When is the best time to book travel?

It’s the million dollar question. And thankfully, the answer is quite easy… as soon as you can! For those of us who have traveled quite a bit, or were raised either in North America or Europe, it is normal for the price of flights, hotels and tours to come down or go on special, the closer you get to the date you want to travel. There is this idea that they have to ‘fill the plane’ and will offer cheap last-minute seats to do this. And to some degree this is true (I did get a flight from Stockholm to Vienna for 11 Euro once) but NOT IN AUSTRALIA. I’d like to repeat that over and over again…. Particularly airlines will NOT discount seats to fill the plane. Hotels and resorts plan months and even years ahead to know when their low seasons are and will offer discounts to fill rooms for those defined periods well in advance. And for the seasons that are in high demand (think school holidays, Christmas, Chinese New Year, Easter, etc) they will not discount at all. If anything, the prices will be higher or there will be blackout dates on sale pricing for those peak times. Cruises open up for booking up to two years in advance, with peak times booking out very fast. Back to when IS the best time to book and how you can save some dollars: Flights Flights are available to be booked between 9 and 10 months in advance. The cheapest month to fly is November and the most expensive is December. That is a pretty general guide, as there are ‘Early Bird’ fares that come out about September. These fares kick in for travel to the northern hemisphere during their peak summer season (June – Sept). But airlines only release a limited number of seats on the discounted fare per flight, so back to the advice of AS SOON AS YOU CAN! The other factor that affects international airfares and cost is the weather. Head to Asia during monsoon season and you will get a bargain… and wet. And the cheapest day of the week to fly? I aim for a Wednesday as there seems to be more available seats. Domestic flights are also released 9-10 months in advance. But the day and time of day has a great effect. Want to fly to Sydney on Friday evening and back home on a Sunday evening for $69 each way? Good luck! It can happen, if you are very lucky and watching flight release dates. Those few sale seats go fast. Think of the volume of FIFO (fly in, fly out) workers whose flights are covered by the mining companies, they fill the high demand flight times in a blink. Cruises There is a great trick to getting to have your cake and eat it too with cruise bookings. Book WAY in advance to make sure you get the cabin you want, up to 2 years if possible, knowing that if a sale comes up, you can either cancel and rebook without losing your deposit, or even better… have your Travel Agent look after transferring the booking (we can do things you can’t). Up until 6 months before the cruise you can cancel for a full refund, even after that, sometimes a sale will pop up that warrants losing a bit of your original deposit to save overall. This certainly applies when getting the Premium Drinks Package for free when sales are on. Tours This can be a tricky one. Many tours need a certain number of people to confirm and pay a deposit before that will guarantee it will go ahead. But if everyone holds off and plays the wait and see game, everyone loses. There are always early payment discounts to take advantage of, so book the tour early and have a backup option just in case. Hotels and Car Hire Are there last minute specials, sure… if you are happy to risk the possibility of being further out of town, or in an area you don’t know, wait it out. But I would always suggest you secure what you want, where you want it and then relax knowing you have a bed. What you may not be aware of is the Used Car Salesman convention that will be in town will snap up ALL the rooms at the decent hotels. Or the once only showing of some sports/artistic/cultural event during the same time you want to be there that will fill the rooms. You may save a few bucks, or you may pay far more. It’s a gamble that pays off rarely. Same applies for car hire, few specials are ever seen for car hire so just lock it in as soon as you know your plans before all the cars are booked out. To recap, the best time to book is always, as soon as you can. To get the best deals, be as flexible as possible with dates and if that is not an option, then plan as far ahead as possible. Then sit back and make a list of what cocktails you will be ordering…. Words: Cei Creighton 0410 465 205

Words: Cei Creighton 0410 465 205