high season bookings 2012-13 how far ahead do you book?

[portfolio]

just trying out some bookings for december via trip advisor etc , every place i look at has 50+ people already viewing that page and when i put in my dates of dec22-jan 3 am getting no availabity.

 

never looked at this period before,is it normal too for places to be booked up 10 months in advance in this climate?

 

i know i will find somewhere but im staggered at the advance bookings already.

[overseas516]

I have searched your dates on Great deals on Cheap Holidays, Flights, Car Hire, Hotels and Travel Extras - TravelSupermarket.com

and found over 50 hotels for your dates. I also book my flights now for Christmas as they are cheaper now than later in the year as i have found out over the last 10 years. I am also due to return for Christmas from the 7th December to the 2nd January 2013 and can buy a direct flight for £728 Eva Air or 1 stop £572 through Cheap flights | Free flight comparison from Skyscanner.net

I would wait and book your hotel around the end of August as their will be lots more availability than their is right now IMO.

[portfolio]

thanks for info.

 

have emailed my regular condotel to provisionally book.

 

flight cost of £863 is quite scary , though i agree skyscanner is excellent.

 

will update my email alerts with airlines and hopefully snag something way cheaper over the next 2 months or so.

 

i just really didnt expect to be booking/laying out funds now for december!!!

[overseas516]

thanks for info.

 

have emailed my regular condotel to provisionally book.

 

flight cost of £863 is quite scary , though i agree skyscanner is excellent.

 

will update my email alerts with airlines and hopefully snag something way cheaper over the next 2 months or so.

 

i just really didnt expect to be booking/laying out funds now for december!!!

Try kayak as well as they do email alerts as well.KAYAK - Cheap Flights - Deals on Airline Tickets - Airfare - Compare Hundreds of Travel Sites

The other thing to bear in mind is that if you book your flights for Christmas you usually have to pay in full but the benefit is if fuel goes up you are not subjected to any surcharges.

[portfolio]

i heard there will be additional fuel surcharges from april too.

 

its like being an options trader just booking a holiday!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jojomecanic]

I book my plane ticket 15 days before departure.

 

I don't book a room anymore. I just hit a 500b guesthouse in soi 13, and the next day have a look around if I want something else.

 

I hate planing and booking. I spend my time planing things at work.Fuck this when on holiday.

Free as a bird.

[overseas516]

I book my plane ticket 15 days before departure.

Out of peak season i would agree with this but Christmas i would always book early as where i stay is full to capacity. My direct flight last December with Thai Airways was £605 (booked June 2011) and i looked a month before i was due to travel and the price had shot up to over £900 for economy.

[LISBON]

Check directrooms.com for hotels and fly.com for flights. But then always get a comparison from other sites before you book

 

[portfolio]

managed to get the majority of my nights in at the diana oasis, but only till the 29th dec currently.however ,thats likely to change so will just see what options i have whilst im there.v confident of sorting alternative nights whilst im actually there theres always someone with room/s on the diana estate willing to help out.

 

whilst checking agoda there were some 40 hotels available for 29.12-3/1 but scarily over 90% NOT available to book.ie 400+ already booked up.

 

certainly taught me a lesson to plan ahead for peak season.

[altec123]

Keep checking for availability and pricing for peak season on hotel rooms. Many hotels have not made the rooms available yet for booking because pricing has not been set for peak season 2012.

[crumbs]

I book my plane ticket 15 days before departure.

 

I don't book a room anymore. I just hit a 500b guesthouse in soi 13, and the next day have a look around if I want something else.

 

I hate planing and booking. I spend my time planing things at work.Fuck this when on holiday.

Free as a bird.

 

I also plan at work for a living and no way will I be "planning" my holidays a year in advance. I just book my flight 2-3 weeks before I leave and go, then book hotels on the spot or a day in advance.

[portfolio]

I also plan at work for a living and no way will I be "planning" my holidays a year in advance. I just book my flight 2-3 weeks before I leave and go, then book hotels on the spot or a day in advance.

 

 

this works for high season too?

 

 

 

Keep checking for availability and pricing for peak season on hotel rooms. Many hotels have not made the rooms available yet for booking because pricing has not been set for peak season 2012.

 

 

 

interesting to know, though many deffo fully booked.

 

any idea when others release rooms?

[altec123]

this works for high season too?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

interesting to know, though many deffo fully booked.

 

any idea when others release rooms?

 

I would keep checking every couple of weeks. Many will show rooms as "unavailable", but they are just not accepting reservations yet. I would imagine that the hotels are still doing an analysis of their bookings / revenue / pricing for the 2011 peak season. They more than likely want their competition to "blink first" and publish their pricing first.

[whitespider - RIP]

If Agoda shows "no availability" - KEEP checking. They run on "capacity" (i.e. number of rooms "released" by each hotel to lower rate bookings. This does NOT always mean the hotel is full it often means they have sold out of the amount of rooms they are prepared to release at the lower prices. hotels can then then amend this - i.e Agoda may say "full" but next week may have vacancy if the hotels release extra rooms.

 

This is also why Agodas prices can vary, literally from hour hour or day to day as prices depend on the hotels "keeness" to operate at a particular capacity rate; and conversely their keeness to keep a number of rooms available only at higher prices.

[jumpybongo]

scary flight prices right now for xmas.

 

using skyscanner and kayak alerts but all over £1000 anytime after dec 10th !!

 

might have to get "creative" over work in december.