How to get the best value when booking a holiday

But does it make sense to commit to plans so early? And how can you get the break you want at the best price? Can you haggle with a travel agent, or will an aggregator website offer the cheapest deal? Travel planning is at best a vague science, but there are some hacks that will help you keep costs down.

Why book early?

January and February are traditionally among the busiest months for travel agents and operators, as they look to secure package holiday bookings that will offset part of their outlay. A range of early booking incentives are available to encourage savvy holidaymakers to book early in the year, from room upgrades and car hire to free child places and airport transfers. Another good incentive for cash-strapped customers is the ability to secure that holiday with a small deposit – in some cases as little as €50, with the remainder to be paid off before they depart.

However, the last few years have seen a shift in early booking trends, with many deals now available much earlier. According to Juliet Twena of Travel Counsellors, the traditional January sales are now showing up in mid-December or even before. "September is a massive booking month now," she says, "because a lot of people who come back from their holidays in the summer essentially will get the best deals if they book straight away."

This kind of forward booking is primarily of interest to families, who make up the bulk of the repeat customer market – holidaymakers who know when they want to travel and where, often returning to the same place year after year.

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Are package holidays still a thing?

Kind of. The rigid, seven- or 14-day package holiday that uses fixed-date charter flights has largely been replaced by a more consumer-friendly model known as “dynamic packaging”. Using both low-cost and full-service airlines rather than charters, and buying beds from hotel room wholesalers known as “bed banks”, operators and agents offer customers greater flexibility where they can effectively build their own package, with a much broader choice of when to travel and where to stay – at competitive prices more or less the same as the traditional package deal.

Can I design the same holiday without using an operator or an agent?

Sure, but unless you're keeping a permanently watchful eye on hotel and flight deals, you'll usually end up paying more for the same holiday. Operators buy their flights and beds in bulk, and so pay wholesale: even allowing for their own built-in profit margin, their prices are often better than those you'll find on your own, even on aggregator sites like Booking.com, Kayak or Trivago, which might not have access to the same suppliers.

And don't forget the incidentals. For Paula Coughlan of Dawson Travel, they make all the difference when opting to book through an agent. "Take a package holiday to Salou [on Spain's Costa Daurada], which is really popular with families. Transfers and park passes [to Salou's popular theme parks] are usually included, so it will always be cheaper than if you were to book the individual elements yourself."

What if I do want to book my own holiday?

The internet offers almost endless possibilities, but it pays to shop around. Don't just rely on one website to find a great deal – use comparison sites like TravelSupermarket or GoCompare to see how good that deal really is. The aforementioned aggregator sites (Booking.com, Kayak, Trivago and others) mightn't have access to deals that are exclusive to travel agents, but they're still a pretty good holiday supermarket, allowing you to book flights, accommodation and even car rental all in the one place.

I booked a holiday last year online but ended up paying more than I’d originally been quoted. Why?

Because the initial price you’re quoted by online booking and comparison sites is rarely guaranteed. Most of these sites don’t have “live allocation”, which means the holiday is sold through third-party providers rather than directly. It’s not unusual for you to put in all of your details (often under pressure from timer clocks warning you of a deal’s imminent expiry) and then, when you go to pay, the price has gone up.

Should I avoid online booking sites?

Not necessarily. But it helps to know exactly how these sites work. It's also worth noting that some of these flight and holiday comparison sites are part of the same group: Momondo and TravelSupermarket are both run by Kayak, while the giant Expedia group also owns eBookers, CheapTickets, Travelocity and Hotwire as well as hotel comparison sites Trivago and Hotels.com. The obvious risk with such large umbrella groups is that they can push their services across a number of brands without any transparency, selling the same hotels and airfares at different prices at different times, making it almost impossible for customers to get the best deal.

What about airfares?

In the vast majority of cases, airfares will make up the bulk of a holiday’s cost, especially for families or anyone not planning to stay in a five-star hotel for the duration. Most airlines have flash sales at least two or three times a year - usually June, September and January. But to bag the cheapest tickets you’ll have to get in early, as only a limited number of seats are sold at the advertised sale price and once they’re gone, you’ll end up paying regular fares.

If you’re on an airline’s mailing list (or a member of their points club) you’ll get forward notice of an upcoming sale. If you use a travel agent, they’ll always give you notice of any upcoming sales based on your expressed preferences. Outside of sales times, a travel agent can often get you a better fare than the one advertised on the airline’s website as they may have consolidated deals prenegotiated with the airline.

And then there’s the codeshare “trick”. All full-service airlines have codeshare partners, so if you see a price on one airline’s website, check the same routing on their codeshare partners’ websites as it can often lead to considerable savings. Sites like Skyscanner will show all the codeshare options for each search, and your trusty travel agent will also know where to find the best bargains.

Is it true that the cheapest fares are available 56 days before flying?

Although flight prices don’t fluctuate nearly as much as hotel or cruise prices, there’s an accepted wisdom in the travel industry that there’s an optimum time to book. Travel site Momondo’s claims the magic number is 56 days, but this is at best inexact science. Flight comparison site Skyscanner says the ideal time is seven weeks before departure, but even they admit that flight prices vary depending on destination – for instance, you’ll save 41 per cent if you book a flight to Manchester 17 weeks in advance, but you’ll save 45 per cent on a flight to Paris booked only three weeks before.

Outside of sale times, the general rule of thumb is that you’ll get better fares the longer in advance you book. Paula Coughlan recommends flexibility with dates and times if possible. “Often if you’re travelling on a Saturday or a Sunday, you can pay a lot more than you could travel on a Monday or possibly a Friday. If you can travel midweek, it’s likely that you’ll save a fair bit of money. If you travel early in the morning or late at night, you can often get better prices.”

I’m thinking of going on a cruise. Any good tips?

January and February are peak booking times for cruises (known as the “Wave” period), but much like the rest of the industry, bookings have spiked even earlier, with September now busier than ever. Consequently, some of the best deals are available at these times.

But according to cruise experts Cruisecritic, the most popular days for booking are Sunday and Monday; customers look for offers on Sunday, send an inquiry and then deal with the response on Monday. Conversely, Wednesdays and Thursdays tend to be quieter, which can mean cheaper deals because of the nature of dynamic pricing – price determined by demand.

Any other suggestions?

You should haggle with travel agents. The first price you’re offered is usually the one generated by the system, but there’s often more than a little wiggle room, which can generate substantial savings.

If you prefer to book your holidays with an online travel agent, be sure to create an account with them as many will offer loyalty discounts or sign-up offers. (The same applies to the larger hotel chains, who offer great discounts to loyalty club members as well as upgrades and extra perks like free wifi.)

Booking through an actual travel agent offers the advantage of a person-to-person relationship, and in this hyper-competitive market, the only agents that thrive are the ones that will go the extra mile, especially for regular customers. “It’s the ability to think outside the box,” says Juliet Twena.

If you spend a bit of time searching for deals online, be sure to clear your browser cookies (data cached in your browser) before booking. Dynamic pricing means that the more you search for something, the greater the likelihood of its cost going up, no matter how many times you refresh your browser. The simple solution is to clear your cookie cache so the website has no idea that you really, really want that holiday on the Greek islands or that flight to Thailand.

And finally, never book a holiday with an unbonded or unlicensed agent, online or otherwise. In Ireland, all travel agents and operators must be licensed and bonded in correlation with the size of their firm, which basically means maintaining a cash reserve for all eventualities – whether it’s offering customers equivalent alternative arrangements, or arranging transport to bring them home.