VH 2007

[Neil]

VH are releasing their brochure and prices for next year on August 17th, now we are going to Vegas/San Fran and want to fly UC. Is it best to book VH early to make sure we get some UC seats as I know they are limited with VH or should we wait until we can get a price for from VS for flights (am i right in thinking I can only book 1 year in advance?) and try and book the hotel separately to save costs??

Thanks,
Neil:)

I'll have a go at this one...

If you book the whole hog with VH then you get everything all paid for at once and be able to get a great deal. Booking early also means that you have a greater choice of flights (and cabin) hotels etc. Another advantage is that if you (or they) have to cancel for any reason then you get refunded.

One disadvantage is that you can lose some flexibility with package tours unless the package you are buying is flexible in its own way. Another pitfall is that you would usually have to pay supplements dependent on when you are travelling, where you're going or how many people are going or all of these. Also if you leave it too late, you'll just have to take whatever is available or don't go at all. These late deals don't come along often; this year is a bad one for travel agents in the UK. Look at an agents window around now and you'll see what I mean.

By booking seperately you get the advantage of greater flexibility. You can also shop around over the Net (Expedia, Travelocity etc) for the best prices and maybe save some money. You can also do some research before handing over your credit card details.

However, the Internet is cheap for a variety of reasons, and here's the golden one which so many forget; you can't get refunds. especially for flights once you book a ticket you won't see your money ever again. You will also lose the advantage of ATOL protection if the company responsible for organising your flights or hotel or car rental goes bankrupt and ceases trading, unless you buy your own insurance as soon as you have booked everything. In package tours if the tour company goes under (doubt this will happen to VH very soon) and if its ATOL protected you get your money back.

A lot of this is common sense I know and is probably nothing new to well travelled people.

The decision is yours Attitude23 and I'm sure you will make the right one. I hope that these points help you in making your decision and I'm sure other members will help out as well.

Good luck and look forward to hearing how you get on[y]

Originally posted by VS075
I'll have a go at this one...

If you book the whole hog with VH then you get everything all paid for at once and be able to get a great deal. Booking early also means that you have a greater choice of flights (and cabin) hotels etc. Another advantage is that if you (or they) have to cancel for any reason then you get refunded.

Good points for discussion here...and if you're a FV member you get 10% off everything.

Having only ever used VS *out* of LV, will VH route you into LV using LAX / SFO (V:Port) and an internal connecting flight ? Anyway, you can always drive from LA to LV (the Inn'n'Out Burger at Barstow is great, BTW). It's not the world's most scenic route but billboards advertising shooting ranges and ..ahem... brothels make it one for discussion.

Paul

[Neil]

Originally posted by pjh

Good points for discussion here...and if you're a FV member you get 10% off everything.


Paul

Cheers Paul I had totally forgotten about that, which was a major factor in me wanting to use VH, 10% of an expensive holiday is a lot, think Im gunna go with VH as long as they aint to OTT on price, easier to book internal flights etc all together rather than me getting very confused doing it individually.

Cheers alex for ur reply too, good one[y]

Neil:)

[Neil]

sorry to be replying to my own posts but Im annoyed....

looking on VH website today saw that it would allow me to select dates until end of next year (yey i thought, obviously got new prices out sooner than expected) but it kept bringin up and error message and said ring VH, so I did, on the expensive number to be held for 25mins fo rthe kind lady to say, sorry prices not out until 8th August, website has been updated too early[V]

So have jsuted wasted 25mins of my time and money on phone calls for nothing, stupid VH[n]

Neil:)

Originally posted by Attitude23
sorry to be replying to my own posts but Im annoyed....

looking on VH website today saw that it would allow me to select dates until end of next year (yey i thought, obviously got new prices out sooner than expected) but it kept bringin up and error message and said ring VH, so I did, on the expensive number to be held for 25mins fo rthe kind lady to say, sorry prices not out until 8th August, website has been updated too early[V]

So have jsuted wasted 25mins of my time and money on phone calls for nothing, stupid VH[n]

Neil:)

Ah, the joys of "joined up" customer service...[:w] One day maybe.

Paul

[Neil]

Originally posted by pjh

Originally posted by Attitude23
sorry to be replying to my own posts but Im annoyed....

looking on VH website today saw that it would allow me to select dates until end of next year (yey i thought, obviously got new prices out sooner than expected) but it kept bringin up and error message and said ring VH, so I did, on the expensive number to be held for 25mins fo rthe kind lady to say, sorry prices not out until 8th August, website has been updated too early[V]

So have jsuted wasted 25mins of my time and money on phone calls for nothing, stupid VH[n]

Neil:)

Ah, the joys of "joined up" customer service...[:w] One day maybe.

Paul

Wishful thinkin me thinks, we can dream.....

Neil:)