VH, why use them ? (For US holidays)

The subject line pretty much says it all.

I have always found it to be cheaper to book my US holidays myself. Generally this will be using seperate companies for Flights (nearly always VA), hotels if needed via something like travelaxe, and car (generally via carhire3000).

However, I ahve promised to take my nephew to Discovery Cove ( I have never been to Fl). We will then take an internal to LAS and his mum and dad can have him back (bring him back to the UK also) whilst I stay at my place there for a little adult vacation.

Should I use VH or go it alone ? We will rpobably only be in Fl for a week if that factors into your decision.

TIA

I have only used them for accom only and I find their prices to be very competitive, and with the 10% FC discount and 4x the FC miles now, I can't really complain about them. (except about their 0870 number, can't book single person holidays....)

[Nottingham Nick]

Never say never.

VH are one option when sorting out a trip the the US, but they are not the only one, neither should they be dismissed as 'always too expensive'.

There are a huge number of factors that affect prices of flights / hotels and cars. Just because one way of booking or a particular TA is the cheapest this time around, it isn't always going to be so.

If you have the time, patience and knowledge, you should always shop around.

Just bear in mind that, as others have remarked recently, the best deal is always the one you find AFTER you have booked your trip. :D

Nick

Well if at the end of the day you can buy the flights, hotels, cars etc cheaper by doing it all independently then I think you should do just that.

I believe there are a number of people who do just that on this site and some who book through VH - personally I like to see whats available and then I look to see where the best deal is - if the VH deal is close enough then I book with them.

But there are some reasons for using VH - ABTA and ATOL guarantees, all costs on one invoice, they do the booking for you, if anything goes wrong or doesnt happen then they are responsible for it, there is 10% off the price if you are a FVC memebr or a FC member, VH will guarantee against surchages or increases.

At the end of the day if you are comfortable doing your own thing and the £'s make sense then go for it!!

Originally posted by locutus
I have only used them for accom only and I find their prices to be very competitive, and with the 10% FC discount and 4x the FC miles now, I can't really complain about them. (except about their 0870 number, can't book single person holidays....)

Can you buy accommodation-only now? I thought they stopped it.

Originally posted by MarkJ
Well if at the end of the day you can buy the flights, hotels, cars etc cheaper by doing it all independently then I think you should do just that.

I believe there are a number of people who do just that on this site and some who book through VH - personally I like to see whats available and then I look to see where the best deal is - if the VH deal is close enough then I book with them.

But there are some reasons for using VH - ABTA and ATOL guarantees, all costs on one invoice, they do the booking for you, if anything goes wrong or doesnt happen then they are responsible for it, there is 10% off the price if you are a FVC memebr or a FC member, VH will guarantee against surchages or increases.

At the end of the day if you are comfortable doing your own thing and the £'s make sense then go for it!!

But you still have back up from your credit card company if anything goes wrong - assuming you pay over £100 for the item - and you would be doing, for a holiday or flights.

I don't ever discount (poor choice of word) a package - sometimes it can be cheaper, though I always try unpackaging it myself. Also - sometimes you can get some good ideas from packages, even if you don't use them!

I've travelled to London and surrounding areas quite often and more than once I've booked air/hotel/etc. separately. Sometimes I do much better that way. I always check to see if I can benefit from a little extra work. These days, online, it's not hard to do this at all - actually even fun.

OTOH, I booked a great VS Vacations trip called Touch of Class or some kind of silliness and it's a great combo of all parts of the trip. The price is really unbeatable when you take it apart and see what the cost would be for each item. We're travelling UC on Virgin and staying at the Montcalm Nikko very near Marble Arch for a week with limo service and all the bells and whistles for $5,000 and change. I find that to be very reasonable. Got tickets to Spamalot thrown in the package as well. How can you beat all that? Got the great airport Virgin lounges on both sides of the pond as well.

Sometimes, the "vacations" can be quite good, if you ask me.

betsy:D

[Neil]

Originally posted by catsilversword

Originally posted by locutus
I have only used them for accom only and I find their prices to be very competitive, and with the 10% FC discount and 4x the FC miles now, I can't really complain about them. (except about their 0870 number, can't book single person holidays....)

Can you buy accommodation-only now? I thought they stopped it.

Yes you can still be Accomodation only through VH - personally I have always found VH quite competitive on price to the US, especially with the 10% discount. There are also quite a dew other plus points to using VH, cheap inital desposit, ATOL registered, everything booked and sorted together.....

Obviously if the savings run in to £100's then I would book it individually but I think VH are a very good option.

Neil:)

When was that re-instated then? Last time I looked, you could choose a hotel but you had to link it to a VH holiday. Or maybe I was just mis-reading it?

Originally posted by catsilversword
When was that re-instated then? Last time I looked, you could choose a hotel but you had to link it to a VH holiday. Or maybe I was just mis-reading it?

It's been there for as long as I remember, just click on the Accommodation Only link from the front page.

[Neil]

Originally posted by locutus

Originally posted by catsilversword
When was that re-instated then? Last time I looked, you could choose a hotel but you had to link it to a VH holiday. Or maybe I was just mis-reading it?

It's been there for as long as I remember, just click on the Accommodation Only link from the front page.

Basically as locutus has said, I have sed VH for Accom only twice in the last year so its a def available.

Neil:)