Book-it-yourself holidays vs package deals
January 2010
Many of us now organise all the elements of our holidays ourselves online as opposed to buying a traditional, pre-arranged package holiday from a travel agent.
With internet access making it easy to book airline tickets, hotel accommodation, activities and car hire from a distance, putting together a holiday that suits your needs can be a relatively simple exercise.
There can be many advantages in organising a build-it-yourself holiday including cheaper prices, the ability to negotiate on price and flexibility.
Package holidays too can offer advantages such as having a rep available to you in case problems arise, having all the information about the holiday available up-front and remedies available to you in case the holiday cannot go ahead as booked.
While the build-it-yourself route may give you freedom to book the perfect holiday, it's not without its pitfalls. You need to weigh up several important factors before deciding which method of booking suits you best...
Levels of protection
A "package" holiday is defined as a pre-arranged holiday sold at an inclusive price. It must last for more than 24 hours and include at least two of the following:
- Travel or transport
- Accommodation; and
- A tourist service or activity (such as golf or hill walking)
If you are booking a package holiday, you are covered by consumer legislation called the Package Holidays and Travel Trade Act, 1995.
This Act requires the organiser to give you all the information about the holiday before you travel and puts responsibility on the organiser for the performance of all aspects of the holiday.
This would include:
- Arrangements for repatriation (returning home unexpectedly) if this is needed
- Offering a replacement holiday of equivalent, higher or lower grade (with a refund of the difference in price if lower), or a full refund if they cannot supply you with the holiday you booked
- Having bonding (security) in place, so you're not left high-and-dry if the organiser goes out of business.
All travel agents and tour operators in Ireland are required to have enough security so that if they go out of business, your money and bookings are protected. If transport from Ireland to another country is involved, the package organiser must be licensed by the Commission for Aviation Regulation and "enter into a bond".
If they go out of business, the Commission manages the bond and assesses your claim for a refund, or arranges to get you home if you are stranded abroad.
The Package Holidays and Travel Trade Act does not apply to build-your-own holidays, so your level of protection is less.
Although your general consumer rights still apply - such as your right to take action if information you were given was misleading - you may not be covered for all eventualities. For that reason, it is best to get some extra protection.
You should consider taking out travel insurance that covers everyone who's travelling sufficiently in case of problems. Check what's covered on the policies of several insurance companies and select the one that offers the best cover for your holiday.
Comparing the costs
To get the best deal you need to shop around. Check out the prices of package holidays first as it's unlikely you'll be able to negotiate too much of a discount on these. Then see if you can get either a better price, or a higher quality holiday for similar money, by building it yourself.
In order to work out which method of booking gives you the best value, you need to take all elements of the holiday into account.
For example, the package holiday price will usually include transfers between the airport and your accommodation. This could be a significant extra cost if you are organising your own transfers over a long distance.
If you are travelling with children, it may be that the package offers free child places, whereas you may have to pay for flights or extra accommodation costs for them on a build-it-yourself holiday. As well as that, a package may include access to a Kids Club.
While build-it-yourself holidays may offer better value for some of the elements of a holiday (flights, hotels etc), package operators can get great all-in deals.
They can make block bookings for travel, accommodation and so on, so they are able to offer lower prices than you might find as an individual.
Pros and cons of packages
Besides prices and the level of consumer protection, you should weigh up other advantages and disadvantages of the two types of holiday.
Among the main advantages of a package holiday:
- It is a "one-stop shop" and far less hassle if you're doing a more complicated trip - one phone call should ensure everything is taken care of
- It can be a tried and tested path taken by many other holiday makers (such as skiers)
- Package holiday operators are generally well clued up on the needs of families with young children - they often design family-friendly packages, including "children's clubs" so you can have a bit of time to yourself
- If something does go wrong, it will be up to the package organiser to solve the problem - much easier than you yourself having to deal with individual service providers
- If your holiday isn't what it was cracked up to be, you have a company back home to complain to, making it easier to get redress
- While you may be required to pay a deposit, you can budget for the overall cost over several months. But if you book flights directly you have to pay the full price up front via your credit card
- If the holiday is outside the euro zone, you don't have to worry about currency fluctuations, as you pay the travel operator at the price quoted rather than paying in local currency
Among the disadvantages of package holidays:
- It's rare that you can negotiate on prices of specific elements such as hotels,, which you may be able to do with service providers when you build-your-own holiday
- You need to be careful that you make the right choice, because once you are there you can't change your mind (unless, of course, you pay for tickets home or different accommodation)
- The best-value accommodation tends to be in the more popular resorts. If you want a "get away from it all" holiday you may need to book with a smaller, more specialised company and pay a little more
- You can't pick and choose service providers. If you like the flight times one travel organiser offers, but prefer the accommodation offered by another, you can't select them as options as you could if you build-your-own holiday
- Operators cater for groups, and may not tailor their packages to individual needs
- There's less flexibility if activities are part of the package. For instance, if golf were booked for a group on a particular day, you wouldn't be able to change it if that day didn't suit you for whatever reason
The golden rule with each type of holiday is to weigh up all the pros and cons, ask yourself whether it's really the type of holiday that will suit you, make cost comparisons, shop around, and ask friends about their good and bad experiences with different service providers.
Learn more
Read our ConsumerValue section on transport and travel, from airlines to ferries and car rental
Learn how to protect yourself if a trader goes bust
Read our guide to consumer law and package holidays