I agree with the last poster. Although you may be able to get a cheap, last minute deal from a major tour operator, it is very unlikely that the quality of the accommodation will match privately owned accommodation. The benefits of a privately owned property is that you will usually be able to get lots more photos and info than from a tour operator, so you will know before you go such detail as:
How far from the pool
The view from the balcony
The level (ground floor, first floor etc.)
You will also often have many more facilities like washing machine, cd player, and usually the added bonus of your own sunbeds, no fighting with other holidaymakers who get up at the crack of dawn to put their towels on the sunbeds!
In most cases any detailed questions you may have on the resort, the property or specific details about the local area can be answered before you book.
For years we had package holidays, but when we started to arrange them ourselves a few years ago we realised the advantages, even if the cost was a bit more.

Not sure I 100% agree. I have stayed in many TO self catering apartments, and whilst not necessarily bargain basement cheap, they havent been 'camp bedded flea pits'.

Also some friends rented a private villa in the algarve a couple of years back and they spend the first few days 'jiffing out' because it was so dirty. It is also very difficult to get recompense from a private owner and whilst they so rest on their reputation for repeat bookings, if you are unlucky enough to get a duff one, you can't demand to be moved to something acceptable as you sometimes can with a TO.

You really have to be on the ball to get cheap DIY holidays in peak season,book as soon as the flights go on sale. I've done cheap DIY and cheap package holidays before,just be prepared for next years flights going on sale, start checking websites in May/June etc.

This years holiday for 2 of us for 2 weeks has cost me £330 total.

We've always booked peak season DIY and get our holidays for a good 2K less than it would cost from a normal tour operator. We're a family of 5 and get hammered for under occupancy supplements. This year we have really excelled ourselves in the bargain stakes - 2 weeks in hotel on B&B basis with flights from local airport for just a smidgen over a grand! There's NO WAY on this earth we'd get a holiday that cheap via a tour operator even s/c.

I have just booked a 10 day DIY holiday in Majorca, first finding a flight then looking around for an apartment, the 10 days in Puerto Pollensa in August came to just over £1650 for a 2 bed apartment with shared pool about 200 metres from the beach. Out of curiosity I have done a little bit of a search for a package for the same dates and in the same resort and found I would have had to pay at least £500 more for anything comparible.

The main advantage I found in booking the flights myself was in finding a flight at a decent hour (mid-day rather than the early hours of the morning), when booking as part of a package I found there was a lot less choice of flight times available.

Renting an apartment privately also has several advantages, you have a better idea of what you are getting (ground floor, air conditioning, private garden, shared pool, 200metres to beech etc). You also pay for the accomodation rather than per person (I got a 2 bed apartments with shared pool for a weekly rate of around £650pw in August) which worked out much cheaper for us, we are 2 adults and 2 kids and when trying to get a package deal this usually meant we would have had to get 2 rooms. I found it fairly easy to get a 10 day rental running from a Tuesday to a Thursday though some owners seem to do Saturday to Saturday during the summer.

One thing I noticed though was that the flights do get snapped up fairly quickly, I first started looking at flights to Majorca before Xmas and found suitable flights with Easyjet for £473, when I finally got round to booking the flights the best I could find was £683, as you would expect if you are able to go outside of school holiday time you will get far more choice in both flights and accomodation.

Another thing to factor in is of course the transfer to and from the airport which would be included in the package and for us adds about an extra £120 if we decide to go for taxi or coach transfer. However for about this price its possible to hire a car from the airport for the duration of our stay which would of course save us more money on transport during our holiday.

This is the second holiday I have done in this way and I have also been on several package deals in the past, for cost, choice and flexibility I would do diy everytime in future.

Steve

Hi Steve and welcome to HT!

Thanks for your detailed post which I'm sure our members will find helpful.

luci

I booked return flights for two with Thomsonfly to Palma for £275 plus £20 baggage allowance,sitting together£24 and in flight meals£24 for the first two weeks in August.£343 in total,Good flight times depart 7.45am arrive 11.20am,coming home 8.20pm back home 9.30pm.
Also booked the Cala Bona Hotel,half board again with a/c again with Thomson for £740.00.I thought it was a good price diy.Only the taxi transfer to book.

We sometimes book packages and sometimes DIY, more often DIY.
I have never (I mean never) used an acomodation agent. I've always found it a lot cheaper to book with the hotel direct.
If you find a hotel you like on an agents web site contact the hotel directly.
Also as a number of people have pointed out the key to a cheap DIY holiday is finding cheap flights. Find and book cheap flights and then look for accomodation, not the other way round.

Hi rigler64
I agree with what you say about getting flights booked early, but not about booking direct with hotels. On at least 4 occasions when I have e-mailed hotels, their prices have been higher than the agencies I normally use(Either Travel Republic or Thomsons)In all cases the hotels are ones that we have stayed in previously.
regards
Sue

I have also found hotels to be more expensive booking direct than through an online agency.

I have booked a package for New Year in Benidorm. Booking direct with the hotel was only £40 cheaper than the package has cost us including flights and transfers.

luci

I have to agree with Sue and Luci. The hotel I stayed at in Palma last month, Travel Republic were about half the price, compared if I had booked the hotel direct (twin room for 1 person and breakfast). But usually i compare the hotel direct against what online agencies e.g Travel Republic, Travel Supermarket etc.

I suspect that this has a lot to with when and how far in advance you are trying to book. Last September I got a good deal with Travel Republic for a hotel in Seville - much cheaper than what the hotel was quoting for a direct booking and still cheaper than the 'discounted' rate the conference organisers had negotiated. When I arrived it was clear that the hotel wasn't booked out but it wasn't exactly quiet either so I suspect that whilst the hotel was happy to offload some rooms via the booking agencies they weren't that desperate to fill rooms that they were going to give up the chance of charging 'rack' rate for a direct latish booking if they could get away with it.

I loved both Seville and the hotel and decided to go back for the Feria this April with friends but this time the hotel simply wasn't appearing on most of the agency websites and whilst it could still be booked via Travel Republic the price was only marginally cheaper than the 'rack' rate for a direct booking. I suspect that this time, like most mid-range hotels during Feria, it was close to already being fully booked well in advance and that whilst they would take every opportunity to fill the remaining few rooms they were confident that they would be able to do so without offering any sort of discount.

The interesting thing was that - apart from Travel Republic - some of the agencies were quoting slightly higher prices than the hotels were for direct bookings which suggests that the booking fee was being passed on to the customer rather than being absorbed by the hotel as is usually the case. I assume that this was because the hotels felt no need to pay the agencies their 'cut' because they were so confident that in the end they would fill these rooms anyway.

SM

The hotel I stayed in Palma - Tryp Bosque - I had booked last August. And was checking nearer the time what the prices were like, as I booked it through Travel Republic. And were still cheaper than the hotel itself, but higher price than I paid for. And the hotel was no-where near full. Taking into consideration, time of year. Plus it was mainly Air Berlin air crew and business people, with some tourists staying when I was there.

I have just booked a 10 day DIY holiday in Majorca, first finding a flight then looking around for an apartment, the 10 days in Puerto Pollensa in August came to just over £1650 for a 2 bed apartment with shared pool about 200 metres from the beach.

Renting an apartment privately also has several advantages, you have a better idea of what you are getting (ground floor, air conditioning, private garden, shared pool, 200metres to beech etc). You also pay for the accomodation rather than per person (I got a 2 bed apartments with shared pool for a weekly rate of around £650pw in August) which worked out much cheaper for us, we are 2 adults and 2 kids and when trying to get a package deal this usually meant we would have had to get 2 rooms. I found it fairly easy to get a 10 day rental running from a Tuesday to a Thursday though some owners seem to do Saturday to Saturday during the summer.

Steve

Hi Steve
I am glad that SOMEONE is coming to Mallorca!
Although I was shocked at how much the apartment was for 10 days
You should have checked out the private rental section on here, it would have probably worked out cheaper.
I hope that you and your family have a great time when you come over here, the weather should be tip top (apart from the occasional elec storm!).
Enjoy your holiday

This is the first year we have done a complete DIY for our summer break to Egypt. We did it through Travel Republic and our whole holiday to the best hotel in El GOuna, Steigenberger 5*, cost is £450 from London, b and b, for the first fortnight in July! The hotel part cost us just over £120 for the fortnight pp, and I priced it seperately on line and it cost from £85 per night! Only thing we have to book now is a taxi in advance to take us to the hotel [loads cheaper than organising the bus through our flight, First Choice], which we will be able to organise online.

We have visited El Gouna twice before so feel confident doing it this way this time.

Weve done DIY lots of times now - its worked out MUCH cheaper for us and that is in the peak season.

Last year husband myself and youngest son went to Majorca for 10 days booked through alpharooms and Easyjet for less than half the price the Tour Ops were quoting for the same holiday.

But even if it was the same price I would do DIY every time anyway. If its a private apartment you book you get far superior facilities included in the price - and if its Alpharooms or similar then you have the choice of hundreds of complexes in the same resort - in comparison to the Tour operator's brochure of about two or three in Peurto Pollensa for example...........

Im afraid it would take an awful lot to bring me back to booking a package holiday again and its not price that would be the main issue............

I have booked our first DIY this year and the main reason is that 3 of our party want single rooms and with a TO the supplements make it really expensive. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it all goes OK.