Booking independently or package?

enthusiasticsaver

Over the years we have done a variety of holidays, some packages, cruises, long haul holidays and booking flights and hotels independently.


This year we are going to Lake Lucerne in Switzerland. We are booking flights and hotel separately as we have a bigger choice of flights/airports that way and overall the total cost of the holiday is cheaper. We could do a Thomsons lakes and mountains package holiday to the same resort and hotel and although that would include breakfast and evening meal and transfers it is £1000 more for 7 days in early July for 2 of us and the flight times/airports are inflexible and further to travel from at either end.


Is there any advantage (apart from ABTA guarantee) in booking as part of a package and what else should I consider?

Kernow666

i usually find booking it separate is a lot cheaper been doing it for last 10yrs

enthusiasticsaver

Kernow666 wrote: »

i usually find booking it separate is a lot cheaper been doing it for last 10yrs

Thanks Kernow. You are obviously in the same part of the country as me. The biggest issue I find is the distance we need to travel to get to an airport. Do you have any problems with that? Our nearest one with any choice of destinations at all is Bristol which is a 2 and a half hour drive from us.

richardw

If things go wrong like the ash cloud or the recent situation in Sharm, then the package travel regulations can be helpful if you don't want to sort things out for yourself. But you're going to Switzerland and may decide the risk is too low, so why bother.

Kernow666

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Thanks Kernow. You are obviously in the same part of the country as me. The biggest issue I find is the distance we need to travel to get to an airport. Do you have any problems with that? Our nearest one with any choice of destinations at all is Bristol which is a 2 and a half hour drive from us.

i see you in Cornwall like me i am down near Falmouth so to get to bristol its a bit of a drag 2.5 - 3hrs for me and then having to pay to park its close to £100 i have spent before flying what with fuel & parking , i tend to use them for European jaunts and use ryanair or easyjet depending on the price , if i venture further afield i fly from heathrow but take the national express coach from truro to heathrow which works out a helluva lot cheaper than driving & parking even with staying overnight at heathrow

i book pretty much all my accomodation through booking.com or hotels.com and tend to book the ones with free cancellation most youcan cancel upto 48/72hrs before you arrive which is good not that i have ever needed it

enthusiasticsaver

Kernow666 wrote: »

i see you in Cornwall like me i am down near Falmouth so to get to bristol its a bit of a drag 2.5 - 3hrs for me and then having to pay to park its close to £100 i have spent before flying what with fuel & parking , i tend to use them for European jaunts and use ryanair or easyjet depending on the price , if i venture further afield i fly from heathrow but take the national express coach from truro to heathrow which works out a helluva lot cheaper than driving & parking even with staying overnight at heathrow

i book pretty much all my accomodation through booking.com or hotels.com and tend to book the ones with free cancellation most youcan cancel upto 48/72hrs before you arrive which is good not that i have ever needed it

I am in South East Cornwall so have the fuel and car parking at Bristol to pay for which bumps the price up but a little bit closer than you . Not really looked into the coach to London airports as OH not keen on that so we tend to avoid long haul flights especially as I am not that keen on flying anyway.

enthusiasticsaver

richardw wrote: »

If things go wrong like the ash cloud or the recent situation in Sharm, then the package travel regulations can be helpful if you don't want to sort things out for yourself. But you're going to Switzerland and may decide the risk is too low, so why bother.

Yes I thought of that. My daughter was on a package holiday to Majorca with a friend when the ashcloud hit on the day she was supposed to be travelling home so they were stranded with no hotel having already checked out. They ended up having to travel overland to get home with other passengers in a few days time but to be honest the tour company were not much help to them anyway beyond booking them back into a hotel for a night or two. We ended up booking her ferry trips online and her phone bill was astronomical at the end which was not covered by the tour company or insurance. I do not have a great deal of faith in tour operators so think I can live with that.

richardw

If EXT is convenient, consider Flybe to Paris and then onward by plane or train.

Voyager2002

The most likely pit-fall is that flight times can change, and if the airlines do this more than a couple of weeks before the date of travel they are not obliged to offer any compensation. So if you were to buy cheap train or coach tickets to or from the airport, you might find that they become useless and no-one would be responsible for paying for them. In extreme cases a change of flights could mean that the first or last hotel night cannot be used, so be sure that you can cancel your bookings up to a few days before the date of arrival.

Bristol is an attractive city, and has a very frequent airport coach, so you might consider spending the night there at the beginning and/or end of your holiday. This would give you the flexibility to enable you to book the very cheapest train tickets there from your home.

jackieblack

Voyager2002 wrote: »

The most likely pit-fall is that flight times can change, and if the airlines do this more than a couple of weeks before the date of travel they are not obliged to offer any compensation. So if you were to buy cheap train or coach tickets to or from the airport, you might find that they become useless and no-one would be responsible for paying for them. In extreme cases a change of flights could mean that the first or last hotel night cannot be used, so be sure that you can cancel your bookings up to a few days before the date of arrival.

This ^^^^^^^^

Potentially, the most common pitfall of booking independently is when there is a problem with one element of the trip and you are then locked in to other elements that you may not be able to use.
For that reason I never book hotels etc that cannot be cancelled without any penalty if necessary

Meadows

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Over the years we have done a variety of holidays, some packages, cruises, long haul holidays and booking flights and hotels independently.

This year we are going to Lake Lucerne in Switzerland. We are booking flights and hotel separately as we have a bigger choice of flights/airports that way and overall the total cost of the holiday is cheaper. We could do a Thomsons lakes and mountains package holiday to the same resort and hotel and although that would include breakfast and evening meal and transfers it is £1000 more for 7 days in early July for 2 of us and the flight times/airports are inflexible and further to travel from at either end.

Is there any advantage (apart from ABTA guarantee) in booking as part of a package and what else should I consider?

Booking separately and not as a package either yourself or through a travel agent means you might not be covered if something stops you from getting to your destination.

For many years I booked our holidays separately until the Iceland volcano 2010, we had booked via Continental for the flights, local airport parking and then via Expedia for hotels rooms in Las Vegas, internal flight from Vegas to San Francisco and hotel rooms in San Francisco.
We were unable to leave the country and were immediately refunded from Continental as they could not fly us to our destination. The local airport although closed, the parking company would not refund. Expedia - as they buy the rooms etc. cheap they will not refund, as you are sold the rooms third party the hotel will not get involved, the internal flight issued us pence (and I mean pence refund) on the tax of the flight.

At the time the insurance did not want to know as it was classed as an 'Act of Nature' and we stood to lose about £6,500. After a lot of letters, calls etc. finally refunded us after many months and we lost about £100 - £150 which was a relief.

I later asked a travel agent if we would have been covered booking separates through them and they said no, you would only be covered booking a package holiday.

So although booking a tailor made holiday, locations, airports, hotels etc., can save £'s it is not until you have a problem that you realise you are not covered.
You would most likely be covered if you book direct with airlines, ferries etc. and hotels (depending on their refunds policy) but not booking via the likes of Expedia and similar companies.