[Fredi]

My husband is a teacher so we only go away during school holidays which of course is peak time. I've already booked our Easter getaway and am about to book a short holiday for the first term break which is 8 weeks away My husband thinks I'm booking way too early and he is apparently right as there is an abundance of accommodation to choose from right now. He's concerned about placing a non refundable deposit so early to secure a booking.

So I'm wondering what others do? How far in advance do you book? Have you arranged anything for the first term break?

[Libster]

I would be booking as far ahead as possible, you never know when places will suddenly book out.

[qak]

I started booking from last August for the mid-year break, for Fiji. Some places were already nearly fully booked!

I had to pay back then for airfares, which were about $2000 ... I had a look a couple of weeks ago & those 'cheaper' fares are no longer available, the same flights would now cost $3800.

My theory is that for flights you need to get in early to get better rates; but accommodation rates are probably set a year in advance so there's no better rates for booking those early (but as you said, availability may be gone)

[Sunny003]

We're in Vic, so the first term break is the Easter holidays here and yes we've booked already.

DH was looking around places & a lot are already sold out. Easter weekend is a very busy time in Vic.

We booked about 2 weeks ago. So 10ish weeks before going.

[Gembac8019]

Lol, i just booked our xmas holiday! But i do make sure im able to cancel ea sily if need be. I like booking ea rly as you can get a better rate and have more variety to choose from. (Hotels).

[tamjk]

Depends on what and where you are booking.
Accommodation I happily book six months in advance usually, it allows me a good selection and I often get a bargain by doing this. We book privately managed holiday apartments on the Sunshine Coast through real estates usually.

We've had one holiday apartment sold before we could take the holiday we booked there, the managing agent offered to transfer our deposit to another property on their books which was actually a much nicer apartment!

[Z-girls rock]

I dont book ahead - but I travel all the time.

I am just now booking my flights and acomodation in Thailand (for work) - I leave on the 25th of Feb.

to me this is normal and I dont find the fares or cost of accomodation different.
but last year I had to travel with some people and they were FREAKING OUT that things were not booked like months in advance
guess what - it was all ok. we all got there and had comfortable places to stay at resonable prices

This post has been edited by Z-girls rock: 15/02/2013, 11:37 AM

[qak]

I see a big difference between booking for 'school holiday' times/destinations compared to any other travel.

[Mellie Kate]

depends where you are going and when

for the christmas holidays just gone i booked Surfers paradise in july and for New York this september i booked in november last year as many places that i was interested in where starting to book out.

so if you are going to a popluar place and a peak time i would be asap specially if there is a certain place that you want to stay at.

[~Kee~In~Hawaii~]

As far in advance as is humanly possible. I already have 2 places booked for Christmas and New Years and when we get the flights (which I plan to book as soon as they are released which should be the end of this month) I will cancel whichever hotel booking doesn't match up to the possible flight dates.

I booked our flights/accommodation for the September school holidays back in November and even with doing that we had to change our dates to leave 2 days before school holidays start just to get better priced airfares - they've all steadily gone up since. I don't even have kids and find that school holidays impact my holiday pricing drastically.

I no longer think there is any bonus to leaving a booking until the last minute. It's rare now to get last minute deals and what there is discounted is of such a small selection that it's not worth the savings I have found. I always chack out the last minute prices on cruises but find these savings aren't much off the early bird fares but the cabin selection in a minimum because you're choosing from whatever's left.

I'm already planned and budgeted for the next trip to the USA next year and as soon as it's 12 months out, I'll be making all the bookings at the hotels I've selected. I have also selected hotels etc based on this years rates for Europe in 2015 and will re-hash prices next year to book that when it's 12 months in advance. Ok, I'm obsessed with travel planning but so far it's meant I can always relax about the budget because it's all sorted out and then on the trips I can put my feet up and know everything is well planned out and locked in.

I used to turn up at the airport to buy flights, not anymore as they started to get more and more expensive! Maybe I'm just getting old now and I like to be organised?!