Do it DIY.

`Read my post further down or pm me.

thanks. Just read it. who did you book your flights with? I have looked on Crystal flights and for the 3 of us in June it was £1996.00. Do you email the hotels for prices? What sort of prices have you got? Thank you jazz

Jazz
I have trying for a while to get a good price for the summer and apart from one my OH refuses to fly with(Finnair), my prices I'm getting are really scarey. I just don't think we will heading in that direction this year

Hi Fiona, if you do find anything then let me know...... don't tell anyone else though!!!!! Jazz xx

seriously- check Finnair. I would go with them but they do have a lot of negative reviews and OH won't go without a seatback tv. I think Finnair are putting these in place but it would appear that not all flights have them yet.

Fiona if you don't mind me asking , what price per person were you getting for the flights? I have recently booked flights to Bangkok and I have to say they are more than I have ever paid before

I would go DIY to Thailand myself , infact I always do, I find it fun putting the components together and you get a much wider choice of hotels than the tour ops offer, I find price wise it makes sense too.

I don't discount the tour ops as sometimes they'll be doing deals that are hard to beat by going DIY. Hayes and Jarvis have been doing some great deals for this May for example, whether these will be carried over to June remains to be seen.

I am looking at late July and have found flights from Aberdeen via Dohato Bangkok with Qatar at £750.
To be honest I was trying to get OH to go back to Greece this summer but the prices there are a bit of a shocker as well. I am beginning to think I may as well look at long haul after all.
I have Travelbag phoning me tomorrow so will see if they can come with anything.

Good luck Fiona, 750 seems steep, I have paid 600 for Emirates in November, doesn't seem too bad in comparison

Compare compare compare.

Do not 'automatically do not do DIY and / or package'. It's very bad advice.

You get access to far cheaper air fares with certain airlines when you utilise Tour Operators (and for some airlines, like Malaysian it can save you bucketloads) and without the restrictions of normal air fares (i.e. you don't have to pay the lot upfront quite often.

Secondly, the hotels that Tour Operators work with, contractually cannot offer the hotel cheaper directly.

Thirdly, you have support (through local reps) in the event of problems, your money is 100% secure if you use an ATOL bonded Tour Op.

Downside:

You may be restricted to certain hotels (if you spot one you like, google it - whatever comes up on the right hand side - i.e. a Google Adword will often be a Tour Op that works with that hotel - check them out).

Certain aspects of the holiday will be more expensive. i.e Tour Ops with good reason, will not book Air Asia / Nok Air / Lion Air etc etc , all airlines that would be cheaper.

If you know a destination well, you can pick up a taxi at the airport for 1/4 - 1/3 of the price of a scheduled transfer. However, if you are not familiar with a country / currency etc, you can end up paying massively more. I know a number of people that have been ripped off massively in Bangkok because they were tired and unfamiliar with anything. Pre-booked transfers should also have an English speaking guide, and will operate as reps (should have any problems in resort).

To those looking for flights - there has not been the same level of offers in Jan / Feb this year compared to previous years. Upto end of June Thai have a companion from London for about £500-£530 per person including tax, that includes an internal flight anywhere in Thailand (you'll have to be very flexible to get Koh Samui). Or KLM have had some very good prices for their new Bali flights from a lot of regional airports? Nothing mindblowing so far though, i'm keeping an eye on a KL / Singapore flight for May / June, nothing exciting so far.

Etihad are showing flights for £409 in the early part of June. Thats to Bangkok from Heathrow - flights onward to Samui would have to be booked separatly (you can book through to Samui on Etihad but I worked out it was quite a bit more expensive).

Hi, thank you all for all your responses. i have booked today through Thomsons worldwide and found a holiday for £2300.00(flights, transfers, meals etc) for the 3 of us in a deluxe villa for the 16th June! very excited and now the questions begin...................jazz xx

is it Centara that you are going to?

Hi Fiona, yes it is. It put me off because there was a lot of building work going on but i emailed the hotel and the works are going to be completed by mid march. So i booked it today. x

I'm sure you will love KS

Secondly, the hotels that Tour Operators work with, contractually cannot offer the hotel cheaper directly.

Rubbish, got 20% discount off web price. Business is business.... when you are waving BHAT in front of someone things change.

Going to K Samui and staying in same resort for 3 weeks can be more expensive than booking when you get there, a lot do deals on 3 days or more on top of that. And you have FREEDOM. Book ONE night and look around.

I'm afraid it's largely true - considering that my job is contracting hotels i'll give myself the benefit of the doubt.

Our sales consultants frequently have clients saying they have a cheaper price, and in all honesty in only one occasion has this proven to be the case (normally prices exclude the usual ++) etc. In that one case the hotel apologised and matched...

If you're Centara Hotels for example you are going to prioritise Thomson's Business (who will give the Centara group thousands of room nights a year) over one person, irrespective of how much baht they wave in your face. Also they far prefer the longer lead-in times offered by Tour Op's.

Of course for many hotels which don't have this type of relationship you are right. Remember as well that the vast majority of people don't have the freedom to organise when they are there, the typical holiday of someone going to Thailand is 2 weeks, and the security of having things confirmed in advance is normally far preferable to having to wonder around and waste time trying to find something available.

On a personal level if you have the time and flexibility then head over to Asia and take what comes. Always leads to more interesting trips, and takes you places you wouldn't otherwise expect. I've done it often enough!

I'm afraid it's largely true

Well a Thai travel agent informed me that their is a website (forget the name) that books most of KS hotels which they take 20%. I was told to go into any hotel and check the going rate and then ask for discount..... THEY ALL DID. I stayed in 5 different apartments / hotels in 3 weeks.

EDIN - London - BK - KS
2 nights in 4 Star at BK The rest in KS £777

Spent £750 on everything else Accomodation in KS, 10 day Car hire, Food, Trips the LOT!

(This was with my partner)

Now if I had wanted to book a 3 week BK/KS holiday all prebooked in various hotels it would have cost a lot more.

If you don't get the price you want in KS for accomodation just move on and go somewhere else, there are plenty of rooms.

Hi Helen, i did reply through pm but it still seems to be in my outbox!! if you don't get the message let me know and i will try again, or i will put it on this posting. Kind regards, jazzxx