How do you book your travel?

[MEL_Traveller]

Can I ask why this is? What advantage/benefit do you always get by booking direct as opposed to booking through an aggregator?

Some chains (like Hilton) will provide free wi-fi if booking direct. And that can save money in places like the USA.

Chains are often as cheap booked direct or through third parties. But it's the non-chains where the third parties can be much cheaper. But most of the third parties are all controlled and owned by the same parent companies these days. The difference there comes from places like cheaptickets that gives a [genuine] 16% coupon, often making it much cheaper than booking or agoda or similar.

 

[dairyfloss]

I don't understand sometimes why hotels will be selling a room through their own website for 50% more than through online agencies, due to commissions that need to be bad. Perhaps this is a sign of lagging inventory management, or perhaps to get to volume targets to achieve lower commissions .... who knows.

As I understand it, the trick is that the OAs and aggregators are not actually selling live inventory, they have already purchased or booked it, and so carry the risk themselves. They would buy in bulk when the rates are at their lowest, with greater volume discounts than you or I or most corporates would ever have access to. Then, they hold and release the rooms accordingly. Often they will just sell at or a little below the Best Available Rate ('BAR') for the hotel while they can, maximising margins, but as the inventory expiration (stay date) gets closer, the inventory becomes distressed and they start to lower the price, probably selling at a loss, where needed, to recover cost. This is why the hotel's rates when they get above a certain occupancy can often be so much higher than the OAs, and they often won't want to compete at that level. They already sold that inventory maybe months ago, and now they want to make up for it with some higher margin production. It is for these reasons as well, that status benefits are generally not recognised on the OAs rate. There's just not a lot in it for the property.

Cheers,
Matt.

 

[browski]

I have often found limited flight options by going direct through the SQ website but I keep going back for my next booking, - I am a sucker for punishment and I also really enjoy booking my own flights

I also have complete control over my travel so am not bound by any corporate policies or requirement to use a particular travel booking service.

I am really interested to know what everyone else does, is there a more efficient way of doing it to ensure you get the best outcomes in terms of pricing, seating, hotels etc without having to go and visit a TA or without having to spend hours in front of a computer researching options?

Booking your own flights direct with the airline is always better. You often see those people at check-in with pages of their booking, but the check-in agent has no reference of their booking. You want to avoid that fate.

Your search behaviour also changes whether or not your company is paying for the flight or if you are self-funded. If you have control over your bookings but the company still pays for the flights, then you will not try very hard to find cheaper flights. As you mention above, you will just go straight to the SQ website. If however, it is your own coin, then you will tend to search more extensively; you tend to also reduce emphasis on loyalty and FF points when you wear the cost.

Here are a couple of tips:

• When booking on an airline's own website, sometimes there is a sector on another airline. Call the airline (that you booked the journey with) and request the other airline's flight reference number. This can also help at check-in.
• Booking one-way fares can often (surprisingly) be cheaper, always gives you more flexibility. The trick here is just to get out of Australia as cheaply as possibly. Once out of Oz, the prices are all crazy cheap. You just needs to book a flight one country ahead - so if you are intending to fly and stop in each of MEL-SIN-BKK-HKG-NRT-PVG-MEL; then just book MEL-SIN-BKK and book the BKK-HKG sector once you are in SIN. Then book the next sector once you are in BKK and so on.This maximizes your flexibilty and reduces your chances of flight change hassle.
• Whilst it is important to book directly with the airline, it is equally important to be aware of the codeshare options on the route. It is often the case that the Codeshare is cheaper on the non-metal airline. Eg. MEL-SIN is often cheaper booking through the Virgin website rather than through the SQ website; even though it is SQ metal.

 

[QF WP]

I am a mixed bag on booking travel. The vast majority of bookings (flights, hotels and car hire, in that order) I'll do myself.

If I think the Itinerary is beyond me, I'll book with my TA (an AFF'er) but I'll give him dates & flights or hotel and room type.

On some bookings I make direct (Hilton, some car hire), I'll put in his TIDS number (and shoot him a copy of the booking) and so he gets a couple of $ commission for no work.

I've been fortunate to have never had to call him to sort anything out (then again, all my travel for work is domestic and have the bi-annual holiday overseas).

 

[Dannyism]

I have been looking for cheap flights lately for long weekends or one week getaways with my SO. Places like Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing, Tokyo, etc.

I've noticed a lot of the websites I check use sites like IWantThatFlight or other OTA's. I do remain cautious though as should anything come up and we want to cancel or change I imagine refunds would be hard to come by.

 

[Flying mermaid]

I always research extensively and book myself where I can - partly because I am a control freak and partly because it is fun. If I had a complicated itinerary where I couldn’t get the flights I wanted I would use a TA, but that hadn’t happened in years.

On the whole I book direct with the places I want to stay. Sometimes I use a TA if they don’t take direct bookings. E.g. staying at Bisate and Segera next year which are wilderness safari properties and they don’t take direct bookings, but Singita where we are staying for other camps were happy to book it for us.

I have seen some horrible things done by TAs. Spoke to a lady flying back from Botswana. She was from New York and going to two camps. Her TA had flown her from one camp to Maun and then back to Johannesburg, overnighting in Joburg (and not even at the airport) and then back the next day to Maun and to her second camp. They were the same two camps we had just stayed at and we had just taken a small plane from one to the other! She had quite literally wasted the best part of two days for no good reason. I did spend a fair bit of time explaining to her that you had to do your own research even if you let a TA book it......

 

[drron]

It is true that consolidators do book rooms way in advance.
Many years ago I went to a conference in Anaheim.The conference hotel was the Hilton Anaheim.
The conference organisers had sold all their allocated rooms in several hotels.On the Hilton site the cheapest room was ~ $US550.
So on a hunch I went to a fellow we knew at Flight Centre.Yes the Hilton was one of the hotels used and yes they had rooms available at $AUD125.
But in regular practice I use the hotel websites and book direct.With SPG there is the best rate quarantee so no worries.
The exception is non chain hotels.Last years trip to Japan at Cherry Blossom time nothing was available on the hotel websites,TA said they hadn't been loaded but on booking.com we could get the hotels we wanted.Weren't available on several other sites.

Airfares.We always use our TA.Always book Circle Fares or RTW.If booked direct you pay up straight away.With the TA only 30 days out.As we always book early until recently I always saved more in bank interest on the overdraft than the TAs charge.
We often add flights to the basic ticket.As these are usually awards I book direct.

 

[agentgerko]

I am clearly biased, being a TA but I know that there are many ways that its beneficial to use a good TA, and I'm not talking about using some 19yo down the local franchise office. I have done this job for over 40yrs and know the tricks to get the best for my passengers. Things like combining fares to achieve a lower price than the standard, getting access to preseating that is not offered online, and importantly, being there to assist when things go wrong. Cannot count the number of times I've been able to grab that last seat to get my client home when flights get cancelled, airlines go on strike, volcanoes erupt, whilst the internet passengers are madly working their laptops hoping for a solution to appear. Common sense says that someone who does this every day for years on end is going to know more than a wannabe agent who makes a couple of bookings for themselves online. And yes, I do charge a fee for my service and I'm worth it. If you're travel is just getting a few return tickets in Economy to somewhere like Singapore then the internet will no doubt work for you, assuming you don't mind spending time sorting through numerous websites to find the best priced airfare, the right located hotel, arranging visas, booking transfers, etc. But if you're a frequent Business traveller who does, maybe, SYD-SIN-HAN-SHA-TYO-SYD then you need a good TA, and even after the extra fees, you'll probably find yourself paying less than if you tried to do it yourself online, and you'll have peace of mind in case you need to change things around en route.

 

[Renato1]

Unless I'm using points or have booked something through Luxury Escapes, I use my Travel Agent.

Her agency uses HelloWorld, and she often comes up with hotel deals in major cities which are either somewhat cheaper or way cheaper than anything I can find using Booking.com for the same thing - although most don't come with the free cancellation offer.
Regards.
Renato

 

[Rebekkap]

Booking your own flights direct with the airline is always better. You often see those people at check-in with pages of their booking, but the check-in agent has no reference of their booking. You want to avoid that fate.

"Always" is a big call... I have booked my last few international flights through a TA, who not only found me flights at a significant discount from the prices I could get direct with the airline, but who can book things I can't - for example, AA flights with an AA flight number on the same PNR as a Qantas international flight, and return flights arriving at one port and leaving from another. I've always been given the airline PNR so no chance of turning up and finding check in agent has no reference of the booking. I have, however, when I have booked flights direct with the airline, turned up at the lounge in Melbourne with the booking showing on the Qantas app but no way of checking in because Qantas has failed to ticket the booking. So you can run into problems either way, but a good TA will save you and also make it possible to book otherwise impossible itineraries.

Your search behaviour also changes whether or not your company is paying for the flight or if you are self-funded. If you have control over your bookings but the company still pays for the flights, then you will not try very hard to find cheaper flights. As you mention above, you will just go straight to the SQ website. If however, it is your own coin, then you will tend to search more extensively; you tend to also reduce emphasis on loyalty and FF points when you wear the cost.

Speak for yourself! I have enough respect for my employer that I will try just as hard to find cheaper flights as I do for myself, within the bounds of the required flexibility, and I NEVER reduce my emphasis on "loyalty" (ie self-interest in my status credit earn) or FF points when I am paying - self-funded platinum with Qantas here, and most of my personally-funded travel in premium cabins at my own expense.

 

[Prettyswanni]

I've used a TA twice for flights and unfortunately my personal experiences weren't great so my preference is to book my travels online myself unless, like others have stated, I'm doing a complicated booking.

With regards to hotels, I have membership with a few brands so I shop around between them but open to other booking sites if the prices are too high or they don't have hotels in the city I'm visiting.

 

[dairyfloss]

I have enough respect for my employer that I will try just as hard to find cheaper flights as I do for myself, within the bounds of the required flexibility, and I NEVER reduce my emphasis on "loyalty" (ie self-interest in my status credit earn) or FF points when I am paying - self-funded platinum with Qantas here, and most of my personally-funded travel in premium cabins at my own expense.

This amused me, as I'm very much the same. My company always tries to use the line of "spending on travel as if it were your own money", in the hopes that it will stop people spending unnecessarily. The thing is though, I would probably knock out our regional annual travel budget in the first 2-3 months of the year, if I was spending like I do with my own travel dollars!

Cheers,
Matt.

 

[get me outta here]

I only travel on points (since I discovered the wonderful AFF), doing 2 -3 long haul int flights a year so I book them myself on line or by phone with the airline. Domestic flight I pay for and book myself. Same for hotels.

I have contact details for the revenue manager at the hotel I use in NYC. I get the room cheaper than if I'd spent weeks searching successfully for a best rate guarantee (20% off the lowest price). I tend to stay there for a month at a time.

 

[browski]

within the bounds of the required flexibility

You can drive an oceanliner through that.

 

[amaroo]

I use a TA (another AFF'er) for flights, but book the rest myself. I've even been educated to book QF award flights via phone - that way my TA can add other flights at a later date.

 

[leadman]

I've been doing my own bookings since I left corporate 18 months ago, although even then i did a lot of my own bookings other than the "spine leg". Recently i was contacted by a well known TA to try them out again and a long story cut short for a complex multi-leg J Asia-Europe they were $2,200 higher first attempt then $1,200 at the next cut than what i could get through CX. i was really hoping they could do better, but i booked myself, again.

 

[Buzzard]

I've recently booked a few flights with a TA, not sure if she is on AFF but I'm certain that a lot of folk on here know who she is. I couldn't be happier with the service provided. For my internal US flights I can't be certain that she saved me money but I got exactly what I wanted and didn't do any work. For 2 OS trips next year I'm still scratching my head wondering how she put together the route for the price. Absolutely brilliant IMHO.
For domestic flights, I usually just book myself. As a Hilton/Rydges member, I book myself so stays count towards my status and I keep an eye on the rates often cancelling and rebooking the same room when prices drop.

 

[madrooster]

I'd be considered easily biased here...

I do my own bookings and do my own ticketing because I often have 15-20 flights in a single trip on average. I like having everything in a single PNR and I have full control of everything from seating to passport info to frequent flyer numbers. I often use the ability to credit specific flights to a certain FF program, eg. when flying SYD-LAX-SFO-PHX, I might credit SYD-LAX to AA, LAX-SFO to QF, SFO-PHX to AA.

 

[RooFlyer]

Booking your own flights direct with the airline is always better. You often see those people at check-in with pages of their booking, but the check-in agent has no reference of their booking. You want to avoid that fate.

Always better? Really? I wonder if you have ever used a good TA to make that statement. (Firms like Flight Centre I don't call a good TA).

With a Travel Agent its about the relationship. I've used the same Travel Agent firm (and person) for international travel for about 10 years (a mid sized shopfront) and the individual is simply gold. Domestic travel I book myself. When they can't match what I can get on-line they invite me to book it myself, or they can book it direct on-line on my credit card so it forms part of my complete itinerary; they know my wants and limitations and never tries to up-sell to me. Sometimes they do a bunch of research for me and I don't proceed - no charge. Saying all that, I (and my client) was putting a lot of travel through the TA.

Occasionally they most definitely can get airline prices better than on-line and can book itineraries that are impossible other than through a TA. They can and has rung an airline and gotten me an exception to a fare rule (as in "you can't go from there to there" - yes, I did).

Another benefit occasionally available is, if a fare is payable sooner rather than later, the TA can keep an eye on availability and if still available, cancel and re-book the fare so that the pay-date is kicked down the road.

If something goes pear shaped (and it never has ... touch wood) a call to the genuine 24 hr number gets it sorted out in their time, not mine.

And of course the time I save in general is worth a motza. I enjoy the searching and planning, but there is a limit.

Occasionally AFFers ask me to refer them to my TA individual - I can't really, as she only does stuff for established clients, sorry.

 

[Princess Fiona]

I research all of my travel beforehand and book most of it myself. Through this website I have met and used a brilliant TA @Travel Guru for more complex bookings and I also have another beautiful TA I have used for ticketing a few things including US domestic flights.
I wouldn’t ever wander into a Fright Centre in Westfield as I suspect that wouldn’t end well