One of the constant questions in the travel industry… When should I book travel?
While countless articles claim to tell you when the best time to book airfare is, the truth is that it’s a supply-and-demand issue. When should I book travel? As much as airlines think they know how flights will fill up, many factors can influence consumer decisions.
Most discounted tickets are nonrefundable. If you don’t mind booking early, you may be able to secure a lower fare later.
When flying:
For frequent travelers there is always the possibility of buying a less expensive new ticket if the price drops. Save the original ticket for future travel. That requires both cash flow and a certainty that there will be an occasion to use the original ticket.
Taking cruises:
Increasingly, cruise lines have some penalty for cancellation, but it’s usually pretty modest until final payment. So one option is checking BEFORE final payment for lower prices. Sometimes, however, there are offers available only for new bookings. So it’s not a guarantee of being able to keep the same sailing even if there is a sail.
Hotels:
On the other hand, hotels for the most part, even those that require a deposit, generally can be canceled and rebooked at a lower price. Very occasionally I’ve seen “for new bookings only” promotions, but those are infrequent and hard to enforce.
The one warning for those who book hotels early.
Increasingly, some sales have nonrefundable rates. In some cases, it’s just one night; in some cases the dates are changeable. Sometimes not only is the entire stay nonrefundable, but there are no changes. And as many travel advisors know, either through our errors or clients asking for help, it’s easier than you’d think to book such a rate by mistake.
But waiting and not booking hotels means the price can go up.
Considerably. I’ve had clients ask me about Las Vegas hotels for a February concert weekend in October. I sent them several rates, but they were too busy to decide. When they DID come back to me in late December, the hotel rates had jumped over 50 percent.
Yes, rates do go down.
But the advantage of booking ahead is that as long as you pay attention to cancellation deadlines, it’s easy to cancel and rebook when rates fall. And if, when checking, you see they have gone up, you can feel especially satisfied to have gotten a great deal.
Ditto car rentals are easy to cancel and rebook.
So it never hurts to grab the best guaranteed rate and check back.
(And note, there are pricing tools, which some travel agencies use, that theoretically notify you if prices go down, though they may or may not be effective if your booking has cancellation penalties.)
The short version: grab the deal.
If a travel deal seems good, and is within your budget. Or if there are no penalties or very small penalties, take the deal. Could you check the cancellation deadline and grab the space? If nothing else, you’ll save time later.
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Janice Hough is a California-based travel agent a travel blogger and a part-time comedy writer. A frequent flier herself, she’s been doing battle with airlines, hotels, and other travel companies for over three decades. Besides writing for Travelers United, Janice has a humor blog at Leftcoastsportsbabe.com (Warning, the political and sports humor therein does not represent the views of anyone but herself.)
