If you want to get a nice, exotic holiday, at a good price, it might help to try to organize it yourself. There are offers on the internet, which are significantly better than what your local travel agent could offer, and if you invest a little bit of time, you can easily save several hundred bucks. There are a number of sites to find cheap offers for almost anything – from airline tickets, to hotels, to all-in-one packages.
As an example of how good internet offers can be, I found an airline ticket from Rome (Italy) to Maldives and then back to Frankfurt (Germany) for 316 euro (including taxes, see the screenshot). Truth be told, there are specific dates for this offer and there is a significant layover (8-9 hours) in Colombo (Sri Lanka), but this is still a very good price, nevertheless. I was actually able to find a trip with shorter layover (around 2 hours both ways) for just 350 euro.
I also found an online offer for a beach villa in a resort on Maldives, where you get an all-inclusive package for the price of full board – a really good deal, having in mind that the difference is around $100 per day if you compare the regular prices.
Where to look for offers
I look for travel deals mainly in two “families” of sites:
- Holiday Pirates – travel deals with departures mainly from UK
- Urlaubs Piraten – travel deals with departures mainly from Germany
- Piratin Viaggio – travel deals with departures mainly from Italy
- Vakantie Piraten – travel deals with departures mainly from Benelux
- Travel Zoo Top 20 UK – Top 20 travel deals of the week with departures mainly from UK (updated every Wednesday)
- Travel Zoo Top 20 Germany – Top 20 travel deals of the week with departures mainly from Germany (updated every Wednesday)
For websites with unfamiliar languages you can use plugins for automatic translation, like S3.Google Translator for Firefox, for example. If you like an offer, you could probably work things out with the travel agent in English.
These are websites. which publish offers from different sources (agencies, other websites, travel agents) and in most cases the prices are really good. Still, it doesn’t hurt to check exactly how good a particular offer actually is (see below). There are sections with package deals (including flight and accomodation), plane tickets only and accomodation only. In most cases the offers are valid for very specific dates, so read carefully. It also helps if you can react quickly – in some cases the offer expires within a day or two (literally).
There are additional websites you can pay a visit to:
Big travel agents
The big agencies offer mainly package holidays (the price it best when you get a package), but you can also look for hotels or flight tickets only. They also have a last minute section on their websites (for departures within the next 2-4 weeks) – it might help to check those out, as well.
- TUI
- TUI Germany – TUI’s main site, with offers for departures from Germany
- Thomson – TUI’s subsidiary, with offers for departures from UK
- Arke – TUI’s subsidiary, with offers for departures from Netherlands
- Thomas Cook – British travel agent
- Kuoni – British travel agent
Other websites
Two more sites I’ve been checking every once in awhile, which I decided to include.
- The Holiday Place – well designed and organized site for package deals
- Secret Escapes – website with interesting, a little more luxurious (expensive) offers
Where to check the offer you selected
Obviously, after you choose a specific offer you need to make sure there are suitable connecting flights from where you live. Be it a low-cost airline (like WizzAir, RyanAir, etc.) or a standard airline, different options are usually available, but it also depends on the specific dates you are looking for. If you need to book an overnight stay because there are no suitable flights for the same day, this may increase the price of the “cheap” holiday significantly.
Next, check the prices of the offer itself. You can check airline tickets here:
- SkyScanner – website to help you find the cheapest flight tickets (includes low-cost airlines like WizzAir, EasyJet, RyanAir and similar)
- Momondo – website to help you find the cheapest flight tickets (includes low-cost airlines like WizzAir, EasyJet, RyanAir and similar)
- Hipmunk – prices on Hipmunk are not always the best (compared to the results from the sites above), but I really like the UI (UX) and the site is very well organized overall
I wouldn’t be too surprised if you find a better price. Keep in mind, though, that if you’ve selected a package holiday, you might not be able to find the flight here, as it might be a charter or a travel agent flight (which are not listed on these sites).
In addition to the flight itself, make sure you check how much the transfer from the airport costs. In Maldives, for example, the transfer between the capital Male and the resort (usually with a seaplane) can cost you as much as $500 per person (roundtrip), and the price depends on the distance between the airport and the resort. In a lot of cases this transfer is also mandatory – there are no other means to get there.
For the hotel / accomodation, check the rating and the price here:
- Booking.com – along with probably the lowest prices, Booking.com also provides very useful rating system. As a rule of thumb, avoid places with rating below 7 – rating above 8 is recommended. You might also read a few comments – they give a pretty good idea of what to expect from the place you are looking at.
- Trip Advisor – here you can compare prices for the same place (hotel / resort) from several sources, including Booking.com, Hotels.com, Agoda, Expedia. They also provide a rating system, which seems adequate. I would much rather check the rating on Booking.com, but some places are just not listed there (not many, but there are a few).
You should also keep in mind that in some occassions there are additional taxes and commissions, which are not included in the listed price. For Maldives, for example, you have to pay 8% tax on top of the resort price, and additionally $8 per person per night. This amount is not included in the price listed on Booking.com and Expedia, and you see it only at the checkout, when you are about to pay. On Hotels.com these are included from the very beginning and you see the actual final price, which seems much fairer to me.
Booking and payment
Credit card payments are accepted on most places, some accept PayPal, as well. Keep in mind that in some occassions the price for the holiday you would choose might be a significant amount (especially when paying for more than one person). You might want to check your credit card limit and whether it will be sufficient or not. If you have concerns, you can ask the issuing bank to increase the limit, but this takes time. It is best if you could do it a month or two in advance.
There is one more thing you might want to check. Some websites release discount coupons regularly. Check which websites offer the holiday you are interested in and google for promo codes for the specific sites. I managed to find a 10% discount coupon for Hotels.com, which helped me save a significant amount of money.
This is it. Don’t hesitate too long – choose an offer, pack your bags and godspeed!