found a package cheaper then DIY depending what deals are about

sandyj_2

Hi,
We own a villa in Moraira, just north of Benidorm. (about 20/25 mins drive)
If by chance you decide to go with another family, it would be a wonderful place to holiday, private pool, loads of space. real luxury
If you want to see photos, it is advertised on Ownersdirect Ref S17941