If you are not travelling in the school half/term, then I would personally wait. I try and travel in October to Greece and have had some cracking deals. Where do you intend to go ????????
If, as the travel agent says, there are no late deals next October, then it will be the first time it has happened in my travelling years.

Robby

hello,
i always book early, this is so i get the hotel i want eg kids clubs and sleeps 4. i have booked for oct 2007 to the dominican and got a great deal.
i think its down to personal choice.

I think it is down to personal choice as well. A couple of years we booked a last minute deal to Rhodes in October. We did not get a bargain- paid the brochure price. We just couldn't get a bargain. However, we did have a great holiday!

I think it depends on whether you want to pick exactly where & when you stay.
If you have a specific destination, date & hotel in mind then you are IMO better booking early, or keep monitoring the net until you see a good deal (typical before or after Xmas when holiday sales tend to occur).

In 4 years of doing DIY (& holidaying twice a year) this is the first time this October, that I could have booked my flights cheaper now (6 weeks out), rather than a year+ in advance. This, I rather suspect, is because we are flying to Turkey.... and with the Bird Flu scare earlier in the year, combined with the bombs recently, this has led to a rather a sudden drop in demand - thus sharp price cutting.

You should always be able to pick up some kind of bargain at the last minute if you are flexible with dates and destination/accommodation. However, I have to say when I was looking in the school holidays for a friend recently, pretty well all there was left was nasty night flights, expensive flights and either very grotty accommodation / or very expensive luxury accommodation , or ............Turkey !!! (guess what - she went to Turkey ).
I don't know if the choice was so limited because it was the peak of the school holidays, but it sure put me off booking last minute !

Personnaly I would not wait as we take our holiday during half term in May and like to take advantage of free child places. If we leave it till last minute as there are only the three of us we would end up paying huge supplements for under occupancy.
I'm booked for Cyprus next year and out of curiosity ( after reading this post) have just priced it again There are no free child places available and the holiday is nearly £300 dearer because of this.
I have done last minute before but we were limited in choice, so IMO I'd book early.

We always tend to book our summer break last minute (can't plan too far ahead anyway). As we travel outside high season theres usually plenty of availibility, and have had some good bargains. One think we do is look into the late availibility of an operator that tends to do better quality holidays...cuts down the risk of getting dross accommodation. On a late deal if the accommodation is named you can still do your research on it before taking the plunge.

If your holidaying in October outside the school half term break then there should be some bargains about

The one thing I won't do again is a late deal "allocated on arrival". I'm quite flexible where I go, and usually try somewhere I haven't been before, but I like to know where I'm staying. October is a quietish month, so unless you want a peaceful holiday, I would suggest a fairly major resort. Although it's no guarantee, have a look at what's on offer for your chosen dates this year, it will give some sort of indication. I leave a week free every year in October if possible for a late deal, the same in May as well, as this is a good month for getting some good deals.

Robby

Where you live could have a part to play. My sister lived in the smoke and used to get great last minute deals from the travel agents however they never made it this far out as they had all gone by the time the jungle drums reached this far.

Now with the internet there are more opportunities but conversely they also have a better chance of selling them all before hand.

A travel agent will never admit to holidays being cheaper in the future as you will not book then.

Good luck in your hunt

Travel agents have always advised against late bookings ever since I first started booking my own back in the 80s. They have commission to think about!

It's a personal choice and I know if I was just wanting a break at that time of year I would have no problems plumping for last minute.

And anyway, there is nothing to stop you looking around every couple of weeks from now onwards and then if something comes up that looks like a great deal you can book it. At least booking in advance you have time to save up the full balance. Some people aren't disciplined enough to save up the money to pay for a hol in full when they book it.

I am a travel agent and would just like to point out that not every travel agent thinks constantly about commission. I like to go through all options with my customer and find the best deal for them. A travel agent will never say that holidays will be cheaper in the future because they dont know themselves!!! we dont have psychic powers when it comes to prices as many people like to believe!!!

I have customers that like to book early as they have specific requirements and also customers that book late because they dont care where they go they just want a good price.
It is entirely down to the individual which you would prefer to do. If you have specific requirements eg day flights kids clubs etc then I would definatly book early, as you know you are getting the exact holiday you want. If you leave it you tend to find a lot of the deals are on night flights or are allocated on arrival which many families tend to not go for as they would prefer to know what sort of things would be on offer to keep the children entertained. It is simply personal choice.

sorry for the grumble it gets quite frustrating when you hear the publics generally opinion of a travel agent!!!

Hi, thanks for all the advice, i think i will keep looking and if i see a good deal come up then i will book it. I have been pricing late deals for this october and some of them are actually going back up in price !

Prices do fluctuate, so when you see a great deal it's best to act on it. Personally I think prices dropped pretty low because of the terrorism, and it is usual for prices to creep back up when confidence returns and people start booking again. I booked a week for Crete in October for a "song" three weeks ago, and this has gone back up £30. It's a sad world with all this terrorism, and it "run" by cowards, but it going to go on for a long time yet, and I have no doubts there will be some more low prices in the future on the back of all this. It must be "hammering" the travel industry, but is a great time to pick up bargains. Don't let terrorism put you off travelling, and controversial as it may be, take advantage of those bargains.

Robby
PS: My opinion only.

Aymzc, sorry if my mentioning commission sounded like we all think that's all you TAs think about, that isn't the case. I probably worded it wrong.

I think you just have to look at like if you see something you really really fancy and you have the funds, then book it.

I think you just have to look at like if you see something you really really fancy and you have the funds, then book it.

And don't give yourself grief by constantly checking whether you could have got a better deal had you booked it later! Sometimes holidays drop in price if they are slow moving and sometimes they go up in price if they are selling fast. Once you've actually booked and committed yourself to a price, leave it at that and concentrate on looking forward to your holiday instead of fretting about whether you made the right decision or not.

I agree with that SM, it's a bit like "Deal or no Deal".
In the past I've missed some excellent deals waiting for a further drop. It either sells out, or goes up.

Robby

I completely agree that is the case. If you are happy with a price then go for it.

I do think that if you know what you want and it is a very popular resort then book it as early as possible. We want to go back to the Sani resort next summer. I have been monitoring the website because it is a very good resort. We booked with eclipsedirect.co.uk. I found when monitoring that at the beginning of the week the price was the highest and then came down at the weekend. In the end I booked at £2738 for 2 Adults and 2 children when the price came down on a Friday night. I had been monitoring the website for a couple of weeks and it was early booking for 2007. The room we requested have all now been sold and the next cheapest is now £678 dearer than we paid. I have checked ALL tour operators that do this resort and I have got the cheapest deal. I have also researched booking direct and this would cost me far more for the hotel than the whole package put together.

I do believe if you have kids want an day flight and a decent room (not sea veiw) then book early.

I agree, I spent hours trawling the internet for a package deal to anywhere departing whit weekend next year (need it this wk due to dtrs exams etc). Eventually I found one to Kalamaki flying from stansted(which is only 45mins) on the sun during the day. I dont care if the price changes as it is what I want!! I dont think we would have got away if I waited. So yes it really does depend if you have any date, destination, departure airport needs!