Mexico - Book all yourself or do package deal?

moneysavvy35

Hello

Has anyone priced up their own holidays to Mexico before? Quite ok at doing all the booking myself for holidays, but just wondering in your experience whether package deal would work out cheaper to mexico rather than doing it all separately?

I can do my research on hotels to, but if anyone has any pointers that would be handy to know too!

Thanks

onashoestring

A package holiday protected by ABTA gives you much more protection in these uncertain times for example if flights are cancelled or there are lockdowns .

If booked separately and your flights are cancelled, you will get a refund from your airline but unless you have booked refundable accommodation you will not get back the money paid for your accommodation. With a package holiday if one part of the holiday is cancelled you will be entitled to a refund for the whole package. 

Sandtree

We've always booked separately but then we've always flown using airmiles for the flights and out last trip was 4 months so booked an AirB&B for a few days and then arranged a local rental once we were there.

There are advantages of getting a "package" from a protection basis however that can be as simple as booking the flight and hotel in one go with one agent and not just the traditional package holiday

zagfles

General rule for long haul holidays is it's far cheaper to book it yourself, long haul packages are generally overpriced. Just get a decent travel insurance that will cover you if you're worried about cancellations etc, or just book cancellable accomodation - accomodation is often cancellable up to the day of arrival, you may pay a premium for cancellable but probably far less than the premium for booking a package.

But having said that - look at both and price them up. Other things to consider is whether you want the entire holiday in one location or you want to travel around, if the latter then doing it yourself is likely to be easier than trying to find a package that fits your intentions.

lady1964

We’ve booked many long haul holidays with accommodation and flights separately. We booked a 10 day trip to Cancun, flight included car hire which made it easy to get off the resort to do our own thing. We’ve always booked cancellable accomodation for peace of mind. That said, the last three holidays we’ve taken have been packaged due to the restrictions we’ve been living in.
We are though, planning a long trip of at least 8 weeks to Australia next year and will book every element separately but with cancellable accomodation.

moneysavvy35

mmmm ok thank you, something to think about then....Yes would definitely book accommodation I can cancel. and after a horrible experience of getting our money back through an agent for flights, will have to book flights direct with airline which will bump up the cost. but ok. will give it a go. priced up our multi own trip to thailand a few years ago with flights stops n transfer etc after good advice on from here, so will give this a go as well.

moneysavvy35

lady1964 said:

We’ve booked many long haul holidays with accommodation and flights separately. We booked a 10 day trip to Cancun, flight included car hire which made it easy to get off the resort to do our own thing. We’ve always booked cancellable accomodation for peace of mind. That said, the last three holidays we’ve taken have been packaged due to the restrictions we’ve been living in.
We are though, planning a long trip of at least 8 weeks to Australia next year and will book every element separately but with cancellable accomodation.

yes I am looking at 10 days too.  Theres so many hotels and areas, i know its going to mean bleary eye time trying to get the deals. Not sure about getting a car, although sounds good, not sure my hubby would be too confident driving around the streets especially at night. rough calculations so far look like package is coming out marginally cheaper I think...

lady1964

moneysavvy35 said:

lady1964 said:

We’ve booked many long haul holidays with accommodation and flights separately. We booked a 10 day trip to Cancun, flight included car hire which made it easy to get off the resort to do our own thing. We’ve always booked cancellable accomodation for peace of mind. That said, the last three holidays we’ve taken have been packaged due to the restrictions we’ve been living in.
We are though, planning a long trip of at least 8 weeks to Australia next year and will book every element separately but with cancellable accomodation.

yes I am looking at 10 days too.  Theres so many hotels and areas, i know its going to mean bleary eye time trying to get the deals. Not sure about getting a car, although sounds good, not sure my hubby would be too confident driving around the streets especially at night. rough calculations so far look like package is coming out marginally cheaper I think...

The only reason we had a hire car was that it came with the BA flights. We used it to get to and from the airport to the hotel then for 3 short trips off resort. Hubby is a confident driver but we still only used it during the day. One thing to check with having a car is that the hotel has free parking and obviously insurance. 

If I recall correctly, when we booked our hotel in Cancun, we got upgrade deals on our rooms as we’d booked directly with the hotel. DIY’ing your holiday does take a lot of research but I really enjoy doing that.

moneysavvy35

lady1964 said:

moneysavvy35 said:

lady1964 said:

We’ve booked many long haul holidays with accommodation and flights separately. We booked a 10 day trip to Cancun, flight included car hire which made it easy to get off the resort to do our own thing. We’ve always booked cancellable accomodation for peace of mind. That said, the last three holidays we’ve taken have been packaged due to the restrictions we’ve been living in.
We are though, planning a long trip of at least 8 weeks to Australia next year and will book every element separately but with cancellable accomodation.

yes I am looking at 10 days too.  Theres so many hotels and areas, i know its going to mean bleary eye time trying to get the deals. Not sure about getting a car, although sounds good, not sure my hubby would be too confident driving around the streets especially at night. rough calculations so far look like package is coming out marginally cheaper I think...

The only reason we had a hire car was that it came with the BA flights. We used it to get to and from the airport to the hotel then for 3 short trips off resort. Hubby is a confident driver but we still only used it during the day. One thing to check with having a car is that the hotel has free parking and obviously insurance. 

If I recall correctly, when we booked our hotel in Cancun, we got upgrade deals on our rooms as we’d booked directly with the hotel. DIY’ing your holiday does take a lot of research but I really enjoy doing that.

Yes looking at BA now actually, and I like doing the research as well, always a buzz when you keep on going and finally get a good deal. can be abit flexible on date which helps