December 2007 Should I Book
Early or Book Late?
Booking early or booking late depends entirely upon
just how flexible you and your schedule are. If your
schedule has
no flexibility built into it or if last minute plans
drive you up the wall, then booking as early as
possible is the best course of action for you to
take in order to get the lowest air fares, hotel
rates and car rental prices.
There are many advantages of early booking. You
usually have your choice of seats on your flight,
for one thing. Another advantage is a choice
of rooms at hotels and also a choice in the
kind of car you rent.
Choices diminish in direct proportion to the time
before the event and at about the same rate that
prices increase the closer to the event reservations
are made.
The more specific your needs are, the earlier you
need to book. If you have an event such as a
wedding, family reunion or firmly scheduled vacation
week, you should book as early as possible. The less
flexible you are, the less open you can be to
special deals.
If, on the other hand, your schedule has a lot of
flexibility built into it and you thrive on
spontaneity, you will love booking late…and the
later the better.
Last minute bookings offer you the opportunity to
take full advantage of bargain basement prices for
flights to most places in the world. When there are
a lot of empty seats on a flight, airlines start
cutting prices to fill up seats. The theory is that
a little
profit is better than no profit at all.
Maybe you are more flexible than you think. Could
you depart the night before?
Cut your vacation by a day (or better yet, extend
it)? Consider
alternate and less popular airports, both from your
departure city and at your destination. A drive of a
couple of hours may yield discounts already sold out
at your preferred city.
Those airports also are often served by discount
carriers, which might save you even more.
Thank you,
Terry Hudson
www.fivedaytrips.com
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