It’s that time of the year when we are all thinking about our summer holidays.
Peak holiday periods are notoriously expensive with many families and individuals often feeling like they can’t go on the types of holidays they wish for.
In the UK there has been a significant boom in domestic holidays being booked. Now I’m not saying that going to Cornwall or the Lake District is not wonderful destinations.
However one of the main reasons people feel they need to stay within their given countries is the perceived costs associated with going abroad for a holiday.
I recently returned from a holiday with my Wife and three kids from a beautiful place called Ras Al Khaimah. Ras Al Khaimah is wonderful island in the United Arab Emirates.
We stayed in a lovely 5* All inclusive hotel that was absolutely AMAZING. When looking to book this holiday we were getting quotes of around £6000.00 which included the Flights, Hotels, Airport Transfers for a 7 night holiday.
NOW this was outside of our budget. We ended up paying a total of £3800.00 for all of the above( Same hotels, flight times, Airlines). The £6000.00 quotes we received included a shared shuttle service to and from the airport. However when we booked our holiday ourselves we were able to book a large private minibus airport transfer all within the £3800.00.
How did we do this you ask???? Well here goes;
- Book your flights on independent flight checkers e.g. Sky Scanner
- Book your hotels via independent hotel sites e.g. Travel Bag
- Book your airport transfers from Online Airport Transfer Companies.
All of the above saved us over a whopping £2000.00!!! So, I am sure you can see why I will never book a package holiday through these online holiday companies. Effectively they are searching the same flights, hotels, airport transfers that you or I can do ourselves.
Yes you may spend a few hours searching the best deals, but hey. I’m sure the savings are well worth the time and effort.
After all, that massive saving could go towards another holiday!!
Anyways. I hope this blog helps you when booking your next package holiday.
Feel free to drop me a line if you have any further questions on how I went about my booking process.