Best time to book a holiday?

zagfles

TELLIT01 said:

The son of a friend booked on Tuesday and travelled on the Saturday.  He got a great deal.  If you are flexible on where you go and time of flight there will be plenty of very late deals available.

Don't even have to be that late, I've booked loads of flights/holidays 2 or 3 weeks before and got very good deals, couple of examples were £149 for a week's package to Greece, and flights for £5 each way to Venice

zagfles

DullGreyGuy said:

elsmandino said:

I am a pretty laidback (ahem - disorganised) person and have always tended to book holidays quite a short time beforehand.

Over the last few years, I have realised that (sadly) life does not work like that anymore and that I need to be more organised with things like holidays, especially.

As a very general rule, how long in advance should I start looking for a holiday?  In particular, all-inclusive package holidays?

I know that looking too late is an issue but you can also book too early, as the market gauges demand and thus also get a bad deal.

Price is based on supply and demand including both "now" and their forecast. Some things have a fixed quantity prebought so will get sold off cheaper later if bookings are low whereas others are not pre bought so prices can go in either direction as time goes on. 

If you want to stay at a particular hotel or in a particular class of cabin on a cruise etc then you're probably better off buying early. If you are highly flexible then last minute can grab you a bargain that for some reason has undersold... you may wonder why its undersold but thats another matter. Your flex may have to include not going at all as prices can spike right at the end.

Last package we bought, long time ago as we dont like AI or other restrictions generally, started at £1,200pp, peaked at £1,500, drifted down to £900 (8 places left), we bought at £850 (6 places left), went down to £800 (4 places left), then back up to £1,100 (1 places left) and then was sold out.

Yup. I think a common mistake people make is to book a holiday/flight early, and then look at the price of that exact holiday/flight nearer the time, often see it going up in price and therefore assume booking early is always the best value. 

But a very similar holiday may have gone down in price. Maybe just a change of date by just 1 day, Maybe the same dates but a different hotel, maybe a different destination that you'd also like to visit. Some holidays will go up in price, some will go down, by booking late you can choose the ones that are best value at that time, and almost certainly somewhere you want to go will be good value nearer the time, unless you are very specific in your requirements or going at a peak time. 

Pollycat

elsmandino said:

As a very general rule, how long in advance should I start looking for a holiday?  In particular, all-inclusive package holidays?

I think it also depends on how picky and how flexible you are in respect of dates and destinations. 

We don't do AI but book early as the accommodations we like have limited number of rooms and we have a favourite airport and like an early morning flight.

NoodleDoodleMan

Yes - we too have a favourite "go to" Adult Only hotel, so I book well in advance knowing how popular it is and very very unlikely to have any late deal discounted price offers.

If you are able to wait out for late offers and are flexible on destinations, resorts and hotels etc. then there are good deals to be had - but choice can be restricted.

I've heard (from travel agents) of couples who have holiday cases packed and ready to go on very short notice.

clarkyson

I've found that booking around 6-8 months ahead usually gets you the best deals, especially for summer holidays. If you're looking at peak times like Christmas or school holidays, you might want to push that to 8-12 months - I know it sounds crazy early, but trust me on this one.

billybuoy

Booking early does have it's drawbacks in cashflow terms, with some operators who may ask you to pay a hefty sum  for the entire holiday cost upfront on a holiday departure date as much as 4 months in advance, which you should take into account when deciding which operator to use and also how you pay, so that if they go bust you can get your money back if you lose the holiday.

jimi_man

BA Holidays just require a small deposit with the rest of it due 4-6 weeks before.