Are trailfinders cheaper than booking direct?

Ash_Pole

I've been looking to go to Singapore for a week next month. I can get what looks like a good price for a flight via kayak, and a decent hotel via booking.com.

Am I likely to get a better deal from trailfinders? I know I can call them tomorrow, but I'm curious about other peoples' experiences.

joerugby

Have you thought about booking direct with the airline and hotel?

zagfles

They vary, but worth a try. Last time I used them for a quote the price was very similar to going direct but the cancellation/amendment charges were a lot higher than direct so I booked direct.

STA are also worth trying - someone mentioned a few days ago they got cheaper deals via STA than going direct.

SW17

If it's a straight return fare and not packaged, they are unlikely to have much better fares than booking direct. Where the likes of Trailfinders, Dialaflight, STA and Flight Centre do well is with complex multi-stop itineraries or by packaging the flight with a hotel to use discounted fares that have to be packaged.

Worth a quick call though.

Voyager2002

Agemts can book TIC deals for flight amd hotel. These are better deals than DIY.

jackieblack

SW17 wrote: »

If it's a straight return fare and not packaged, they are unlikely to have much better fares than booking direct. Where the likes of Trailfinders, Dialaflight, STA and Flight Centre do well is with complex multi-stop itineraries or by packaging the flight with a hotel to use discounted fares that have to be packaged.

Or with a car
I've had some good deals with Trailfinders on fly-drives

EssexExile

I used Trailfinders a lot in the days before the internet. I've not found them very useful since.

mvteng

Yes, they can be cheaper than booking direct.


As an example, we went on holiday to Thailand in 2014.


Flights, hotels & transfers booked through Trailfinders.


Flights were cheaper than we could buy direct. Trailfinders advised this was because they bulk bought & got better discounts.


Of the 4 hotels we stayed at, we took advantage of the deals offered by trailfinders at the time i.e. buy 2 nights, get 1 night free, or free upgrades & again got much better deals than we could get direct.


However, we did have to bargain quite hard to get the price down, & quite a lot of work was required to get to a price we wanted.


Have used Trailfinders before (firstly for our honeymoon in Mexico) & would use them again.