sanji I,ve not put on enough posts for links to be displayed but try travelrepublic from Manchester on your date for flight and hotel def beats yor quote by a good way.Also jet2(.com)do cheap flights to Alicante but not yet doing for Dec could be worth waiting awhile.hope this helps.steve

Hi sanji I've had a rethink book your flight at £185 and look on travel republic and book hotel/apartments only(can check on tripadvisor and Holidays uncovered for reviews on Apartments/hotels)cheers Steve

Sanji,You need to register with the low cost airlines, then when they go on sale they will email you. Flights tend to come out later for them than the charter flights. I have booked with Easyjet before in July for December but have know other airlines be on sale before that. If you can be flexable you can also get a flight for less and sometimes a odd duration can help to get you a better price as well. I have stayed for 10 night for less than 7 on some diy holidays I `ve been on. What I normal do is write down the costs of hotels, then I know how much I can spend on a flight. As far as I am aware no low cost operators have gone on sale for winter yet. One thing to be aware of though when they do go on sale a lot of the best prices have gone for the peak times.

Wintersunshine holidays now have the Regente on thier website and you can book through Thomson for hotel only at the Regente.

For package holiday prices they do go up and down, I have booked for Princes park hotel in the summer for 11 nights it went down £200 thats when I booked it, it is now £500 dearer for 2 adults and 1 child. If a flight is not selling they reduce it until they have sold x amount of seats then they put it back up.Keep checking prices and different airports. I think that the tour opperators are putting their prices too high especialy for Christmas. I haven`t been for the last 2 years as we decided to save and have a summer break instead but we have missed Christmas in Benidorm, I have though looked at the last minuite to see if there were any bargains to be had and 2 weeks before they dropped there prices but only hotels at Poniente side were reduced.

Christine

Christine is spot on,hey but poniente is a good place to stop look at terralta apartments on TravelRepublic, a little way out but not too bad,excellent apartments(my opinion by far the best in Beni) £533.51 for apartment.But hey I can see by posts you dont mind a little walk so go for it,like Christine say budget airline not yet advertising DEC flights.Steve.

Sanji - travel companies have staff watching the internet to see what hotels are getting the most hits and if they notice one particular hotel getting lots of interest, they up the anti by quite a bit. Have you tried looking at the cost of the Regente over a period of a couple of days and notice the price changing?

If interest falls then they put the price down again!!! This is true and not a wind up.

We had a similar situation last year whilst booking the Mediteraneo with FC; the price was low then it went up by a few hundred - we waited a couple of days and the price fell to lower than when we first viewed it. Needless to say, we booked it then!!!

I'll do a bit of delving tomorrow Sanji...just off out now...i've just booked for May and July. I tried to check Monarch for you from Manchester but as you say the flights arnt listed as yet, will check others and hotel details tomorrow night, i'm not exactly sure when flights come out but cant be long now, if you can be flexible for a day or so, that may throw up a few different prices.

Best Regards - Taggy

Hi Sanji, I would book a flight sooner rather than later. With you going over the Xmas period you cannot afford to wait for a last minute deal.

It's poor David I am thinking about if you end up in Blackpool instead.

Jet 2 flights are not available as yet but I would be tempted to post on the Jet 2 site to ask when they will be. They are usually quite reasonable when they first come out, even with taxes and fuel supplement which is a bug bear with me right now. (sorry I'm side tracking.) I will also look at other options too like sky scanner.

In the meantime I will search all the sites that I have on my favourites to try to get you the best deal for half board at the Regente.

Sue

Sanji, just a thought but have you thought about going for longer than 14 nights, if you could fly out before the 20th December and come back after the 7th Jan you would def get the flights a lot cheaper. You would also get more time in your favorite place.

blinking heck,just been on Travelrepublic again and could book half board for 2 for £321.12(£160.56 each)To Prince Park Hotel overlooks L'Aigeura park near top gets decent reviews on Holidaysuncovered from the 23-12-08 to the 06-01-09.so may be worth booking your flights now and this hotel.Go on travel republic and go for hotels/apts. only and in drop down menu pick old town.Ps wish I could go over christmas oh well maybe one year soon.Regards Steve.

Sanji, - just hang fire a couple of days until jet 2 schedule their prices for winter 2008 (16 April). Then I'm sure we can help finding a price for the accomodation! Belly!

Hi sanji
The cheapest i can find so far is £1.580 for 2 adults full board from manchester .But maybe once jet2 and other cheaper airlines come out you will get a better deal .. mazza

Sanji - travel companies have staff watching the internet to see what hotels are getting the most hits and if they notice one particular hotel getting lots of interest, they up the anti by quite a bit. Have you tried looking at the cost of the Regente over a period of a couple of days and notice the price changing?

Yes, it's gone up from last week, it was 800 and something pounds and I thought that was ridiculous and now its £945.00 each.
I've looked at Travel Republic and they have a flight from East Midlands on the 23rd"¦cost £502 EACH their prices for hotels+flight is not working out much cheaper, well it won't with over a £1,000 added on for flights.
Yes I can be flexible and just as long as we are there for xmas day and new years eve, then 11 days would be fine.
I have already got a price for the hotel Regente, if I book direct, but I then have transfers and flights to arrange, the flights being the most important.

To throw a spanner in the works, I can get the hotel Dalmatas with Travel Republic for the same price as the Regente (booking direct) but, it's a no-smoking hotel.

I really don't know where is the best place to look for a flight or when to book....I spent hours yesterday looking at various sites like skyscanner, Bmibaby, Easy jet, Monarch and thomsonfly...it gave me a right banging headache in the end.

I said to Dave, I'm not paying that, so we will stay at home this year....that went down like a lead balloon.
The exchange rate/euro I can cope with, but I ain't making Thomson rich, simple as that.

Thanks for all your help

Hi Sanji, when I put your dates in on Travel Republic, it only showed the Dynastic or was it the Diplomatic and the Flamingo Playa apartments?

If you are lucky enough to find anything on there, type in getsomesun in the promotion box and you get 5% discount.

Sue

The only site that I can find to book the Regente without flights so far is http://www.booking.com which was €1328 for the 2 of you.

Sue

Number of nights: Average price per adult including tax:
14 £365.00 (Total price: 730.00 GBP)


Leaving Arriving Leaving at Leaving on Arr Time

» Manchester Airport Alicante 20/12/2008 Sat, 07:20 Sat, 11:00

« Alicante Manchester Airport 03/01/2009 Sat, 12:00 Sat, 13:45

Back to top Sanji dont know your dates but hope this helps take the price down

This is only my second year of DIY but I admit to being pretty obsessed with checking prices with the various operators

As Sue has said I also think that Jet2 are by far the cheapest and I would look on the flights only forum where someone is bound to know when the winter timetable is released. It's true that the prices go up and and down depending on popularity but I have found for the peak dates the prices just go up and up once released.

Another tip don't dilly dally like I did book straight away as booking as little as two hours later can cost you.

Hi Sanji...Not had luck with flights yet, but Jet2 are releasing their prices tomorrow (17th April) so hopefully you may get a good deal from them, not sure when Monarch, BMIbaby or Easyjet release theirs yet. There is one from Birmingham for £158 each for your dates, but hopefully you'll do better with Jet2. The best price i've got for the Regente so far for your dates is actually with Thomson and this is £865 for the both of you for your dates, so if you get good flight prices i'd look at that. What price did the Hotel quote you for booking direct with them?. On both Wintersunshineholidays and go2spain sites there are apartments starting at around £300 for the both of you so that might also be an option, and if you wanted to book Christmas/New Year Meals at a Hotel, maybe that would be another option. For example Los Damas Apartments, right on Levante Beach are only £348 for the both of you, thats with Go2Spain, so are pretty good value really. I cant believe how much the Regente has gone up in price over recent times, since the refurbishment. We've just booked for 4 nights in May, and Seven nights in July, and i was looking to stay there, but believe it or nor its actually cheaper at both the Flamingo Oasis and Hotel Avenida when we wanted to go, so i've booked those two hotels this time...Crazy! Incidently i could'nt find the Regente on either the above two sites for your dates, but it is possible to book it through them now as well as Thomson.

Best Regards - Taggy

Hi
This is "doing" my head in.....I've had this going on for weeks before I posted and I've been searching all day long again today.
The price for booking a package holiday with Thomson has now gone up to £960 each today

If I book accomodation only on a full board basis, today it is £845 for the both of us, I'm tempted to go for it, but then what happens if I don't get any flights.?
The price is the same as booking directly with the hotel, in fact it's about £20 cheaper on todays rate of the euro.

Do I go for it, or would you wait and get the flights first.?...you watch that price of £845 increase while I dilly and dally.

We have decided that we want to go on Sat 20th Dec until Sat 3rd Jan...I've done the three kings parade for 3 years running, so, I'll give it a miss this year.

This is difficult because while I've done DIY before, it was to Malaga and the apartment belonged to a friend of Dave, he only let it to close friends and family and he was far more flexible when booking this far in front....he'd pencil in a couple of dates either side of the main 2 weeks, which gave us breathing space for flights.

Dilemma, dilemma dilemma...and I've run out of Anadins
Sanjiiiiiiiiii

Sanji
If i was you id book that hotel now at that price for xmas and new year is still a good price. I know the flight prices i gave you is a bit steep but its your dates and its still works out 300 pounds cheaper than you were quoted . But get the hotel booked am sure you will get flights im not sure idf i would get you a discount on them flights from manchester but i will try first thing in the morning cheers mazza

Hi Sanji

There is some advice on booking DIY at the top of our DIY forum.

Personally I would book the flights first so that you know which dates you need the accommodation for. There is always more accommodation than there are flights.

luci