Marcus Fox

Planning to travel to mainland Europe for a week to include the Valentine's
day weekend. Possibly Prague, Rome, Vienna or one of the other Italian
cities. Have looked on a couple of sites and prices are within my budget,
but I don't know whether it is better to book the flights from a budget
carrier, such as Ryanair (I know they don't fly to Prague though) and the
accommodation separately, or book it all together as part of a package deal.
I would like to book online, as this will be the cheapest option, but don't
really know where I could get the best deal. Looking for city centre hotel
accommodation, flying out from one of the London airports.

Any websites or advice appreciated,

Marcus

Reid

Following up to Marcus Fox

    >Planning to travel to mainland Europe for a week to include the Valentine's
    >day weekend. Possibly Prague, Rome, Vienna or one of the other Italian
    >cities. Have looked on a couple of sites and prices are within my budget,
    >but I don't know whether it is better to book the flights from a budget
    >carrier, such as Ryanair (I know they don't fly to Prague though) and the
    >accommodation separately, or book it all together as part of a package deal.
    >I would like to book online, as this will be the cheapest option, but don't
    >really know where I could get the best deal. Looking for city centre hotel
    >accommodation, flying out from one of the London airports.

Nowadays we don't even consider packages. We plan around the
cheaper flights, not ignoring what national carriers have
available and take it from there, booking hotels and car by
email. Its worked so far.

Alec

"Reid" <> wrote in message
news:...
    > Following up to Marcus Fox
    > >Planning to travel to mainland Europe for a week to include the
Valentine's
    > >day weekend. Possibly Prague, Rome, Vienna or one of the other Italian
    > >cities. Have looked on a couple of sites and prices are within my budget,
    > >but I don't know whether it is better to book the flights from a budget
    > >carrier, such as Ryanair (I know they don't fly to Prague though) and the
    > >accommodation separately, or book it all together as part of a package
deal.
    > >I would like to book online, as this will be the cheapest option, but
don't
    > >really know where I could get the best deal. Looking for city centre
hotel
    > >accommodation, flying out from one of the London airports.
    > Nowadays we don't even consider packages. We plan around the
    > cheaper flights, not ignoring what national carriers have
    > available and take it from there, booking hotels and car by
    > email. Its worked so far.
One of the drawbacks of booking flights and hotel separately is that if
something goes wrong you are on your own. For example you turn up in Prague
and hotel is overbooked. YOU have to phone around finding an alternative or
rely on the goodwill of the hotel. A packaged deal will be bonded and tour
operator is responsible for putting things right or has to pay compensation.
Increasingly tour operators will book a low fares airline for you (perhaps
for a small supplement) to create a cheaper bonded package, or travel agents
do their own package using cheaper flights, again fully bonded. There was an
article in the last Sunday Times on precisely this topic, 'Packages go
no-frills': http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...946183,00.html

Alec

Mike

"Alec" <> wrote in message
news:3ff13e17$0$13348$...
    > "Reid" <> wrote in message
    > news:...
    > > Following up to Marcus Fox
    > >
    > > >Planning to travel to mainland Europe for a week to include the
    > Valentine's
    > > >day weekend. Possibly Prague, Rome, Vienna or one of the other Italian
    > > >cities. Have looked on a couple of sites and prices are within my
budget,
    > > >but I don't know whether it is better to book the flights from a budget
    > > >carrier, such as Ryanair (I know they don't fly to Prague though) and
the
    > > >accommodation separately, or book it all together as part of a package
    > deal.
    > > >I would like to book online, as this will be the cheapest option, but
    > don't
    > > >really know where I could get the best deal. Looking for city centre
    > hotel accommodation, flying out from one of the London airports.

    > One of the drawbacks of booking flights and hotel separately is that if
    > something goes wrong you are on your own. For example you turn up in
Prague
    > and hotel is overbooked. YOU have to phone around finding an alternative
or
    > rely on the goodwill of the hotel. A packaged deal will be bonded and tour
    > operator is responsible for putting things right or has to pay
compensation.
    > Increasingly tour operators will book a low fares airline for you (perhaps
    > for a small supplement) to create a cheaper bonded package, or travel
agents
    > do their own package using cheaper flights, again fully bonded. There was
an
    > article in the last Sunday Times on precisely this topic, 'Packages go
    > no-frills': http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...946183,00.html
    > Alec

I understand the point, but which tour operator or travel agent is going to
be there at 9pm at night to assist you when you turn up to find the hotel
overbooked? You can minimise the chances of a problem by contacting the
hotel directly to re-confirm, shortly before leaving the UK - that way you
know they are expecting you.

Mike
www.alloverhotels.com

Alec

"Reid" <> wrote in message
news:...
    > Following up to Mike
    > >I understand the point, but which tour operator or travel agent is going
to
    > >be there at 9pm at night to assist you when you turn up to find the hotel
    > >overbooked? You can minimise the chances of a problem by contacting the
    > >hotel directly to re-confirm, shortly before leaving the UK - that way
you
    > >know they are expecting you.
    > I wonder how good package people are at finding another hotel if
    > that happens? We always hire a car so I suppose we are less
    > vulnerable to such things.
They are bound to have allocations at other hotels, and have more clout with
hoteliers to get things done. If all else fails, you can claim compensation
for a ruined holiday and perhaps get another one free!

Alec

Reid

Following up to Mike

    >I understand the point, but which tour operator or travel agent is going to
    >be there at 9pm at night to assist you when you turn up to find the hotel
    >overbooked? You can minimise the chances of a problem by contacting the
    >hotel directly to re-confirm, shortly before leaving the UK - that way you
    >know they are expecting you.

I wonder how good package people are at finding another hotel if
that happens? We always hire a car so I suppose we are less
vulnerable to such things.

Mike

"Alec" <> wrote in message
news:3ff15bf1$0$13345$...
    > "Reid" <> wrote in message
    > news:...
    > > Following up to Mike
    > >
    > > >I understand the point, but which tour operator or travel agent is
going
    > to
    > > >be there at 9pm at night to assist you when you turn up to find the
hotel
    > > >overbooked? You can minimise the chances of a problem by contacting the
    > > >hotel directly to re-confirm, shortly before leaving the UK - that way
    > you
    > > >know they are expecting you.
    > >
    > > I wonder how good package people are at finding another hotel if
    > > that happens? We always hire a car so I suppose we are less
    > > vulnerable to such things.
    > >
    > They are bound to have allocations at other hotels, and have more clout
with
    > hoteliers to get things done. If all else fails, you can claim
compensation
    > for a ruined holiday and perhaps get another one free!
    > Alec
Alec

I come back to my point, how do you get hold of them at 9pm at night?

Anyway, I would rather just sort out my holiday than have it ruined and have
to go chasing compensation.

Mike
www.alloverhotels.com

I.Schichtle

Hallo Mike,

I never book packages, when I want to spend a few days in a town.
You are more independent when you organize your journey on your own.
I don't know if you are interested in visiting Salzburg;
my friends have visited the town of Mozart last winter;
They have booked the flight with Ryan Air in the Internet; as far as I
know
the connection London - Salzburg is very good, I think two times per
day.
You will find detailed information on
www.ryanair.com.

Hotels:
www.hotels.com
or one of the hotel groups in salzburg I can recommend:
www.astron-hotels.com

I also can recommend you to buy the Salzbur Card (my friends have been
very responsive about it)
The Salzburg Card includes:
Free single admission to all the city's attractions
Free use of public transport throughout the city, incl. fortress
funicular and panorama boat
Attractive discounts for cultural events
Discounts for various tours and excursions

Fore more information: www.salzburginfo.at (also in English).

I hope the information will help you.

Sincerely
irena

Jim Ley

On Tue, 30 Dec 2003 08:58:00 -0000, "Alec"
<> wrote:

    >One of the drawbacks of booking flights and hotel separately is that if
    >something goes wrong you are on your own. For example you turn up in Prague
    >and hotel is overbooked. YOU have to phone around finding an alternative or
    >rely on the goodwill of the hotel.

No, if you've booked into the hotel and they overbook, they have to
find you a place, why would it suddenly become your problem - indeed
it's more their problem as the contract is between you and the hotel,
and not you and a tour operator.

Jim.

Tommy Petersson

Reid <> wrote in
news::

    > Following up to Marcus Fox

    >>Planning to travel to mainland Europe for a week to include the
    >>Valentine's day weekend. Possibly Prague, Rome, Vienna or one of the
    >>other Italian cities. Have looked on a couple of sites and prices are
    >>within my budget, but I don't know whether it is better to book the
    >>flights from a budget carrier, such as Ryanair (I know they don't fly
    >>to Prague though) and the accommodation separately, or book it all
    >>together as part of a package deal. I would like to book online, as
    >>this will be the cheapest option, but don't really know where I could
    >>get the best deal. Looking for city centre hotel accommodation, flying
    >>out from one of the London airports.

    > Nowadays we don't even consider packages. We plan around the
    > cheaper flights, not ignoring what national carriers have
    > available and take it from there, booking hotels and car by
    > email. Its worked so far.

If I'm going just for a week I don't consider visiting more than one place,
and I start with checking the package deals. If they fit my needs, they're
almost always cheaper and charter flights more often go direct without
extra landings.

If I want to visit more places in one trip, I go for a longer duration and
then it will *never* be a package tour.

/Tommy P.