Travel feedback needed...

We've been planning our trip for about a month now, and finally bought the tickets and reserved the hotels. I'd say that we fit that description. I watched the rates for the airfare for probably two weeks and bought them when they were low (not too low, unfortunatly).

Hope that helps.

Robert said:

According to some recent research, 50% of those vacationers that buy online perform most of their online research 2-3 weeks before they actually decide to make the purchase.

If any of you have purchased travel related services or booked a vacation online recently, did you fit the above data? Better still, I would be interested in knowing the process you followed.

Thanks, Robert.

Click to expand...

Well this might sound like a lot of work and a little anal to some BUT it did allow me to save big time on a ticket to POP recently!

I started about a month before the date I wanted to depart (departing from Toronto, Canada) and checked three Canadian websites daily (for the first week) to monitor the prices and see which website had the cheapest prices. Also, different websites carry different tour operators, meaning different prices, (I usually only book last minute for a charter flight). There was a specific flight I wanted so that I would be on the same flight with a friend of mine and I had the flight number information so all I had to do was check every day for the price. The flight I wanted was leaving on a Friday so I did a test for a Friday a month before I was leaving to see how many days before the date of departure the flight price dropped... it turned out that Monday around 6:00 p.m. was the time the price dropped for that Friday's flight. After the first week, I just checked every Monday night for that Friday's price. When I first started checking my flight (a month before) it was around $850... then it went up to about $950 and sure enough the Monday night before (4 days prior to departure) it dropped to $415 (tax incl)! Baring a little stress, it was definitely worth the wait.

You will almost always get a last minute seat and especially if you are able to leave on say Friday or Saturday... you just book what is available.

Usually for my trips...

I start like 3 weeks ahead of time to look for airline prices...

I research all: Travelocity, Orbitz, Cheaptickets, Priceline...none of them give me anything worth my trouble...

SpiritAir advertises good prices, but usually if it's a long holiday weekend they raise it extremetly high....and it's not worth it because I would have to leave from Ft. Lauderdale, and I've never flown on Spirit so I don't know if they give you a lot of hassle...

I even searched USAirways, like Dolores sugggested recently...they wanted over $500 USD for the dates I chose in April...

SOOOOO....went back to my trusted AA.com...The cheapest I found a roundtrip ticket for Easter Weekend was $330.05...Leaving Mia on 3/23 and coming back on 3/28...Bought them on 3/2...!!!

Today I checked again and the same trip was $345...and I think it might even go higher once the date approches...Didn't want to take a chance...

I haven't stayed at any AI's for a while now...since now I have a place to visit...

MQ

My next trip is 5 days at Semana Santa. I reserved and held the ticket online yesterday. I will wait as late as 3 days before leaving to book if the seats remain available ( I check for a new reservation working OK then delete the one on hold and rebook for another 3 days).

I've booked six months ahead and two days ahead and all in between.

But I am always looking....always.....

I usually book with charter airlines from Toronto. I wait till tuesday of the weekend I am leaving and the prices drop. They drop their prices on tuesday cuz they have the travel section in toronto sun on wednesdays. IF I were to book with a scheduled airline like AA or continental I would have to book atlesat a month in advance otherwise they will raise their prices as they get close to departure dates.

My wife is a cheapskate so she books as soon as we decided were were going and when the fare looks right. She then tracks the fare and gets the rebates if the fare drops in price AA is very good for this. I would say 3 mnths ahead but it has been more and less. Usally books direct with airline but uses some of the other search site to find the flights.

Robert said:

According to some recent research, 50% of those vacationers that buy online perform most of their online research 2-3 weeks before they actually decide to make the purchase.

If any of you have purchased travel related services or booked a vacation online recently, did you fit the above data? Better still, I would be interested in knowing the process you followed.

Thanks, Robert.

Click to expand...

Wow! That's fast research. Our experience is that people traveling solo might do this scale and type of research. Those who travel in groups, say 4 or 5 couples, take longer. Apparently it is akin to 'herding cats' to get everyone on the same page as to destination, costs, flights, transportation, meals, etc.

I'd say the 50% is low (make it 65 - 70% for groups)...
I'd say the 2-3 weeks is too low (make it 2 months)...

...anyhow, that's my take on it.

Start looking the first of Oct. for air fare, when a "good deal" pops up I grab it (usually for 4 to 8 people). Hotel isn't too important- gotta be clean- otherwise don't care where we stay.

I researched a little bit (maybe a week), but when I saw a package for $1500 for two (airfare, all inclusive hotel) from Detroit, Michigan for a 4-star hotel, I jumped on it. I'm glad I did, because now the same packages for lesser hotels are going for $2500 or more.

30 days sounds OK for accomodation and domestic transportation at destination. For air fares 2 months at the very least. Of course I travel out of here, so maybe not useful for you.

I start looking as soon as I decide when we want to leave

and "test" different departure dates to see if day of week or week of month makes any difference.
I check all the usual websites and have a couple of favorites that seem to give the best search results.
It usually takes me about two weeks to actually book for departures anywhere from two weeks later than booking date to five months later than booking date.