The Package Holiday Game

or

How to save over ?100 per person!

Travel agents make you think their prices are as fixed -  but this simply isn't true. There is quite a difference between travel agents and tour operators.

• Travel agents sell holidays
   
• Tour operators make them.

One tour operator's holiday may be stocked by a range of travel agents and this means you may find the identical holiday cheaper elsewhere.

For example:  A fortnight's holiday, all inclusive, in the Dominican Republic was originally advertised at a brochure price of ?900 per person.

The Teletext discount price was ?692. It took an hour and a half to get it to ?615 per person. The savings were ?77 per person but as the holiday was for a couple the total saving was ?154.

When it comes to booking a package holiday it often pays to leave it to later!. For those who can wait, the best bargains come from picking the right holiday and bartering on price.

If, however, you want a specific destination or defined services, such as children's facilities, there's a risk that what you need may be unavailable. In that case, forget waiting - early-booking discounts aren't as big but they're still a saving, so plan at least nine months ahead.

Location and timing are crucial to bargain hunting. If possible, take a holiday when others can't - such as in May, June - so avoiding school holidays - and you'll find prices are cheaper.

Once you've got an idea of what you want, use Teletext, where you'll find a big list of bargain travel agents in one place.

• Pick an advertised holiday, call the travel agent, discuss availability, price and what's included. 
• Write down the phone numbers of all the Teletext travel agents specialising in your chosen destination.
• Pick a firm, call them and describe the holiday for which you've had a quote. Make sure you're talking about the same holiday and comparing like for like.
• Take the quote you've got and - ask the agent to beat the price but take just a little bit off the quote you were given.
• They should match it or or beat it.
• Also try to ask the agent to write off the extras such as transfers and in-flight meals. This is worth approximately ?30 a person off the price!.
• Play companies off against each other by continuing the bartering process to get the price as low as possible.

You'll need to talk to a few agents to do this. Always discuss a per-person price, not the total holiday cost, as this makes the discount seem smaller.

Once it looks like the price won't drop any farther go to the specialist agents on Teletext who offer to beat any price - they may be able to cut a final few pounds - then book with the cheapest agent.

Enjoy your holiday with that extra spending money!!