If you find your dream vacation at a price within your budget don’t wait for a better deal, get it booked! Sometimes that last minute deal isn’t really a deal at all. Here are our Top 5 reasons why you need to book your next winter getaway early and not wait until the last minute to book it:
#5. Save money
Tour suppliers provide early booking bonus incentives for travelers who book their vacations well in advance. These promotions start rolling out in late spring for travel in the fall and winter. Bonuses like extra tax savings can shave up to a few hundred dollars off the cost of your vacation! If traveling with a group of people, there can be additional savings such as free travel if a minimum number of people are booked (i.e. book 10 people and the 11th person travels for free).
#4. Get exactly what you want
The better vacation packages fill up fast. Booking early means that the resort and the room category that you want won’t be sold out! Booking a last minute vacation may not really be a deal if your week is spent at a resort full of partying spring breakers or your standard room overlooks the parking lot or garbage dumpsters. For air travel, once flight schedules are released they rarely go down in price, but the cheaper seats will sell out faster than the more expensive ones. Booking early means that you will pay the best price for flights and you will be more likely sitting beside your traveling companions on that flight instead of stuck in the middle seat between random strangers as seat availability fills up.
#3. It’s easier to budget
Most tour operators will allow you to book your vacation with just a deposit when booking early and in most cases you can make an extra payment or two in between the deposit and final payment with no interest. With a last minute booking, you pay the full price at the time of booking.
#2. Take advantage of extra perks
In addition to extra tax savings and free travel offers for groups, suppliers can also offer free advance seat selection for flights and free price drop guarantees for booking early. If the price of your vacation drops after you book it and before you leave then you could be entitled to a refund for the difference in price (some restrictions apply with price drop guarantees).
#1. Peace of Mind
Booking early means that you can take your time to pack, think about and book any excursions that you want to do while in destination and take care of everything that needs to be done before you leave for your vacation providing for a more stress free vacation.
Bonnie Gundert, CTC, is a TICO Certified Travel Consultant and Owner of Great Adventures Travel. She lives and works in beautiful Oro-Medonte and has been in the travel business for years, specializing in group travel, custom travel itineraries, women’s travel and family travel. For more information, call Bonnie at (705) 252-8012 or email Bonnie at bgundert@tpi.ca.
Leave A Comment